People:
- Raymond Tait Affleck (archive creator)
- Arcop Associates (architectural firm)
Form:
archives
Level of archival description:
Fonds
Scope and content:
The Ray Affleck fonds, 1952-1989, documents Raymond Tait Affleck’s professional career as an associate at Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold, Michaud, Sise (1958-1970) and a principal at Arcop Associates (1970-1989). This extensive collection of textual records, more specifically, document Ray Affleck’s participation in a number of partnerships, professional associations, advisory committees, juries, seminars, and public events. The fonds comprises of approximately 370 administrative files that were collected by his personal secretaries from 1952 to 1989.
Textual records in this fonds primarily consist of professional correspondence relating to Affleck’s architectural practice; other records include offers of service, contracts, personal projects, internal memos, several versions of Arcop partnership agreements, and meeting minutes from various committees and professional associations. The fonds also contains invitations, correspondence, and meeting minutes that relate to Affleck’s charity work and his contributions as a professor and lecturer at a number of universities, seminars, and symposia. Working drafts and completed manuscripts of his lectures, essays, articles, and reflections are also included in this collection.
Arrangement:
This fonds was originally donated to the Canadian Centre for Architecture in 17 boxes and arranged in rough alphabetical order by Raymond Affleck’s personal secretaries. To ensure the preservation of the records, materials were redistributed into 18 boxes and their original order maintained.
The fonds has been arranged into three series and eleven sub-series. The series and sub-series are as follows:
AP088.S1 Professional Practice
AP088.S1.SS1 Partnership agreements (1961-1988)
AP088.S1.SS2 General correspondence (1966-1988)
AP088.S1.SS3 Administrative files: contracts and projects (1952-1986)
AP088.S1.SS4 Professional associations (1966-1989)
AP088.S1.SS5 Advisory committees and juries (1964-1986)
AP088.S1.SS6 Participation in other groups and organizations (1969-1987)
AP088.S2 Publications, lectures and teaching
AP088.S2.SS1 Writings, interviews, panel discussions (1957-1989)
AP088.S2.SS2 Correspondence with colleges and universities (1966-1989)
AP088.S2.SS3 Documentation (1958-1986)
AP088.S3 Personal Files
AP088.S3.SS1 Personal and family files (1962-1986)
AP088.S3.SS2 Fundraising and donations (1959-1982)
Biographical notes:
Raymond Tait Affleck was born on November 22, 1922 in Penticton, British Columbia. He was raised in Montreal, Quebec where, in 1947, he received a Bachelor degree in Architecture from McGill University. After graduation, Affleck briefly settled in Zurich, Switzerland. There, he completed his post- graduate studies at the Federal Technical Institute and worked with Swiss architects Max Ernst Haefeli, Werner Max Moser and Rudolf Steiger. In 1950, he married Betty Ann Henley and they had five children together.
In 1955, Affleck and five other Montreal architects established the firm Affleck, Desbarats, Dimakopoulos, Lebensold, Michaud, Sise (commonly known as Arcop). During these early years, Arcop was responsible for several important commissions in Quebec and Canada. Affleck acted as partner-in charge for many of these projects including the Post Office of the Town of Mount Royal (1958), McGill University’s Leacock Building (1965), and Place Bonaventure (1967). These three constructions earned him Massey Medals in 1961, 1967, and 1970 respectively. In 1970, Affleck also received the American Society of Landscape Architects award for his work on Place Bonaventure; in that same year, he was awarded the Canadian Centennial Medal.
With the successful construction of Place Bonaventure, Affleck achieved worldwide recognition for his architectural designs. In 1968, he was asked to give the RIBA Annual Lecture at the Royal Institute of British Architects. In the late 1960s, Affleck was also invited to oversee architectural and urban design for several advisory committees and became an important consultant to various leading professional, governmental and private organizations.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Arcop was involved in numerous architectural and urban projects in both Canada and abroad. As a principal of Arcop, Affleck was integral in the design of several prize-winning buildings. In 1980, Affleck and his partner Ramesh Khosla were awarded the Aga Khan Award for their design of the Hotel Jughal-Sheraton in Agra, India. In 1984, Affleck’s design for Maison Alcan was given the Prix d’excellence of the Ordre des architectes du Quebec. He also received personal honours such as the OAQ Medal of Honour (1983) and an honorary doctorate from McGill University (1984).
Throughout his professional career, Ray Affleck was an active educator. From 1960-1972, Affleck was a guest critic and lecturer at numerous Canadian and American institutions From 1967-1975, Affleck worked as a visiting professor at McGill University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Manitoba. Affleck was also a member of several architectural organizations including the Order of Architects of Quebec, the Ontario Association of Architects, the New Brunswick Association Architects, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and the Association of Architects in both New York State and the State of California.
Affleck died on March 16, 1989; the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada posthumously awarded Affleck with their highest Honour, a Gold Medal, for his architectural contributions in Canada.
Conditions governing access:
- Access by appointment only.
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 Betty Ann Affleck on December 21, 1998
Custodial history:
- Ray Affleck’s wife, Betty Ann Affleck, donated this fonds to the Canadian Centre for Architecture on December 21, 1998.
Archivist's note:
- The materials in this fonds were arranged in 1998 by the CCA. A fonds level description was created by Patricia Di Palma on October 31, 2016.
Location:
Montréal
Island of Montréal
Québec
Canada
Credit line:
When citing the collection as a whole, use the following citation:
Ray Affleck fonds
Collection Centre Canadien d'Architecture/
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal
When citing specific collection material, please refer to the object’s specific credit line.
