24 Facts About Geoffrey Massey

Geoffrey Massey was a Canadian architect and urban planner noted for his modernism-inspired architectural works.

Geoffrey Massey was known for his partnership with architect Arthur Erickson that produced notable designs including the Simon Fraser University, and MacMillan Bloedel Building.

Geoffrey Massey was born in London, England, on 29 October 1924, to Margery and Raymond Geoffrey Massey.

Geoffrey Massey's father was an actor and theatre artist who had acted in movies including Abe Lincoln in Illinois, and was the great-grandson of Massey-Harris tractor company founder, Daniel Massey.

Geoffrey Massey's parents separated when he was five, in 1929.

Geoffrey Massey went to the United States when his father's career took him to Broadway.

Around the time he turned from 17 to 18 years old, Geoffrey Massey enlisted in the Canadian Army in 1942.

Geoffrey Massey served in it for four years, and in doing so, he became a Canadian citizen.

Geoffrey Massey later said that his experience in the army had been formative, as he had been doing poorly in school before that but military service, and the break from education, gave him a sense of purpose and direction.

Geoffrey Massey learned under the co-founder of the Bauhaus movement, Walter Gropius, who was the head of the department in the school.

Geoffrey Massey was introduced to the works of Le Corbusier who led the ground-up design of the Indian city of Chandigarh.

Geoffrey Massey joined Thompson Berwick and Pratt and Partners, who were building Kitimat, a new township in British Columbia, for the workers of Alcan's aluminum plant on the North Coast.

Geoffrey Massey set up a design practice with Erickson, where he would complement Erickson's conceptual designs with his own focus on urban outlook.

In 1963, Erickson and Geoffrey Massey won a design competition to build a new university, Simon Fraser University, on top of the Burnaby Mountain in British Columbia.

Geoffrey Massey produced Project 56 and Project 58 in the late 1950s in partnership with Erickson, to redefine urban space planning for the city of Vancouver.

Geoffrey Massey partnered with Erickson and Freschi to develop concepts for transformation of the Vancouver downtown corridor into pedestrian-friendly glass-domed shopping zones.

Geoffrey Massey was a co-founder of the Garibaldi Whistler Development Company, which put together a community plan and a bid for the 1968 Winter Olympics.

Geoffrey Massey played a key role in the development of Hernando Island in the southern coast of British Columbia.

Geoffrey Massey became a councillor at the Vancouver City Council in 1972, and went on to be an advisor to the city's planning commission.

Geoffrey Massey was part of the team that halted a planned inner-city freeway and prevented freeways from being built in the city of Vancouver.

Geoffrey Massey helped development of Granville Island and redevelopment of the south side of False Creek, converting it from industrial to residential use and helped support the conversion of a section of Granville Street to a pedestrian-only zone in continuation of his focus on making the city pedestrian friendly.

However, Geoffrey Massey quit the council at the end of his two-year term disenchanted with municipal politics from the effort to realize even simple projects.

Geoffrey Massey partnered with Rogatnick to set up the Arts Club, which became the Arts Club Theatre.

Geoffrey Massey died on 1 December 2020, from pneumonia in North Vancouver.