Part of:

Fonds: Van Ginkel Associates fonds, 1944-1992

People:

Van Ginkel Associates Ltd. (archive creator)

Title:

Van Ginkel Associates fonds

Date:

1944-1992

Form:
archives

Level of archival description:
Fonds

Extent and medium:

Approximately 12.23 l.m. of textual records (101 boxes)
1420 drawings
581 reprographic copies
41 boards,
3 photographs
2 collages
2 typescripts
1 model
1 sketchbook

Scope and content:
The Van Ginkel Associates fonds documents the various partnerships between H.P. Daniel van Ginkel and Blanche Lemco van Ginkel, as listed in the administrative history, and projects which they undertook between 1957-1980.

Most projects undertaken by Van Ginkel Associates are well-documented in the fonds, however there are certain projects only documented by a report. Some of the projects complement each other such as the airport projects and transportation analyses. The project and proposal documentation is arranged in Series A. Less represented in the fonds are the the individual professional lives of the van Ginkel's outside of their corporate affiliation.

Some files in this fonds contain harmful materials and use racist language. Please take care when viewing this fonds and seek help from trustwothy sources if needed. Some content warnings havee been added at the project series and file level of this finding aid but this was done in an ad hoc way. You may still come across harmful material without warning. The CCA is in the process of revising this finding aid (2023).

Reference number:

AP027

Arrangement:
The fonds is arranged into five series: Project and proposal documentation (AP027.S1); Correspondence (AP027.S2); Financial records (AP027.S3); Subject and research files (AP027.S4); and Career, committee and conference material

Administrative history:

Van Ginkel Associates was established in 1957 in Montréal by H.P. Daniel van Ginkel and Blanche Lemco van Ginkel. The practice was briefly located in Winnipeg between 1966-68, then returned to Montréal until 1977, when it moved to Toronto as van Ginkel Associates (1977). Van Ginkel Associates also operated under the following names: van Ginkel Associates Ltd., Ecos Ltd. (project for the Government of Malaysia), van Ginkel Partners (in association with other firms), Ginkelvan Ltd., van Ginkel Associates Ltd. (1977).

H.P. DANIEL "SANDY" VAN GINKEL
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 10 February 1920 - Toronto, Canada, 5 July 2009
H.P. Daniel "Sandy" van Ginkel was born on 10 February 1920, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Sandy van Ginkel studied architecture at the Elckerlyc Academy of Architecture and Applied Art in Lage Vuurse, the Netherlands and Sociology at the University of Utrecht. At the start of his career, he worked in private offices in architecture and planning, designing residences, the interior of a passenger liner and the pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair. He also planned the reconstruction of an island flooded during the war. There were seventeen towns and villages on the island. Between 1946 and 1949, Sandy van Ginkel worked in the Ministry of Planning as architect-planner responsible for the regional planning area south of the City of Stockholm. In private practice he developed site plans for several new towns, for example, Taby and Nynäshamn. He also worked as a consultant for Svenska Shell during this period.

In 1950, he developed pre-fabricated houses for Guinness in Ireland and a plan for the rehabilitation of the river estuaries for the Land Rehabilitation Authority in his capacity as consultant. In 1951, Sandy van Ginkel was architect-planner for the City of Amsterdam under the direction of Cornelis van Eesteren. He was chiefly engaged in two major projects for the redevelopment of the city's historic core. In 1953, Sandy van Ginkel established his own practice in Amsterdam and designed residences, exhibitions, theatres, schools, and the new town of Nagele, which he designed in collaboration with Aldo van Eyck and the Dutch Group "De 8". In 1957, Sandy van GInkel married Blanche Lemco van Ginkel, whom he met during the 1953 CIAM congress, and moved to Montréal where they established a multidisciplinary planning, management and architecture firm.

Sandy van Ginkel has held faculty appointments at several universities: Assistant Professor of Architecture, McGill University (1958); Lecturer at McGill University (1963-64); Professor of Architecture, Nova Scotia Technical College (1964); Director, Research Group for Environmental Studies, Nova Scotia Technical College (1965); Professor of City Planning, University of Manitoba (1967). He was also Moshe Safdie's professor and thesis advisor at McGill University.

In 1987, Sandy van Ginkel was appointed Thomas Jefferson Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia. Sandy van Ginkel has published internationally on architectural and planning work in the professional press and several books. His articles have appeared in the Canadian Architect, Architectural Forum, Architectural Record and Canadian Art. From 1989 on, Sandy van Ginkel worked mostly as a sculptor. H.P. Daniel van Ginkel passed away on 5 July 2009. The van Ginkel couple had three children: Peter, Brenda, and Marc.

