author
Ramsay Traquair
1874–1952
Best known for helping people see the beauty and importance of old Quebec buildings, this Scottish-born architect and teacher turned careful observation into lasting scholarship. His books and teaching helped spark wider interest in Canada's architectural heritage.
1 Audiobook
Byzantine Churches in Constantinople: Their History and Architecture
by Alexander Van Millingen, Walter S. George, Arthur E. (Arthur Edward) Henderson, Ramsay Traquair
About the author
Born in Edinburgh on March 29, 1874, Ramsay Traquair came from a notably artistic and scholarly family: his father was the scientist Ramsay Heatley Traquair and his mother was the artist Phoebe Anna Traquair. Trained as an architect in Scotland, he later built strong ties to Canada and became better known for his writing and research than for a large body of buildings.
Traquair served as Macdonald Professor of Architecture at McGill University from 1914 to 1938. During those years he carried out pioneering studies of early Canadian and French-Canadian architecture, paying close attention to old churches, houses, and decorative details that many others had overlooked.
His best-known book, The Old Architecture of Quebec (1947), helped awaken lasting interest in Quebec's historic built environment. He died in Guysborough, Nova Scotia, on August 26, 1952, leaving behind an important legacy as an architect, teacher, and early historian of Canadian architecture.