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The pedestrian bridge at the foot of John Street which links the city with the Rogers Centre, CN Tower, and the surrounding area, has been named in honour of Rod Robbie, architect of what was then known as the SkyDome.
With Ward 20 City Councillor Adam Vaughan as host, the late architect Rod Robbie's children and grand children were on hand today to pay tribute to Robbie's architectural legacy. The crowd on hand for the event included former colleagues and friends and urban advocates. Adam Vaughan's first remarks were that Toronto was taking an important step by honouring an architect, a true builder of this city.
Robbie's son Angus was first to speak, recalling his father's favourite and most important buildings, questioning whether the SkyDome would rank as either, but agreeing that it represented the pinnacle of his father's career.
Site engineer for the SkyDome project, Chris Andrews, was the next to speak. Andrews recalled Rod Robbie as a close colleague and friend, someone who was constantly looking for problems to solve, and always willing to attach the day-to-day fearlessly. Robbie's daughter Nicola was next to speak. She underscored the family's belief in history as a way to understand ourselves, and that "a city is the largest and arguably most important artifact that we leave behind for future generations". "My father frequently spoke about Toronto in the future as a magnificent metropolis, exciting, thriving, and thumping with life. To be honoured in this way would have humbled him to the core."
Adam Vaughan spoke about his architect father Colin's first and funny meeting with Rod Robbie, and their subsequent friendship. The Vaughan and Robbie families have been friends ever since. Rod's daughter Caroline Robbie, an architect with Quadrangle, was last to speak, reading from her father's book, a work she feared had not been read "by more than five or six people!" She read about her father's decision to leave his native post-war Britain for Canada, and from his exhortation at the end of the work to pay attention to the public, and learn from their accrued wisdom.
Following the speeches, the extended Robbie family gathered around the plaque, and unveiled it, revealing the bridge's new dedication.
