Honorary degree citation - Phyllis Lambert

By: Charles Draimin, June 1986

Mr. Vice-Chancellor, I have the honour to present to you Phyllis Lambert, distinguished architect, urban planner, architectural historian, conservationist, community leader.

After taking her bachelor's degree at Vassar College, she went on to study first sculpture and then architecture, earning a master's degree at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Very early in her career, as Director of Planning for the Seagram Building in w York, Phyllis Lambert made her mark in the choice of architectural style of that famous building as well as later for the Toronto Dominion and Eaton Centres in Toronto. Closer to hone, she was the designer of the Saidye Bronfman Centre in Montreal. In the last decade her interest has turned to architectural preservation and conservation. We can see evidence of her work around us here: in Old Montreal, in Milton-Park, on St-Hubert Street. And not content as a developer and architect she has, as a scholar, exhibited, lectured and published on both modern and historical architecture, both in Canada and abroad.

The architectural profession both in Canada and the United States has honoured her. Among the many I will note only two: having received its Massey medal for Architecture she was subsequently elected Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada; the Ordre des architectes du Québec has presented her with its daille de trite. Outside her chosen profession as well she has been honoured, most recently by being made Chevalier de l'Ordre de Québec and appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.

Currently she is adjunct professor at the School of Architecture, Carleton University. But she is best known for her work in Montreal as one who has probably done as much as anyone to bring us to terms with our own urban heritage. She was a prime mover in the founding of Save Montréal and l ritage Montréal. More recently she created the Canadian Centre for Architecture which will be housed in the restored and extended Shaughnessy mansion on Dorchester Boulevard. Befitting her reputation as a scholar, she has ensured that the CCA's collection will be a great archive of architecture and a centre for research. If for nothing else she deserves our recognition for this.

Mr. Vice Chancellor, it is a privilege to present to you, on behalf of the Senate and by the authority of the Board of Governors, Phyllis Lambert, that you may confer on her the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.