Ernest J. Smith
"[6] One of the most "prolific and influential" design firms in Winnipeg,[7] they earned a reputation in the 1950s and 1960s for "slick, understated, lucid, refined and experimental architecture keyed directly into site and landscape"[8] which "changed the urban character" of the city.
[9] 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.
[10] 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.
[1] 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,[12] several schools.
[6] 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.
Well-considered proportions, materials, and such details as the projecting decorative brick cross-pattern on the east wall make this a noteworthy ensemble.
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)[17] designed by Green Blankstein Russell in 1950.
[11] 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.
[6] Throughout the 1960s, the City of Winnipeg conducted transport studies which led to a rethinking of traffic flow through Portage Avenue and Main Street, the city's hub, and had Smith Carter conduct the transit forecast studies which concluded that mixing pedestrian and vehicular traffic would no longer be viable, ultimately leading to the construction of an underground concourse replacing the four sidewalks of the corner.
[note 2] One of the firm's most identifiable works from the period, and "one of the most identifiable landmarks of the city" is the Richardson Building[9] (1967–1969; with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill as consulting architects),[20] It forms the anchor of the Lombard Place development, which includes the Winnipeg Inn (1970, currently the Fairmont Hotel) and the underground concourse later connected to Trizec's Winnipeg Square shopping mall (1979)[20] and the Commodity Exchange Tower (1974–1979, often referred to as the "Trizec Building" locally).
[25] In January 1975, five artists, Henry Saxe, Ulysse Comtois, John Nugent, Ricardo Gomez, and Hugh Leroy, were chosen by Smith (with Kenneth Lochhead's advice).
[30] Alongside Dennis Carter, his business partner of thirty-eight years, Ernest Smith was awarded an honorary life membership from the Manitoba Association of Architects in 2000.
[33] The general plan, a strict rectangle with a central core appendage for entry along with a breezeway and garage on the north side of the house, keeps day- and night-time activities separate.
[29] Smith remained there after Marjorie died in 1993, moving back to Winnipeg in 1998, and finally to a personal care home in The Pas in 2001, where his son Chris lived.
