William Bruce Dendy, Canadian architectural historian, was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1948 and died May 29, 1993 in Toronto, Ontario. Dendy graduated from the University of Toronto in 1971, received a B.A. in Architectural History from Cambridge University in 1973, and in 1979 received two Masters degrees in architectural history, one from the University of Cambridge, and one from Columbia University in New York. He worked as an architectural historian for the Toronto Historical Board from 1973 until 1976, taught Canadian architectural history at the University of Toronto, at the University of Waterloo, at Carleton University in Ottawa, at Ryerson Polytechnic Institute in Toronto, and at the Toronto Urban Studies Centre. Dendy also worked on a consultancy basis as architectural historian to many Toronto-based architectural firms, developers, and government agencies, and also led architectural walking tours of Toronto.
Dendy's two published works, _Lost Toronto_ (1978) and _Toronto Observed: Its Architecture, Patrons, and History_ (1986), were both published by the Oxford University Press and both won Toronto Book Awards. In 1993 Dendy was awarded an honorary membership in the Ontario Association of Architects, and in the same year he was given an Allied Arts Award for his lectures and books on historical architecture.
(Sources: Freedman, Adele. "A Life's Work: The William Dendy Collection", _University of Waterloo Alumni Magazine_ (spring 1995): 11-15; "Historian Won 2 Toronto Awards", _The Globe and Mail_, Monday, 31 May 1993; Hume, Christopher. "Architectural Historian's Death a Significant Loss", _Toronto Star_, Tuesday, 1 June 1993, sec. B., p. 6; "Will Bequest Establishes the William Dendy Collection", _Insights_ (spring 1995): 1-2.)
Published
Includes untitled loose leaf material in the form of correspondence received by Dendy from his parents, other family members, and friends over the period 1977-1989. This includes letters, thank-you cards, congratulations cards, invitations, as well as Birthday, Christmas, and Get Well cards.