Throughout his career, Sandy van Ginkel received various honours and awards, including: Member Royal Architectural Institute of Canada; Canadian Architect Award (1972); Ordre des urbanistes du Québec (2003); Member of the Order of Canada (2007).

BLANCHE LEMCO VAN GINKEL
London, England, 14 December 1923 - 20 October 2022
Born 14 December 1923, in London, England, Blanche Lemco van Ginkel received her Bachelor of Architecture from McGill University (1945) and a Master of City Planning from Harvard University (1950).

Prior to founding the firm of van Ginkel Associates Ltd. in 1957, Blanche Lemco van Ginkel gained a diverse experience in the fields of architecture, city and regional planning, and urban design in Canada, the United States, England, France. She also gained experience as a Planning Assistant (1945) in Windsor, Ontario for the Planning Commission, Windsor, Ontario. She was Manager (1946), for the Regina City Planning Committee, Regina, Saskatchewan and she was a contributor in the office of W. Crabtree, architect (1946) in London, England, where she worked on a variety of architectural projects and rehabilitation of Southampton. She was also a contributor in the office of Le Corbusier, in Paris, France, working on the design of the toit-terrasse, Unité d'Habitation, Marseille; contributor in the office of Mayerovitch & Bernstein (1950), in Montréal, Québec, working on the design of houses, commercial and industrial buildings.

She has held faculty appointments and has been visiting critic/lecturer at several universities including: The University of Pennsylvania (1951-57); Harvard University (1958, 1971); University of Montréal (1961-67, 1969-70); Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1966); McGill University (1971-77); Princeton University (1976-80); Director of the School of Architecture, University of Toronto (1977-80); Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at University of Toronto from 1980-82.

Blanche Lemco van Ginkel has published on architecture and planning work in the professional press. Her articles have been published in Canadian Art, Journal of the American Institute of Planners, Community Planning Review, Architecture Canada, Architectural Design, The Canadian Architect. Throughout her career, she received various honours and awards, including: IFHP Grand Prix for Film (1956); Massey Medal for Architecture (1964); Queen's Jubilee Medal for Architecture.

Blanche Lemco van Ginkel passed away on October 20, 2022.

Conditions governing access:

Access by appointment only. Some textual files may be restricted due to their confidential or nominative nature.

Conditions governing reproduction:

For copyright information or permission to reproduce material from the fonds, please contact the CCA (reproductions@cca.qc.ca).

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer:

Gift of H.P. Daniel van Ginkel and Blanche Lemco van Ginkel.

Custodial history:

The fonds of van Ginkel Associates Ltd. was donated by H.P. Daniel van Ginkel and Blanche Lemco van Ginkel. It was transferred to the Archives Department of the Canadian Centre for Architecture on June 8, 1988 from their office-residence at 34 Summerhill Gardens, Toronto, Ontario, by Robert Fortier and Michel Robert. Additional materials were subsequently donated by H.P. Daniel van Ginkel and Blanche Lemco van Ginkel on 13 August 1996, on 27 August 1997 (transferred to the Archives Department by David Hodgson and Francis Blanchard), and by Blanche Lemco van Ginkel on 23 March 1999 (via Phyllis Lambert) and 30 January 2007.

Archivist's note:

The initial Van Ginkel Associates fonds finding aid was originally completed by Jane Bellyk in 1989. Textual records from ARCON1988:0005 were recorded in TMS in 2010 by Jonathan Dorey and graphic material from ARCON1988:0005 was processed and recorded by Jennifer Prefontaine, Mary Louise Gordon and Brian Mekis in 2010-2011. Graphic material from ARCON1996:0024 was processed and recorded in TMS by Jennifer Prefontaine, Mary Louise Gordon and Brian Mekis in 2010-2011 and the textual material by Kelli Babcock in 2011. ARCON1997:0069 was processed and recorded by Jonathan Dorey in 2010 and the ARCON1999:0032 was moved to AP058. Additions of reference slides made in 2017 were processed by archivist Catherine Jacob in 2019.

Language of material:

Documents are mainly in English, with some materials in French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Related units of description:

Also of interest may be the Blanche Lemco van Ginkel fonds (AP058) and the Humphrey Carver fonds (AP020) held by the CCA and the Blanche Lemko van Ginkel fonds (B1993-0042) held by the University of Toronto Archives.