THE TENTH DECADE (1981 - 1990)

Murray Ross, who had returned from Nigeria after a tour of seven years as a "Missionary Architect" for the Presbyterian Church, and who also had worked for the Brown firm for a short time in the sixties, had a few years earlier set up practice with classmate Fred Beck. Murray and Fred were heavily engaged in residential architecture, but had completed some church commissions including a church sponsored housing project in Scarborough, St. David's Village. It happened that Murray Ross and Doug Brown were neighbours and so the opportunity for some social contact spawned thoughts of a professional association. In 1980, these negotiations gave birth to the Brown Beck & Ross Architects partnership, which seemed a natural result of similar backgrounds and objectives. (Murray Ross' father had also been an architect). Fred Beck, a classmate of Murray's, had worked with Page & Steele Architects before setting out on his own in 1966 in a residential practice and then joining Murray Ross in 1974 to form Beck & Ross Architects. (William Menzel, who had worked for both Murray Ross and Fred Beck while each operated a private practice from the basement of his house, and who joined Beck & Ross Architects upon graduating, moved with them in the formation of the new firm). The new partnership gradually developed from a combination of residential and church projects to an almost exclusively institutional practice, with churches again a growing field, educational buildings, and increasing church sponsored housing giving added impetus to the firm. By 1991, the 100th year of the practice the firm has to its credit along with many church, residential and educational buildings, a series of five churches sponsored housing projects completed and operating, and a further half dozen of these projects in various stages of design and construction. In order to complete this work, the total work force in the office was expanded to about fifteen people, a number the firm had not seen since the mid 1950's. At this point Douglas Brown concluded his original Record of Practice, written in April 1991in celebration of the firm's centenary. However as the practice at the time was in active promotion of its abilities and talents, and its current and recent projects relatively well known, Doug Brown provided little detail about the work of the firm in the tenth decade. A record of the practice throughout the tenth decade and beyond follows. The tenth decade witnessed some significant projects designed by the partnership. In the educational field were a number of renovations to the buildings of Upper Canada College, including new laboratories and upgrading the boarding house washrooms. Following renovations to the laboratories at Upper Canada, the firm renovated the facilities at The Bishop Strachan School and then went on to renovate its kitchen facilities and design the Rogers Wing, a significant addition encompassing theatre and music facilities, new libraries and classrooms. During the tenth decade the firm also began its work for DeVry Institute of Technology, initially carrying out numerous renovations at its original North York facility.
Thorncliffe Park United    (1986)    Walton Place (1991)	The decade began with Beck & Ross Architects bringing its St. Mathew's Bracondale House project, a seniors and families housing project sponsored by St. Matthews United Church, into the new firm. Towards the middle of the decade, the firm designed a second seniors and families housing project that also included a childcare centre while providing a new church facility for Thorncliffe Park United Church. Having demonstrated its abilities to design church sponsored housing, the firm went on to design Walton Place that included a new Westminster Presbyterian Church (the project won a City of Scarborough Urban Design Award in 1992), Portland Place, sponsored by the Presbyterian ministry Evangel Hall, and Bonar Parkdale Place,
sponsored by Bonar Parkdale Presbyterian Church, an historic building whose exterior and interior was restored as part of the project. As an added service to churches wishing to develop their land, the firm engaged the services of Rochelle Grafstein, also the office administrator, and Susan Woods, as housing consultants. With their expertise, the firm went on to complete four more church sponsored social housing projects prior to governments withdrawing their support.
St Matthew's Anglican ,    Islington (1986)    Aurora United (1988)	Two different concerns informed church projects throughout the decade. The first was the increased awareness by churches of the importance in making their facilities accessible to those physically challenged. The ability to renovate existing buildings to make them barrier free was facilitated by the development of a commercially suitable, viable alternative to a full elevator for vertical transportation, the barrier free platform lift. Government assistance to churches that ran community access programmes inspired many a congregation to review its ministries and facilities, often with the result of adding and altering an existing buildings to improve and expand facilities at the same time as
making those facilities barrier free accessible. Some notable projects that grew from this awareness are St. Matthew (Islington) and St. Timothy (Agincourt) Anglican Churches, Wood Green and Aurora United Churches, Weston Baptist Church and Erindale Presbyterian Church.
The second concern to inform church projects was the introduction of Part 9: Retrofit of the Ontario Fire Code in the mid 1980's. The initial publication had churches as assembly occupancies being treated the same as commercial facilities, with potentially onerous financial impact. The firm, along with various denominational planning organizations, negotiated with the Office of the Fire Marshall for recognition of churches unique position vis à vis the realities of fire safety issues, ultimately succeeding in the publication of interpretive document to be used in applying the Code to church buildings. As a result of the advocacy work and its large body of former clients, the firm conducted numerous Life Safety Studies defining the required scope of work and its scheduling and subsequently carried out a number of Fire Code upgrades in various church buildings.
St Philip's On-the-Hill    Anglican, Unionville (1987)    St James Anglican,    Cambridge (1989)    Orleans United (1989)	Throughout the decade the firm continued to serve the church community in the design of a number of new church developments. St. Philip-on-the-Hill in Unionville and St James (Hespeler) in Cambridge, both Anglican; North Bramalea and Orleans United Churches, the one in Brampton and the other east of Ottawa; and Gloucester Presbyterian Church, also near Ottawa, are but a few of such projects. Undertaking projects outside of the Greater Toronto area was also a hallmark of the decade. The design sensitivity of the firm was further recognised with the Town of Markham presenting its Environmental Award in 1987 for the design of St. Philip-on-the-Hill. As the decade drew to a close, the partnership was aware of a severe recession that began to impact the architectural profession. The affects of that recession, however, did not take their toll on the firm until the middle of the next decade.

 

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