Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/713703
8 | AUGUST 2016 Meiklejohn Architects Inc. W hen Roy and Carol Meiklejohn launched Meiklejohn Architects Inc. in Penticton, B.C. in 1953, the newly incorporated city, much like the firm, had yet to make its mark. But all that was about to change. As the Okanagan witnessed a flood of returning veterans it was about to face its inaugural construction boom; perfect timing for one of the first registered architectural practices in the Okanagan Valley to open its doors. "My late father actually discovered the Okanagan when he was stationed in Camp Vernon as quartermaster as he didn't have the eyesight for combat. He just fell in love with the area," explains Jim Meiklejohn, partner at Meiklejohn Architects Inc. and son of Roy and Carol. After graduating from The University of Manitoba with architecture degrees, Roy and Carol Meiklejohn decided to move to the Okanagan and open up the firm. "The Okanagan was nowhere at that time," explains Jim Meiklejohn, "It was small, agricultural and isolated. To drive to Penticton from Alberta you had to go via the U.S. Schools and hospitals were typically designed by architects from Vancouver and Victoria. Everything else was largely designed by 'construction families' who would sometimes have architects or draftsmen on staff to do drawings." It was after landing a school's project in Vernon that the firm got its break and Roy Meiklejohn suddenly, and rather unexpectedly, found himself an expert in the field. This in turn resulted in him designing buildings for more than 23 different school districts. "Back then these were very basic one-storey concrete block schools; typical of that era," explains Jim Meiklejohn. The firm quickly grew in size. The Meiklejohns opened up three further offices and at its height the firm had 50 people on staff including partners in Kelowna, Vernon, Kamloops and Cranbrook. Meiklejohn Architects Inc. became, at that time, the third largest architectural firm in B.C. However specializing so heavily in one area would eventually be its down- fall. During the recession of 1982 to 1985 the partnership collapsed and the Meiklejohns were once again on their own. "I recall coming home one summer from Washington State University to about 14 empty desks, and just mum and dad," says Jim Meiklejohn. What the first generation Meiklejohns probably didn't realize was Meiklejohn Architects Inc. fully embraces regionally-appropriate modernism by NATALIE BRUCKNER-MENCHELLI