Parkin, John Burnett 1911 - 1975

John Burnett Parkin was born in Toronto, Ontario on 26 June 1911.  He studied architecture at the University of Toronto from where he obtained a Dip.Arch. in 1935. He then moved to London, England and between 1935 and 1937 worked for the National Coal Board, H.M. Office of works and in the office of the architects Howard & Souster. During his time in England he designed "Greenways", a large private house in South Croydon, Surrey (1937-38).

In 1937 he returned to Toronto where from 1937 to 1947 he was in private practice. In 1947, with John Cresswell Parkin (1922-1988), who despite the same surname was not related, he formed the firm John B. Parkin Associates. Soon after, they were joined by his brother, Edmund Thornton Parkin (1912-1994), a landscape architect,

In 1969 left John B. Parkin Associates to form his own firm and John Burnett Parkin moved to Los Angeles where, with Roy Marshal and Lloyd Laity he formed Parkin Architects Engineers and Planners, Los Angeles.  Parkin subsequently worked in Los Angeles and Toronto.  After many name changes, a new partnership emerged in Toronto under the name Neish Owen Rowland & Roy, and in 1986 became NORR Partnernship Limited.

In addition to his active career as a practising architect, John Burnett Parkin also taught at the University of Southern California and California Institute of Technology. He was a elected a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (FRIAC), an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1938, and an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (Hon.AIA). 

Parkin was also an industrial designer. An electric fan he designed for Audio Tool and Engineering Limited featured in the book which accompanied the National Industrial Design Committee exhibition 'Canadian Designs for Everyday Use', that toured Canada in 1948-49.  He died in Los Angeles, California on 17 August 1975.