A Progressive Traditionalist: John M. Lyle, Architect

John M. Lyle (1872–1945) was an anomaly among architects: a Beaux-Arts classicist who nevertheless found much inspiration in modernism, allowing his own traditionalist practice to be affected in form and detail by a brave new emphasis on minimalism and indigenous influence. With ornamentation showcasing local flora and fauna and a turn to native landscape for inspiration, his innumerable buildings contributed to a burgeoning nationalism in the field. In A Progressive Traditionalist, Glenn McArthur traces this aesthetic trajectory, documenting Lyle’s training at Yale and in Paris, his early career in New York and his later success in Toronto, including countless legendary banks and residences and the iconic Union Station. Part biography, part architectural history, and extensively illustrated with colour photographs and drawings throughout, this book is the first to examine in depth the important contributions of one of the early 20th century’s foremost architects.