Charles H. L. Simon

Photo Credit: Shari Lovell

Simon, Charles Herbert Leopold

Charles Simon, a gentle soul who gracefully and humbly carried the mantle of Canada’s grandfather of green architecture, passed away in Guelph on Feb. 19, 2026 after a brief illness, at the age of 89.

A globally-recognized visionary whose ground-breaking environmentally conscious building designs pre-dated the oil crisis of the 1970s, Charles eventually became internationally recognized for his decades of work in energy-efficient building, environmentally sensitive site planning, and resource-efficient planning. His work ranged from intimate private residences to large housing communities and master plans for entire new towns – always guided by the conviction that good architecture must serve people, honour its place on the landscape, and tread lightly on the earth.

Charles was the only architect or planner ever granted an Honourary Membership in the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects – a distinction that speaks to the remarkable breadth of his vision. He taught landscape architecture at three universities, ensuring that his philosophy of contextual, ecologically sensitive design would ripple outward through future generations of practitioners.

Born in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1936, Charles and his Swiss German family later escaped to England to flee the persecution of Jews in Hitler’s regime, when he was a small boy. He grew up – happiest when kicking a soccer ball – to graduate with an architecture degree from the University of Manchester, followed by a master’s degree in urban planning at the University of Illinois. He moved to Canada in 1967, where he maintained his practice until 2020.

Among his notable achievements, Charles built the first engineered passive solar house in Canada, the Forster Residence in Arkell, Ontario; the largest passive solar housing project in Canada known as the Grenville Christian College Staff Housing in Brockville, Ontario; the first women’s housing co-operative in North America; and Waterloo Cedars Joint Worship Centre, the first Christian-Jewish joint worship centre in the world. He also led the Toronto Island Housing Community master plan, as well as the Kitchener-Waterloo YMCA Environmental Learning Centre. His innovative mind achieved many works large and small, including the first traffic-calming speed humps on a public street in Toronto. Charles’ many accolades included a Lifetime Achievement Award for Sustainable Building from the Toronto Regional Green Building Festival in 2006.

Charles is predeceased by his beloved second wife Anna in June, his sister Hanna Shapiro, and his first wife Joan Simon who tragically passed in a car accident in 1986; she was a noted professor at the University of Guelph, known for her influence on housing and accessibility.

A naturally cheerful man whose slight figure belied the greatness of his impact to all those in his life and beyond, Charles is greatly missed by his nieces and nephew Taya Lowe, William Katz and Sarina Perlino, his Swiss and California families and Anna’s family in Poland. 

For nearly a half-century, Charles was a beloved community member in the picturesque village of Eden Mills west of Toronto, where he was best known for reviving the burned-out circa 1842 mill into a sustainable residence. Until recently, he lived there with Anna. In their final years, they ensured the wetlands around their home would be enjoyed by their friends and nature lovers for decades to come, through the generous donation of the land to the rare Charitable Research Reserve. Until recent months, Charles was often spotted walking through Eden Mills on the way to his beloved table tennis on Wednesdays – always quick with an anecdote or cheerful hello.

“Charles was a pioneer, a mentor, an accomplished and ambitious designer as well as one of the most gentle and generous souls I have ever met,” said Eric Haldenby, professor at the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture. “His most distinct legacy is the manner in which he saw architecture as a way to improve the world – environmentally, socially, spiritually, and simply as a place of respect and harmony.”

For the past 46 years in Eden Mills, Ontario, Charles demonstrated those same values through his significant volunteer contributions to the village through the Eden Mills Community Club, and to the Eden Mills’ Writers Festival for which he hung a banner from his mill every year in the festival’s 37 year history and hosted countless authors on the lawn. Charles helped lead the Guelph/Eramosa Township visioning exercise and a proposal for amendments to the official plan, and helped lead discussions and recommendations on the community’s enhancements including a proposal to guide the township in future planning. He helped lead the trailblazing Eden Mills: Going Carbon Neutral project from 2007, which featured a revitalization of the community hall and was recognized via Canada’s Clean50 Top Project Award in 2020.

Charles and Anna led efforts to establish a private land trust for the millpond they owned as part of the village mill, promoting conservation and community access through the Eden Mills Millpond Conservation Association formed in 1990. In 2023, Charles and Anna donated the 12.8 acre millpond lands to rare.

Canada has lost one of its original environmental visionaries, but Charles’ impact will live on through his tremendous impact and buildings – not least of which, the 185-year-old stone mill he called home, fronted by a dramatic wall of south-facing windows and set against the beautiful Eramosa River which supplies fresh water to the City of Guelph. It was Charles’ first wife Joan who first discovered the ruined mill on her way home from Waterloo to Toronto in 1980, and as the story goes, she was transfixed by its potential in the way that only an architect could be.

Filled with whimsy, art, light and warm hospitality, today the mill is a symbol of the community environment it is situated in, brought to life through the vision of the lasting power of connection between community, nature, and design.

Donations in Charles and Anna Simon’s memory may be made to rare Charitable Reserve.

Arrangements entrusted to the WALL-CUSTANCE FUNERAL HOME & CHAPEL 519-822-0051 / www.wallcustance.com.

A tree will be planted in memory of Charles H. L. Simon in the Wall-Custance Memorial Forest.