CHRONICLE

A 1989 PBS documentary, "Design Wars | The Battle for Chicago’s New Library", is available on YouTube. The behind-the-scenes documentary explores the competition that took place between five teams (led by Arthur Erickson Architects/VOA Associates; Hammond, Beeby and Babka; Murphy/Jahn; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; and Lohan Associates) each with a very different approach, and which for a few months was the main talk of the city. Ultimately the judges decided on the proposal from Hammond, Beeby and Babka (today HBRA Architects), characterized by some as "safe, noble and traditional" but also by one critic as "a hulking beaux-arts caricature of a civic building, with an ersatz late 19th century street face, and replete with enormous copper and terracotta sculptural elements." Erickson's own proposal — vast, accommodating the elevated train line and featuring a winter garden — nodded undeniably to postmodernism but used the language of monumentality to great effect, especially given the city's power and architectural history.
Watch here >>

"Dyde House, located a short distance outside Edmonton, is one of Canadian architect Arthur Erickson’s first notable projects in residential design. The house is located southwest of Edmonton, in Parkland County, on the grounds of the beautiful University of Alberta Botanic Gardens. The project was designed by Erickson in the Spring of 1960 and completed in late 1961 after returning from travels in Japan and Southeast Asia on a Canada Council for the Arts fellowship ..."
Read more >> by Robb Gilbert, Archivist, Canadian Architectural Archives

Dr. Yosef Wosk, an AEF Patron and benefactor, has been names the 2025 winner of RAIC's Advocate for Architecture Award.

"JURY COMMENTS: Dr. Yosef Wosk [AEF Patron] has significantly contributed to architecture in Western Canada through decades of advocacy, philanthropy, scholarly initiatives, and direct commissioning of built works. He is a champion of the public arts whose sustained efforts in education, research, and design excellence have strengthened architecture’s position in Canada. Dr. Wosk's commitment to architectural advancement, both practical and academic, exemplifies the qualities this award seeks to recognize. His inspiring contributions leave a lasting impact on the built environment."

Read more about Dr. Wosk and his advocacy >>
Link to Canadian Architect website >>

Nestled in Vancouver’s MacKenzie Heights, The Metal House stands as a striking testament to Arthur Erickson’s visionary modernist design. Originally built in 1965 for Nicolas Metal, this architectural gem showcases Erickson’s signature use of materials, light, and spatial harmony. In this video from Director/Producer Zoran Dragelj, husband of current owner Tim Mah takes us on an intimate tour, offering insights into the home’s history, design elements, and enduring legacy.
Stream on YouTube >>

The Arthur Erickson House and Garden in Vancouver, owned and managed by the Arthur Erickson Foundation, has just been listed as a member of ICONIC HOUSES, the international network based in the Netherlands connecting architecturally significant houses and artists’ homes and studios from the twentieth century. The network includes almost 200 iconic houses located around the world, all of them open to the public, with projects by such design luminaries as Schindler, Neutra, Eames, Mies, Wright, Johnson, Rudolph, Le Corbusier, Loos, Aalto … and now Erickson.

Twentieth century architect's houses and modern house museums form a unique category of sites, but the professional issues that concern running the sites are more or less the same. The aim of the Iconic Houses Network is to provide a platform for professional discussion: to share not only the best practices but also encourage each member to develop new activities. With its membership now in place, the Arthur Erickson Foundation is set to benefit from the network's research initiatives and expertise with restoration issues, audience development, caring of collections and display strategies, and exhibitions programming.

A complete illustrated listing of the network's member house museums is available at iconichouses.org. Tours of the Erickson Garden continue to be offered in season: visit aefoundation/tours for details.

AEF Board members and tour leaders Brian Broster and Liz Watts (front row) pose with members of the North Vancouver Senior Social Group after their specially-arranged visit to the Erickson Garden conducted May 25, 2024. Brian recounts that the group was wonderfully attentive and interested; he particularly enjoyed hearing about some of the group's connections with Arthur as associates and caregivers. (Click to enlarge photo.)

