Delano Dexter Calvin was born at Garden Island, near Kingston, Ont. on 7 September 1881. He was the son of Hiram Augustus Calvin and the grandson of Delino D. Calvin, a prominent politician, businessman and lumber merchant who moved from the United ... »
Delano Dexter Calvin was born at Garden Island, near Kingston, Ont. on 7 September 1881. He was the son of Hiram Augustus Calvin and the grandson of Delino D. Calvin, a prominent politician, businessman and lumber merchant who moved from the United States to Kingston, Ont in 1844 to establish a lumber rafting operation on the St. Lawrence River. Delano (D.D) attended Woodstock College and graduated from Queen's University in 1902. He studied architecture in Paris, France and after his return to Canada he moved to Toronto and joined the firm of Darling & Pearson in 1910 to work as a draftsman. It was here that he met Ralph K. Shepard with whom he formed a partnership in Toronto in June, 1913 (see list of works under Shepard & Calvin). Together they succeeded in obtaining commissions for important buildings in both Toronto and on the campus of Queen's University in Kingston. After the untimely death of Shepard in August 1933 Calvin returned to Kingston and became unofficial historian of the university. He was the author of Queen's University at Kingston: The First Century, 1941, and also collaborated with T.R. Glover on A Corner of Empire, 1937, a story of the history of the St. Lawrence River, as well as A Saga of the St. Lawrence, 1945. He died at Toronto on 3 November 1948 and was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery (obituary in the Globe & Mail [Toronto], 6 Nov. 1948, 5; Toronto Star, 6 Nov. 1948, 10; Kingston Whig-Standard, 5 Nov. 1948, 2; inf. Ont. Association of Architects).
