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Edwin Rowse

Edwin's headshot.
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ERA co-founder Edwin J. Rowse OAA, FRAIC, CAHP, RIBA is a registered architect in Ontario with 44 years of experience in the field of historical architecture, specializing in the conservation and restoration of historic buildings, the sustainability and adaptive reuse of existing buildings, and cultural heritage planning in urban and rural settings.

A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, he worked in London, England, for nine years for an internationally recognized firm of restoration architects. In 1984 he moved to Toronto,, where he worked for heritage-based practices until founding ERA in 1990 with Michael McClelland. Their partnership became a corporation in 1994 and they welcomed four new principals as shareholders between 2013 and 2017.

Edwin’s remarkable capacity to combine finely detailed architectural, historical and technical considerations — whether for conservation or adaptive reuse projects — became a driving inspiration behind many of ERA’s projects, from the Distillery District in Toronto to national historic sites such as Parkwood Estate and Ruthven Park, to Trinity St. Paul’s Church for Tafelmusik, and to Ottawa’s Booth Street redevelopment and the recently completed Government Conference Centre.

Edwin retired from his role as a principal at ERA in 2019, transitioning to Principal Emeritus with the firm. He continues to advise ERA on projects as a consultant.

In 2017 Edwin was given the Eric Arthur Lifetime Achievement Award by the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario “for his broad depth of knowledge of conservation science, longstanding commitment to the field of heritage architecture, and mentorship of a new generation of architects”.

Position
Principal Emeritus (retired)
Email
[email protected]