The Globe and Mail

Once upon a time, there lived a man named Joseph William Storey, who was born in Windsor but whose family moved to Chatham when he was very young. He went to school, married his high school sweetheart, Marjorie, and then was drawn to the bright lights of Toronto, where he learned how to be an architect. After graduating in 1946, he did a very peculiar thing: He moved back to Chatham in 1947 to set up his architectural practice over a chicken hatchery, and so became a very big fish in a small pond . . . although those who knew him will tell you that he could have become a very big fish in just about any size pond he might have chosen. That's because Mr. Storey was an excellent architect. In fact, the modernist firm he led for nearly 30 years completed more than 1,000 projects until his untimely death at age 52 in 1975. How many other firms can boast numbers like that?