Catherine Mary Wisnicki

Catherine Mary Wisnicki (née Chard, 19 September 1919 – 21 October 2014) was a Canadian architect, planner and educator. She was the first woman to graduate from the McGill University School of Architecture. Her professional career was spent largely in Vancouver, where she was a senior designer with the firm Sharp, Thompson, Berwick, Pratt (later Thompson Berwick and Pratt and Partners). She taught at the University of British Columbia school of architecture.

Catherine Mary Wisnicki
Arvida, an industrial town in Quebec, was planned by a team of designers that included Catherine Mary Wisnicki.
Arvida, Quebec, 1928
Born
Catherine Chard

(1919-09-19)September 19, 1919
Winnipeg, Manitoba
DiedOctober 21, 2014(2014-10-21) (aged 95)
British Columbia
NationalityCanadian
Alma materMcGill University
Known forarchitecture, urban planning
MovementModernist architecture
SpousePaul Wisnicki
AwardsHonorary Doctorate of Science, McGill University, 1996

Biography

Catherine Mary Wisnicki was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1919. She graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 1939. She then went on to obtain her Bachelor of Architecture, becoming the first woman to graduate from architecture at McGill in 1943.[1]

Early in her career, Wisnicki worked with A.J.C. Paine and Lawson & Betts. She also participated in the planning of Arvida, Québec, for the Aluminum Company of Canada (now Alcan). Right after World War II, she undertook a study of prefabricated housing for the Canadian Wooden Aircraft Company in Toronto. As an outcome of the research, she co-authored a major article on the subject of "prefab" houses with city planner E.G. Faludi in 1945.[2]

In 1945, Wisnicki registered with the Ontario Association of Architects, becoming their fourth woman member. That same year, she married Paul Wisnicki, a former aeronautical structural engineer in the Polish Air Force. In 1946, they moved to Vancouver, where she became the second female member to register with the Architectural Institute of British Columbia.[3]

Wisnicki spent most of her career in Vancouver, where she became a senior designer with firm Sharp, Thompson, Berwick, Pratt (later Thompson Berwick and Pratt and Partners. She worked closely with partner Ned Pratt, participating in the design of the Brooks, Saba, Gregg and Mathers residences, all considered icons of Canadian West Coast Modernism. She also worked briefly in partnership with architect John C.H. Porter to design the Daniels and Nemetz houses on the University of British Columbia Endowment Lands, which are also considered iconic.[4]

In 1963, Wisnicki began teaching part-time at the University of British Columbia's school of architecture. She joined the faculty full-time in 1969.

After retiring in 1986, Wisnicki and her husband moved to Naramata, British Columbia where they designed and built an innovative passive solar house.[3]

Influence

Wisnicki is a trailblazing woman in a field dominated by men. She was the first woman to graduate from McGill University's school of architecture, the fourth female member of the Ontario Association of Architects, and the second female member of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia. Along with Porter and others, Wisnicki was among a group that brought Modernist ideas to the West Coast in the postwar period. She contributed to the regional style known as West Coast Modernism or BC Modernism, characterized by a clear expression of structure (often with large wood or concrete members), and generous connections between indoor and outdoor spaces.[5]

See also

References
  1. "Canadian Women Artists History Initiative". Canadian Women Artists History Initiative. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  2. Faludi, E.G.; Chard, Catherine (March 1945). "The Prefabricated House Industry". Journal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada: 56–62.
  3. "Obiturary, Catherine Wisnicki". Vancouver Sun. Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  4. Hill, Robert G. "Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada". Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada. Archived from the original on 9 March 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  5. Adams, Annmarie. "Canadian Encyclopedia". Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 9 March 2015.

Further reading
  • Adams, Annmarie (2000). Designing women: gender and the architectural profession. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9781442673847.
  • Constructing Careers: Profiles of Five Early Women Architects in British Columbia. Vancouver : Women in Architecture Exhibits Committee, 1996.
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