Trent Community Celebrates Launch of Ron Thom Biography on Campus

Book chronicles one of the most important 20th century Canadian architects and designer of the iconic and award-winning Trent University Symons campus

October 19, 2022

Author Adele Weder launched her biography of architect Ron Thom at Trent University on Tuesday, October 18, 2022. From left, Trent president Dr. Leo Groarke; Dr. Michael Eamon, co-chair of the University Heritage Committee; Lee Hays, director Alumni Engagement & Services; author Adele Weder; former University board chair Bryan Davies; Bill Lett, of Lett Architects Inc.; and professor emeritus Dr. Bob Stairs.

Trent University served as a backdrop for the launch of Adele Weder’s definitive biography of Ron Thom - one of the most important figures in Canadian architectural history who designed the iconic and award-winning Peterborough Symons campus that includes soaring modern structures, legendary furniture and intricate details of interior design.

“At the centre of Trent’s Symons Campus is one of the best-preserved clusters of mid-century modern architecture found in a university setting, making the campus an ideal location for the launch of this biography,” said Dr. Michael Eamon, co-chair of the University’s Heritage Stewardship Committee and principal of Catharine Parr Traill College.

The launch was held on Tuesday, October 18 at Bata Library and included a lecture and question-and-answer period with Weder - an award-winning architectural writer, cultural journalist, and curator of the nationally traveling exhibition Ron Thom and the Allied Arts, which exhibited at Trent University in 2014.

The biography outlines his life and work while delving into detail about how he “plunged into the epic job of designing the new standalone campus of Trent University on the outskirts of Peterborough” that would span the Otonabee River with the elegant Faryon Bridge. His initial work involved transforming several downtown buildings that could serve the University’s first cohort of students including Catharine Parr Traill College for women, and Peter Robinson College for men. Trent was the only university of the era designed as a ready-made collegiate institution with a collection of scholarly villages situated around a central library complex.

The book includes pencil renderings of the master plan for the University and the Chemistry Building design, photographs of the master’s residence (now Alumni House), the exterior of Champlain College, and the Champlain dining hall ceiling. The book notes Champlain College cost $7 million to build, making it the most expensive public building in Ontario history at the time.

The late T.H.B. Symons, Trent’s founding president, is quoted in the book about watching Thom’s genius at work when drawing concepts for the University. “He would draw freehand, and with just a few strokes of the pen, he would precisely conceptualize something I couldn’t even imagine,” Symons said. “It was breathtaking.”

At the launch event, Weder shared details about Ron Thom and his coming of age in the mid-20th century just as the modern movement and impending building boom were about to shape the country. The book, based on more than 100 recorded interviews and extensive archival research, is billed as more than just the life story of one man but also a portrait of the society that shaped him.