Ernest John Smith was a Canadian architect.
Both he and his partner Dennis Carter, with whom he founded Smith Carter, were, according to Jeffrey Thorsteinson, among several "significant modern architects" who graduated from the University of Manitoba's architecture program prior to 1946, and who were "vital to the rise of a notable regional strain of Canadian architecture" referred to as Manitoba modernism.
Architectural historian Kelly Crossman remarks that in the 1950s Manitoba architectural firms "consistently ranked among the best in the country" and that the provincial capitol Winnipeg "played a significant role as an early centre of architectural modernism in Canada", identifying Smith Carter as one of two "especially" important Winnipeg design firms. Their work included "major projects, public and private." One of the most "prolific and influential" design firms in Winnipeg, they earned a reputation in the 1950s and 1960s for "slick, understated, lucid, refined and experimental architecture keyed directly into site and landscape" which "changed the urban character" of the city.
Early life and education
Ernest Smith was born on 17 December 1919 in Winnipeg, and grew up in the neighbourhood of Wolseley, on Aubrey Street.
Smith studied architecture at the University of Manitoba, described as "notably progressive" at the time. He won the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Gold Medal, and a postgraduate fellowship to attend the MIT, where he earned a Master of Architecture degree. While at MIT, Smith became interested in large project planning and housing developments, attending seminars by "leading experts in the field," including Catherine Bauer Wurster and Charles Abrams. Smith finished his thesis in September 1947 and came home to honour a commitment he made with fellow alumni Dennis Carter (another RAIC Gold Medal winner) and Walter Katelnikoff that they three would start their own firm upon his return to Winnipeg.
Career
Foundation (1947–1959) The business partnership was initially formed as Smith Carter Katelnikoff with offices on 289½ Garry Street. Smith also taught design at the University of Manitoba while the practice was being established. Smith Carter Katelnikoff made their name locally with the 1948 renovation of their own offices on Portage Avenue East and, due to the demand created by Winnipeg's expanding population in the 1950s, several schools. At the same time, the firm grew on the strength of commissions for large schools in rural Manitoba and Western Canada where modern centralized facilities were replacing one-room schools. Smith served as the managing partner of the firm (which had various names and partners through the years) for thirty-eight years until his retirement in 1985.
In the 1950s, as the firm's commissions grew, attention was increasingly paid to interiors and the selection of materials suitable for the local culture and climate. The firm designed Canada's longest running venue for outdoor theatre, Rainbow Stage (1951–1953). In 1953 and 1954, Smith acted as president of the Manitoba Association of Architects, and again from 1956 to 1961. Around this time, Smith designed his family home.
Westworth United Church
One of Smith's personally significant projects from this period is Westworth United Church (1958-1959), consisting of two major additions to an education building (a gymnasium) designed by Green Blankstein Russell in 1950. The additions, a central narthex and towering sanctuary, needed to "tie in with the existing building and yet give the sanctuary a dominating position." The church includes large stained-glass windows by Leo Mol (1959).
Scaling up (1959–1985) The design and construction of the University of Manitoba's School of Architecture (1958–1959) won the firm a Massey Medal.
Smith Carter were Massey Medal finalists for the Monarch Life Building (1959–1963; since 1999, the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba Building), described as a "paragon of modernist order and dignity". The design team, led by Carter, sought to express "the bold confidence and security of the corporation, its concern for its clients and employees, as well as its commitment to the economic development of the city of Winnipeg."
Transformation of Portage and Main
During the 1960s and 1970s, Smith served in a number of industry association senior positions, including president of the Manitoba Association of Architects (1956–1961) and chairman of the National Joint Committee on Construction Materials (1963–1965). He was dean of the College of Fellows of the RAIC from 1972 to 1975, and chancellor of the RAIC itself in 1979.