The collection is open for research.
The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Blanche Lemco van Ginkel Architectural Collection, 1956-2013, Ms1988-122, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Blanche Lemco van Ginkel Architectural Collection was donated to the Special Collections by their creator in 1988 with additions in 1994, 1997, 2002, 2006, and 2010.
The collection was originally processed in 1995 and was reprocessed in April 1998. The processing, arrangement and description of the Blanche Lemco van Ginkel Papers to accommodate more recent additions took place in August 2005 and June 2006. An addition was integrated in 2010.
Blanche Lemco van Ginkel was born in 1923. She graduated from McGill University in Canada with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1945 and from Harvard University with a Masters in City Planning in 1950.
She is a retired partner of the architectural firm of Van Ginkel Associates, Architects and Town Planners in Toronto, begun in 1957, as well as a Professor Emerita at the University of Toronto. In 1948 she worked with Le Corbusier in Paris before coming to the University of Pennsylvania in 1951-1957. Her work at Van Ginkel Associates includes designs for historic Bowring Park in St. John's, Newfoundland, the Port of Montreal, working as a consultant in Expo'67 Montreal as well as various residential and town planning projects in Canada and abroad.
Van Ginkel is a Fellow in the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (FRAIC), a member of Ontario Association of Architects, a member of the Canadian Institute of Planners, an associate of the Royal institute of British Architects, a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (Hon. FAIA). She was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University in Aix-Marseille in 2005. She is also a founding member and has served as an advisor to the International Archives of Women in Architecture (IAWA).
Van Ginkel died in 2022.
The collection consists of biographical materials about Blanche Lemco van Ginkel and material she has written, her professional projects, and collected research about women in architecture. Personal information includes curriculum vitae, newspaper and magazine articles about her, some of her publications about architectural planning and women architects, and selected letters and speaking notes she made during the course of her career. These include speeches to professional organizations in which she is involved and her letter protesting the unequal pensions paid to female professors by the University of Toronto. Professional project information includes project bulletins from her firm. There is also a collection of research notes, papers, and exhibition notices about the history of women in architecture in Canada, some of which were compiled and written by Mary Clark.
The collection is arranged by material type in the following order: biographical information and articles by and about van Ginkel, professional project work, and materials about Canadian women architects.
More information about Blanche Lemco van Ginkel's architectural career is held in the collections of the archives at the Collection Centre Canadien d'Architecture-Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal (CCA). It holds the administrative and project records of the firm Van Ginkel Associates, 1955-1980, AP027 and documents of van Ginkel's professional career.
The University of Toronto also has the Blanche Lemco van Ginkel fonds, UTA 1924
The guide to the Blanche Lemco van Ginkel Architectural Collection by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).