Senior West Point Grey Academy students (and their Drafting 12 teacher), after a June 4, 2024 tour of the Erickson Garden conducted by AEF Board member Brian Broster. Brian helped the students identify and understand important architectural features of the garden. Brian's account of the morning: "I had the students explore the garden first, simply to observe. We then gathered on the Moonviewing Platform, and I asked them a series of questions - which they seemed intrigued with and answered very thoughtfully ..." (Click to enlarge photo.)

Listen in as Hilary Letwin and Clinton Cuddington, co-curators of West Vancouver Art Museum's exhibit "A Refuge: Arthur Erickson", converse with Michael Prokopow. A presentation of West Vancouver Memorial Library. Recorded June 5, 2024. 

Board member and founding director of the AEF, Liz Watts, had  just finished an interview with a journalist about Erickson and his house and garden. In striving to do it justice she was reminded of Phyllis Lambert's poetic and pivotal letter to Mayor Gordon Campbell in March of 1992, sent in the heat of battle when her ad hoc committee was striving to fend of the foreclosure and inevitable demolition of the property. Here is the letter, transcribed in its glory from the crumbling fax paper of 1992 technology (click thumbnails to see original pages). 

Canadian Centre for Architecture
Office of the Director
March 5, 1992

Dear Mayor Campbell,

I am writing to ask you to designate the house and garden of Arthur Erickson at 4195 West 14th Avenue in Vancouver as an Historical and Architectural Monument.

Arthur Erickson is internationally recognized as Canada's premier architect. On a worldwide scale, his architecture, landscape and planning have an innovative and widely influential. Through bold architectural forms, exploring contemporary materials coupled with highly sensitive landscape design, he has created dramatic institutional public and private buildings.

Erickson revolutionized campus design with Simon Fraser University (1963–1967) and again at the University of Lethbridge (1969–1974). His Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia (1970–1974) is a major contribution to museum building typology, and he has revolutionized the Court House as an urban building type with his Provincial Government Offices, and Law Courts, Robson Square (1974–1979). His houses in British Columbia have been extraordinary and embracing the landscape. Significant examples of his homes of wood construction are the Graham House, West Vancouver (1962); the Smith House, West Vancouver (1964) and the Craig House, Kelowna, B.C. (1967). His first concrete house is the Eppich house, West Vancouver (1974). His own house and garden (1957 to date) have been as widely published as has all Erickson’s work.

In addition to the formal excellence of each building and its landscape, and their superb detailing and use of material, each one is deeply respectful of site and of the people who use them. Each is wonderfully beautiful.

The house and garden at 4195 West 14th Avenue, Vancouver, have been the principal work–space and residence of Erickson since 1957. As the locus of work, thought, and experimentation of an outstanding Canadian, and the country's most renowned architect, it deserves the highest respect and must be preserved. In this converted garage and its attendant land, Erickson experimented with ideas of building and landscape that have been highly influential in architecture and garden architecture. The dry garden is of extreme interest in its own right. They are a demonstration of how to make the most of a standard city lot and to create a private meditative world within it.

Canada and Erickson have together reached a cultural maturity that now challenges the world. It is essential for the country, the province and the town that have nurtured such outstanding artistic expression, to assure the continuity of this house and garden as exemplar. Historic plaques on the houses of great architects, artists, and men and women of science and politics are found throughout Europe. Furthermore, the houses of great architects have become highly frequented museums –Sir John Soane's House, and Museum, London, Lord Burlington's Chiswick house and Gardens. In Montreal, the house of Ernest Cormier has been declared an historic monument both inside and out. In the United States, the Schindler House in Los Angeles, is an excellent example of an architect's house and garden preserved for the public. The three houses and studio of the greatest American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright are preserved and are meccas to visitors as are many of the houses by Wright. Can we expect less for our greatest Canadian architect (who alive has not yet reached the status of saint-hood)?

