Engineer’s family donates important drawing
Original pen-and-ink concept drawing of the MacDonald Bridge
A rare, original pen-and-ink concept drawing of the Macdonald Bridge produced by one of the engineers behind the massive project is now on display in the Halifax Harbour Bridges main office thanks to a recent donation.
Charles A.E. Fowler sketched the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge in 1949 as he tried to get a feel for how the bridge spanning the harbour would fit into the landscape.
Fowler’s family donated the drawing to HHB after he died in 2021, sharing that Fowler was proud of the fact that the bridge he helped build was strong enough to eventually hold a third lane, bike path and pedestrian walking path.
“He was proud of the drawing. It hung outside his home office for years, so he would see it every day,” said his son Graham Fowler. “There were some copies commissioned for the Bridge commissionaires at the time, but this was the original.”
Along with the drawing, the Fowler and Charlton families donated some small-scale architectural drawings, photographs and a copy of the program from the day the bridge was officially opened.
Fowler’s architectural and engineering credits include Centre 2000 in Sydney and Dalhousie University’s Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, but his daughter Beverley Charlton said he considered the work on the Macdonald Bridge as one of the more significant projects of his career.