Elmar Tampõld

Elmar Tampõld (August 3, 1920 – March 7, 2013) was an Estonian-Canadian architect and founder of an academic base for Estonian studies in Toronto.

Tampõld attended the Kärdla Reaalkool on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa, graduating in 1938 and then continued his studies in the capital Tallinn at the Tallinn Teachers’ College. Tampõld graduated in 1941. In 1943 he enrolled in the Technical University in Tallinn, but the continuation of World War II interrupted his education and Tampõld relocated to Sweden where he resumed his studies at the Technical Institute from 1946 until 1948, majoring in marine engineering.

After he emigrated to Canada in 1948, Tampõld attended the University of Toronto from 1949 until 1953 and he graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture. Among his honors he achieved as a student at the University of Toronto were the Hobb’s Glass Scholarship for highest standing in Design and he was nominated for the Pilkington Award for his thesis project, "Toronto Olympic Stadium". In 1956 Tampõld was accepted as a member of both the Ontario Association of Architects and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. In 1997 Tampõld was nominated and achieved a lifetime membership of the Ontario Association of Architects.

Tampõld began his architectural career in the design department of John B. Parkin and Associates. He worked for John B. Parkin and Associates from 1953 until 1956. From 1957 to 1959 he was the Chief Architect for the Canadian office of H.K. Ferguson Company Engineers and Architects in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In 1959, along with a classmate John Wells, he helped establish the architectural firm of Tampõld Wells. During 35 years of practice, Tampõld helped design over 1,000 buildings for public, institutional and private clients. Possibly best known for his work with universities and higher educational facilities, Tampõld was commissioned to design buildings in Nova Scotia, Ontario and New Brunswick and offices for Tampõld Wells were eventually opened in Halifax and Montreal. The architectural firm specialized in the design and construction of university student residences, which included residences for Neill-Wycik College, Pestalozzi College (now called Rideau Chapel Towers), Laurentian University, Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Acadia University, University of Fredericton, Dag Hammarskjöld House and further student residences in Waterloo, Ontario and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Many of his structures during the period of the late 1960s and early 1970s are in the restrained Brutalism style of architecture, such as the Rochdale College tower, completed in 1968.

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