This is urgent. Please see to the protection of the house and garden of Arthur Erickson and their designation as historic site and monument.

Yours sincerely,
Phyllis Lambert, OC, FRAIC

Arthur Erickson's 100th birthday, June 14, 2024, will be officially celebrated as "Arthur Erickson Day" in the City of Vancouver. The City's proclamation, signed by Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, reads:

WHEREAS Arthur Erickson, born in Vancouver on June 14, 1924, was Canada’s most celebrated architect,
WHEREAS Arthur Erickson, shaped by Vancouver’s seas, forests, and mountains, connected every building to site and climate, from the tapering towers of Arthur Erickson Place to the cascading pools and gardens of Robson Square,
WHEREAS Arthur Erickson, convinced that areas of knowledge should not be separated, gave us Simon Fraser University, startling in its simplicity, reflecting the values and aspirations of a young university,
WHEREAS Arthur Erickson, inspired by the coastal villages of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific northwest, built the Museum of Anthropology, a sequence of experiences that celebrate the knowledge and ideas embedded in the artefacts,
WHEREAS Arthur Erickson, believing that justice should be visible and accessible, gave Vancouver a civic conscience in the sunlit terraces of the Law Courts at Robson Square,
WHEREAS Arthur Erickson, whose buildings have transformed cities and landscapes across Canada, the USA and around the world, leaves his legacy in the work of generations of architects, interns, and students who were inspired by him and continue to be guided by his principles and ideas,
WE PROCLAIM June 14, 2024,  Arthur Erickson Day in the City of Vancouver.

It is with deep sadness that we announce that Phil Boname, immediate past-President of the Arthur Erickson Foundation, died on April 6, 2024, a few weeks shy of his 90th birthday.

Born in France on May 6, 1934, the second of four children of Robert and Mary Boname, Phil was an accomplished, generous, and modest man whose life story reads like the screenplay of an epic biography. His family’s escape from Nazi-occupied France to the USA, his early years in Rye, NY, and his service in the US Navy, his relocation to Canada in the early 60s and finally, his move to Vancouver in 1971 are all elegantly documented in a beautiful tribute written by his children.

In Vancouver, Phil quickly established his credentials in urban economics and real estate development and his enthusiasm for what would become a lifelong commitment to community service. In 1976, he founded Urbanics Consultants, and for more than five decades provided his expertise and counsel on a long list of diverse projects in Vancouver, North America and around the world. These projects led to meaningful collaborations with many celebrated architects, including Arthur Erickson, with whom he established an enduring friendship.

Not surprisingly, Phil’s relationship with Erickson and his determination to preserve his friend’s architectural legacy eventually led to an invitation to join the Board of the Arthur Erickson Foundation as its President. He assumed the role with a combination of energy, knowledge, and grace that the members of numerous Vancouver-based boards and community groups will remember. He led the AEF for ten years, stepping down only one year ago, and remained active and engaged until just a few weeks before his death.

AEF Chair Phyllis Lambert is delighted to have seen the Board grow under Phil’s guidance and become increasingly active in matters of education, stewardship, and advancement of the moral and physical values of Canada’s premier architect. His wisdom and commitment to our mission have shaped the Arthur Erickson Foundation and will continue to guide us.

Phil’s courage and determination to maintain ‘business-as-usual’ in the face of unimaginable difficulties over the last months of his life were inspiring. All of us who had the honour of knowing and working with him will remember him with respect and great affection.

Phil is survived by his daughters Jessica (husband Kevin, sons Robbie and wife Olivia, and Stuart), and Mary, and his sons Charles (wife Vanessa, daughters Elise and Amélia), and John, as well as his second wife, Marilyn Palmer and her son Judd (wife Mercedes and son Max). To all, we extend our condolences.