Henry Reed (Harry) McDonic
(1902 - 1982)

Henry Reed [Harry] McDonic, active as both an architect and artist in Toronto, Ont. Born in West Hartlepool, England on 24 October 1902, he arrived in Canada in 1922 and trained in the offices of E. Telfer Arnoldi (in 1922-26), and Wickson & Gregg (in 1926-29). In 1929 he joined the staff of Hugh L. Allward as an assistant (1929-35), and remained there when the office was renamed Allward & Gouinlock in 1935. He was given joint credit as designer of the modern Gothic design of the McIntosh Memorial Art Gallery at the Univ. of Western Ontario in LONDON, ONT., 1941-42 (C.R., liv, 22 Jan. 1941, 36; J.J. & R.D. Talman, Western 1878-1953, 1953, 145, illus., 148-49). He later joined the office of Mathers & Haldenby in Toronto, and was appointed project architect by them for the design and construction of the National Library of Canada, Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ont. He had a special interest in ecclesiastical architecture, and, for Mathers & Haldenby, he designed chapels at Upper Canada College, Avenue Road, Toronto, at Loretto Abbey, Mason Boulevard, Toronto, and at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Bloor Street East, Toronto. McDonic was also an accomplished artist and member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and was a regular exhibitor at their annual exhibitions from 1936 to 1948 (E. McMann, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts - Exhibitions & Members 1880-1979, 1981, 255-6). McDonic died in Toronto on 27 November 1982.