Czeslaw Brzozowicz
Encyclopedia
Czeslaw Peter Brzozowicz (born on June 28, 1911, in Sokolow Malopolski
, Poland
; died of pneumonia in Toronto
on November 24, 1997) was a consulting engineer for the CN Tower
, Toronto-Dominion Centre, first Toronto subway
line, among many other Canadian construction projects.
Brzozowicz was a structural engineer and visionary who brought sound engineering practices to a young nation not yet known for its building environment. Like many newcomers, he arrived in Canada with a few dollars, his professional training and an inexhaustible appetite for work.
Brzozowicz graduated in civil engineering from the University of Lwow in Poland only months before the Nazi invasion. He served with the Polish army in Poland and France
for three years before obtaining a Canadian visa in 1942 under an agreement with the government-in-exile to send engineers for Canada's war industries. His first job was as a surveyor, laying out the highway between Prince George and Prince Rupert in British Columbia
. In 1944, Brzozowicz joined Marathon Paper Mills in Toronto, designing their Northern Ontario plants. At the close of the war, sensing Canada was set to boom, he launched a private practice as a consulting engineer. His first client was Canadian Breweries Ltd., whose heady expansion plans - typical for the time - called for several reinforced concrete structures in Toronto, Waterloo, Windsor and Montreal.
Brzozowicz made a name for himself designing concrete structures reinforced with imbedded steel bars. It was a relatively uncommon practice in Canada, since the short construction season was considered unfavourable for poured concrete walls. Gruff and insistent, Peter was on the ground floor of an engineering trend that would become enormously popular.
Brzozowicz designed grain elevators and other industrial structures in Toronto, Winnipeg and Montreal. Working with Pigott Construction, he contributed to such Canadian landmarks as the A.V. Roe aircraft facility and one of the world's largest automobile factories, General Motors' Autoplex in Oshawa, Ontario.
Brzozowicz left indelible imprints on the Canadian landscape. He consulted extensively on Toronto's first subway line, which ran under Yonge Street from Union Station to Eglinton Avenue. C.P. Brzozowicz Ltd. supplied engineering know-how for the construction of the Commonwealth's tallest building in the 1960s, Mies van der Rohe's Toronto-Dominion Centre.
His expertise was invaluable in the design of the world's first tower with a revolving restaurant, the Skylon Tower in Niagara Falls, Ontario. That turned out to be a dress rehearsal for a later, more ambitious project, when Peter was involved in the crucial shoring of the CN Tower, the world's tallest freestanding structure - and one made of reinforced concrete.
Despite these accomplishments, Brzozowicz's family was the source of his greatest pride. With Danuta, his wife of 48 years, he raised three daughters and three sons, dividing their time between their north Toronto home, a ramshackle cottage on Georgian Bay and an apple farm near Collingwood, Ontario
.
A graduate of the old school, Peter believed anything was possible if you studied and worked hard. He made sure each of his children received a traditional Catholic education and the encouragement to pursue a worthwhile endeavour. If he was saddened that none took up his work, he never showed it.
The Brzozowicz family home was one of the more than 700 projects that took shape on his firm's wooden drafting tables in his lifetime. Peter resisted his fondness for reinforced concrete and dressed his commodious home in warm red brick, built in 1957. Dwarfed now by the adjacent buildings, it is, like many of his projects, a monument to simpler times, when Canadians toiled in factories, goods moved by water and families assembled at the dinner table.
When the house is eventually vacated by his family, it will undoubtedly be razed to make way for something dubiously considered better. The wrecking crew would be well advised to bring plenty of dynamite.
Sokolów Malopolski
Sokołów Małopolski is a town in Rzeszów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland, with a population of 3,962 .-External links:**some was taken about 24 years ago and the rest in 31-01-2006.-References:Notes...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
; died of pneumonia in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
on November 24, 1997) was a consulting engineer for the CN Tower
CN Tower
The CN Tower is a communications and observation tower in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Standing tall, it was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower at the time. It held both records for 34 years until the completion of the Burj...
, Toronto-Dominion Centre, first Toronto subway
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
line, among many other Canadian construction projects.
Brzozowicz was a structural engineer and visionary who brought sound engineering practices to a young nation not yet known for its building environment. Like many newcomers, he arrived in Canada with a few dollars, his professional training and an inexhaustible appetite for work.
Brzozowicz graduated in civil engineering from the University of Lwow in Poland only months before the Nazi invasion. He served with the Polish army in Poland and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
for three years before obtaining a Canadian visa in 1942 under an agreement with the government-in-exile to send engineers for Canada's war industries. His first job was as a surveyor, laying out the highway between Prince George and Prince Rupert in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. In 1944, Brzozowicz joined Marathon Paper Mills in Toronto, designing their Northern Ontario plants. At the close of the war, sensing Canada was set to boom, he launched a private practice as a consulting engineer. His first client was Canadian Breweries Ltd., whose heady expansion plans - typical for the time - called for several reinforced concrete structures in Toronto, Waterloo, Windsor and Montreal.
Brzozowicz made a name for himself designing concrete structures reinforced with imbedded steel bars. It was a relatively uncommon practice in Canada, since the short construction season was considered unfavourable for poured concrete walls. Gruff and insistent, Peter was on the ground floor of an engineering trend that would become enormously popular.
Brzozowicz designed grain elevators and other industrial structures in Toronto, Winnipeg and Montreal. Working with Pigott Construction, he contributed to such Canadian landmarks as the A.V. Roe aircraft facility and one of the world's largest automobile factories, General Motors' Autoplex in Oshawa, Ontario.
Brzozowicz left indelible imprints on the Canadian landscape. He consulted extensively on Toronto's first subway line, which ran under Yonge Street from Union Station to Eglinton Avenue. C.P. Brzozowicz Ltd. supplied engineering know-how for the construction of the Commonwealth's tallest building in the 1960s, Mies van der Rohe's Toronto-Dominion Centre.
His expertise was invaluable in the design of the world's first tower with a revolving restaurant, the Skylon Tower in Niagara Falls, Ontario. That turned out to be a dress rehearsal for a later, more ambitious project, when Peter was involved in the crucial shoring of the CN Tower, the world's tallest freestanding structure - and one made of reinforced concrete.
Despite these accomplishments, Brzozowicz's family was the source of his greatest pride. With Danuta, his wife of 48 years, he raised three daughters and three sons, dividing their time between their north Toronto home, a ramshackle cottage on Georgian Bay and an apple farm near Collingwood, Ontario
Collingwood, Ontario
Collingwood is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it is situated on Nottawasaga Bay at the southern point of Georgian Bay.-History:...
.
A graduate of the old school, Peter believed anything was possible if you studied and worked hard. He made sure each of his children received a traditional Catholic education and the encouragement to pursue a worthwhile endeavour. If he was saddened that none took up his work, he never showed it.
The Brzozowicz family home was one of the more than 700 projects that took shape on his firm's wooden drafting tables in his lifetime. Peter resisted his fondness for reinforced concrete and dressed his commodious home in warm red brick, built in 1957. Dwarfed now by the adjacent buildings, it is, like many of his projects, a monument to simpler times, when Canadians toiled in factories, goods moved by water and families assembled at the dinner table.
When the house is eventually vacated by his family, it will undoubtedly be razed to make way for something dubiously considered better. The wrecking crew would be well advised to bring plenty of dynamite.
Source
- Lives Lived, Globe and Mail, January 27, 1998. Author: Mark Toljagic.