Ron Thom: The Shaping of an Architect

James A. Love is an associate professor of environmental design at the
University of

Calgary.

Ron Thom played a leading role in the design of some of Canada’s most
highly regarded works of architecture; these include Massey College at
the University of Toronto, Trent University, and the Metro Toronto Zoo.
Thom began his career in Vancouver, but relocated to Toronto in middle
age after earning some major commissions in Ontario. He was a driven
individual who worked relentlessly and succumbed to alcoholism.

Douglas Shadbolt, a former director of three Canadian schools of
architecture and a contemporary of Thom, and of Arthur Erickson, whom
Thom perceived as a rival, brings both personal and scholarly knowledge
to his topic. He situates Thom’s career within the broader context of
the postwar development of Canadian architecture with a clarity of prose
that is a delight. Moreover, his discussion of the competition for the
design of Massey College is outstanding, as are his discussions of some
of Thom’s early housing designs and commercial projects—a level of
analysis that would have enhanced discussions in the later sections of
the book about the Trent University and other projects (more needs to be
written on these projects).

Although Shadbolt laments the effects of Thom’s alcoholism, he does
not pursue the question of what role, if any, alcoholism may have played
in Thom’s achievements. This well-

written book will not only be of great interest to architects, but will
also appeal to a general readership with an interest in architecture.