Blanche Lemco van Ginkel facts for kids

Blanche Lemco van Ginkel CM FRAIC (born December 14, 1923 – died October 20, 2022) was a famous Canadian architect, city planner, and teacher. She was born in England but worked mostly in Montreal and Toronto.

Blanche is known for her Modernist designs. She also helped plan Expo 67, a big world fair in Montreal. She played a key role in saving Old Montreal from being changed too much. Blanche Lemco van Ginkel was the first woman to lead a university architecture school in Canada. She was also the first woman to be given a special award by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. In 2020, she received their highest honor, the RAIC Gold Medal.

Early Life and Learning

Blanche Lemco van Ginkel was born in London, England, on December 14, 1923. Her family moved to Canada when she was fourteen years old. She won a scholarship and went to McGill University. She earned a degree in architecture in 1945.

In 1948, she worked for a short time with a famous architect named Le Corbusier in France. She helped with his Unité d'Habitation project. This experience taught her a lot about Modernist design ideas. She later brought these ideas back to Canada.

Blanche continued her studies at Harvard University. She earned a degree in city planning in 1950. Two years later, she became a registered architect. She was only the fourth woman to do this in Quebec.

Blanche worked on the rooftop of Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation in Marseille. She designed the children's play area there.

Blanche was part of a group called Team 10. This group focused on Modernist ideas in architecture. In 1953, she met her future husband, Sandy van Ginkel, at a meeting in France. In 1957, they started their own company, Van Ginkel Associates. It was an architecture and planning firm in Toronto.

In 2014, Blanche Lemco van Ginkel received a special award from McGill University. It was for her big impact on Montreal's buildings and city planning. She was called "a visionary" and "a true citizen of the world."

Her Work

Architect and Planner

Bowring Park, St. John's, Newfoundland

Blanche Lemco van Ginkel was known for combining city planning with her architecture skills. She focused on modernist design. This style uses simple, bold shapes and avoids too much decoration.

In the 1950s and 1960s, her company worked on many projects. One was Bowring Park in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. This park includes the special Van Ginkel Footbridge. Her firm also helped plan the center of Montréal and Midtown Manhattan.

Blanche and her husband were very important for Expo 67. They designed the main plan for this world fair. Expo 67 was a huge event for Montreal and Canada. She even asked Moshe Safdie to join the team. He designed the famous Habitat 67 buildings.

The van Ginkels also saved Old Montreal from new construction. They wrote a detailed report that stopped a highway project. This highway would have cut right through the historic area. They also worked to protect Mount Royal, a mountain park in Montreal.

Blanche was a true pioneer as a female architect. She was the first woman to hold many important positions. She was the first woman officer at the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. In 2020, she received the prestigious RAIC Gold Medal.

Map of the Expo 67 site.

Teacher

Blanche Lemco van Ginkel taught architecture at universities in Canada and the United States. She taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. She also taught at Université de Montréal and McGill University. From 1980 to 1982, she was the head of the architecture school at the University of Toronto. She was the first woman in Canada to hold such a position.

Blanche also appeared in a film called Suburban Living: Six Solutions (1960). In this film, she looked at different housing projects in Europe and compared them to Don Mills in Canada.

Writer

Blanche Lemco van Ginkel wrote many articles. She wrote for magazines like "The Canadian Architect" and "Canadian Art." Her articles were about women in architecture, teaching architecture, and modern city planning.

Personal Life

Blanche Lemco van Ginkel married Sandy van Ginkel in 1956. They had two children. Sandy passed away in 2009. Blanche Lemco van Ginkel died in Toronto on October 20, 2022. She was 98 years old.

Awards and Honors

Blanche Lemco van Ginkel received many awards and honors:

• 1956: Vienna Grand Prix
• 1964: Massey Medal for Architecture
• 1977: Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal
• 2000: Member of the Order of Canada
• 2014: Honorary Doctor of Science from McGill University
• 2020: RAIC Gold Medal

She was the first woman to be chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 1973. In 2020, she became only the third woman to receive the RAIC Gold Medal. The other two were Phyllis Lambert (1991) and Jane Jacobs (1981). Blanche Lemco van Ginkel was also featured in the 2018 film City Dreamers. This film showed the lives of four important female architects.

See also

• Sandy van Ginkel
• Van Ginkel Footbridge

In Spanish: Blanche Lemco van Ginkel para niños