Harold Spence-Sales

[4][5][6][7] In 1946, Spence-Sales moved with his family from London to Montreal, Quebec so he could take up a position as an instructor at McGill University's School of Architecture.

[6] He also worked on secret plans for the government related to the evacuation of London and other surrounding English cities in addition to preparing for a German invasion; he was considered a "Designated Person" for the war effort.

While teaching at McGill University, Spence-Sales in collaboration with Bland established the first ever Canadian graduate studies program in urban and town planning.

[13][1] In 1946, it was imperative that a university program in urban and town planning was established in order to prepare architects for the reconstruction phase that followed the Second World War.

[14][20] While teaching at McGill University, Spence-Sales ended up instructing world renowned architects, such as, Murray Jones, Len Gurtler, Norbert Schoenauer, Moshe Safdie, William Perks, David Farley, Jeanne Wolfe and Peter Oberlander.

[3] Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Spence-Sales began a successful practice as an urban planning consultant; he worked extensively on residential projects in the Victoria and Vancouver regions as well as Oakville Ontario.

[3] Spence-Sales once stated that, “[He] had come to Victoria not to retire, but rather start a new life…and participate in another feature of urban growth, emphasizing that his work would not be an ivory tower affair, but would be closely aligned with city staff and public opinion”.

[10][3] Throughout his career, Spence-Sales made a point of incorporating ecological concerns and natural landscapes into urban planning and architectural projects.

A former student of his, Jeanne Wolfe stated that, “Long before ideas about ‘plan with nature’ were articulated, [Harold Spence-Sales] was teaching environmental sensitivity”.

He worked on plans for a whole host of cities.These included Edmonton (1948), Vancouver (1949), Sudbury (1950), Comer Brook (1951), Prince Albert (1952), Fredericton (1956), Sept Isles (1957), Moncton (1959), Beaconsfield (1959), Sydney (1960), and Montreal (1960).

"How to subdivide", taught urban and town planners how to maximize profit, space, identify environmental and geographic features in addition to minimizing costs.

[1] During his later years, Spence-Sales focused less on his work as an urban planner and pursued projects that were more artistic in nature; often in collaboration with Filer.

The topic of the “Touchlines” exhibition was an examination of the common lands and borders that the United States of America and Canada share.