Mark London helped shape our public spaces

Architect, urban planner saved heritage buildings, had impact on a generation, Shawn Rosengarten says.

Have you ever wondered why the Old Port of Montreal is an animated public space rather an enclave of condominiums or how Alexander Calder’s giant sculpture on Île-Ste-Hélène came to adorn a belvedere with a breathtaking view of Montreal? It is no exaggeration to say both are thanks to Mark London. The Montreal architect and urban planner, who died in Boston Aug. 18 at age 70, quietly but relentlessly spent decades promoting historic preservation and sustainable urban development.

Mark was a kind, generous and loving person who dedicated his professional life to improving the cities we live in. A rassembleur who studied architecture at McGill before switching to Université de Montréal, Mark early in his career worked at van Ginkel Associates on a comprehensive analysis of Manhattan’s traffic woes and later at ARCOP on large-scale projects including the redevelopment of the Halifax and Toronto waterfronts. He then shifted his focus to Montreal, where he led the public consultation for the redevelopment of the Old Port, oversaw the transformation of the former Expo 67 site into a large park, and participated in the rehabilitation of Mount Royal Park and the Lachine Canal. He did this while simultaneously serving on Westmount’s architectural Planning Advisory Committee, drafting many of its current guidelines. After spending summers on Martha’s Vineyard for decades, Mark moved there in 2002, taking on the role of executive director of the island’s planning agency.

I met Mark when I was 15 years old and interested in urban planning and architecture. My father, who knew Mark and his sister Eleanor London, founder of the Côte- St-Luc Library since renamed in her honour, suggested I contact him. Eager to help with the

Mark’s civic engagement echoed the breadth of his professional accomplishments.

Expo site redevelopment, I started visiting Mark’s office, which was located in a city-owned administrative building at La Ronde — a unique workplace. Every few minutes, pandemonium would erupt with the screams of people riding the adjacent roller-coaster. It would have made for great television. Mark put me to work creating a series of bilingual walking tours of the newly transformed southwestern tip of ÎleSte-Hélène, which we wrote and I gave in 1992 and 1993. He never tired of answering my many questions and became a role model of mine, as he did for many people.

I quickly came to realize that Mark’s civic engagement echoed the breadth of his professional accomplishments. From their musicfilled Victorian townhouse backing onto Stayner Park, Mark and his soulmate, industrial designer Linda Thompson, had not only been directly involved in the evolution of the park as well as the creation of the adjacent community centre — Centre Greene — but they were also at the forefront of the local heritage movement. Founding members of SAVE Montreal, the London-Thompsons helped save landmarks such as Windsor Station and the Grey Nuns Mother House, to name a few. Their home was also a second home to many, be it to Mark and Linda’s peers or the friends of their adored daughters Alexandra and Natasha.

As executive director of Heritage Montreal, Mark oversaw the creation of educational programs including publications, seminars and walking tours about historic buildings and neighbourhoods. Heritage Montreal introduced a home renovation course offering participants a mini-architecture degree over eight weeks, a series of technical guides on restoration and renovation, and even a Master’s Program in Conservation accredited at the Université de Montréal. With this and by creating an architecture column that ran for many years in the Montreal Gazette, Mark enlightened a generation of Montrealers about their built environment.

He will be deeply missed by all of us who admired and loved him for his gentle but effective way, lack of pretence, clarity of vision and service to this city. Hundreds of people gathered at the Chillmark Community Centre on Martha’s Vineyard for a tribute-filled celebration of Mark’s life Sept. 9. It was standing room only. Shawn Rosengarten is a Montreal-based television distributor.