Maurice Hamilton Howitt, a pioneer of Canadian landscape architecture, spent nearly two decades of his productive career south of the border. In the 1930s and early 1940s, Howitt worked primarily for the Long Island State Park Commission. Those were invigorating times for park planners in New York State, as Commission President, Robert Moses, spanned the island with parkways and state parks. Yet Howitt’s ties to Canada remained strong, and his interest in supporting landscape architecture in Canada never wavered.
Howitt was an Ontario village boy from Stoney Creek. By 1913, he had graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College, where “Moss” had been President of the school’s YMCA group, and was, said his yearbook, “evolving into a man of influence.” He worked first as a Hamilton area horticulturalist, but by 1916, had enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and sailed abroad. The war years were difficult; he suffered from diphtheria and influenza, yet was promoted to Sergeant and earned military medals.
After the war, Howitt attended MacDonald College (McGill University). By the mid-1920s, he had become a professor there and at Ste. Anne de Bellevue, and had begun to study at Harvard (1923-24, 1927-28). Thereafter, he remained in the U.S., lecturing at Michigan State for 3 years, working for the Commission, and even becoming a U.S. citizen (1934).
Yet by 1930, Howitt had penned a slim illustrated volume, Beautifying the Home Grounds of Canada. The book, said influential British town planner W.T. Macoun, would be of “great service for Canadians” and “fill a long felt want… Mr. M.H. Howitt has had a very thorough training in landscape architecture, and the advice given will be found to be reliable and good.”
Again, Howitt was of service in 1939, when fourth year students of the OAC Horticultural Club visited New York and the World’s Fair: Howitt “offered his services as pilot to the bewildered passengers” as they travelled to Long Island to enjoy its “virgin beauty”.
Less than a decade later, in 1947, Howitt travelled to Canada to give a lecture to the CSLA, and shortly thereafter, signed on with Montreal’s parks department (then Public Works and Engineering) for the final 11 years of his career. He rapidly became a memorable influence on the next generation of Canadian LAs. “It wasn’t until I got to MacDonald College that I met my first living landscape architect,” remembered CSLA Fellow Don Pettit. “His name was Maurice Howitt … He had worked in the Olmsted office and might have been the first Canadian to do grad studies in LA at Harvard.”
These were busy years for Montreal park developers, and Howitt worked on such iconic landscapes as Mount Royal (Montreal Cross, Beaver Lake Study) and the city’s well-loved La Fontaine Park with other CSLA luminaries such as Fellows Raymond Gascon and Warner Goshorn.
He would remain near his home turf for the rest of his life. He was buried in Orangeville, Dufferin (1977) at 86.
Sources and Images
Opening shot:
M. Howitt during his years at Ottawa Agricultural College. University of Guelph Archives. 1912. Student President of Y.M.C.A. group (OAC Review, December 1912. Vol. 25, issue 3)
1 - 2 “Beautifying the Home Grounds of Canada,” by M.H. Howitt. Published by the Experimental Farms Branch of the Federal Department of Agriculture and the Canadian Horticultural Society. Ottawa: 1930.
All Remaining Plans and Letters (Images 3 – 8) from: Documents et Archives: Service des Grands Parcs, du Mont Royal et des Sports, Ville de Montreal.
3 Mont Royal Park: Proposed Setting for Mount Royal Cross, 1950
4 Mont Royal Park Development Plan, 1953
5 Beaver Lake Area Preliminary Study, 1954
6 La Fontaine Park: North Baseball Field, 1951
7 Angrignon Zoo and Picnic area, 1953
8 Howitt: Letter arguing against proposed hydro poles through Ahuntsic Park: 1951
