The Archival Collections at the University of Guelph Library house a large number of plans by Canadian landscape architect H.B. Dunington-Grubb. Born in York, England in 1881, Howard Burlingham Grubb obtained his B.S.A. from the Cornell School of Landscape Architecture before returning to England in 1908 to work for T.H. Mawson as an apprentice. Soon put in charge of Mawson's London office, Grubb was responsible for designing the Palace of Peace Gardens in the Hague when the firm won this contract by competition. He married another successful young landscape architect, Lorrie Alfreda Dunington, whose name he adopted. They emigrated to Canada in 1911.

Dunington-Grubb established a practice that soon became highly successful, especially after founding a much needed nursery to provide ornamental plant material at Sheridan, Ontario. The hiring of Sven Herman Stensson from England to operate The Sheridan Nurseries resulted in a profitable relationship between the two families. The Dunington-Grubbs and, later, the firm of Dunington-Grubb and Stensson (see Stensson biographies) were responsible for designing both private and public gardens. These included municipal contracts, such as the 1914 plans for the City of Brantford and other urban projects for churches, educational institutions, apartments, clubs, parks, factories and public buildings.

Working largely in the area of greater Toronto, Dunington-Grubb and Stensson was also awarded projects as far afield as the University of Calgary and the Manitoba Parliament Buildings. Chief among the urban public works represented in this collection are the plans for the Oakes Garden Theatre and Rainbow Bridge Gardens in Niagara Falls, Gage Park and the McMaster University Entrance Park in Hamilton, the Workman's Compensation Board grounds and the central boulevard of University Avenue in Toronto.

An associate in most of her husband's work, Lorrie Alfreda Dunington-Grubb was an active partner in the firm of Dunington-Grubb (later Dunington-Grubb and Stensson). She remained there until the death of their two children caused her to become ill, at which point J.V. Stensson joined the firm. Born in 1877 in England, she attended Swanley College of Horticulture in Surrey, and then founded her own private practice before her marriage. Drawn to landscape architecture by her love of floral design, she was published in both English and Canadian journals and was a founding member of the Canadian Society for Landscape Architects (CSLA) in 1934. After achieving presidency of this association in 1944, she died soon afterwards in early 1945.

Active until shortly before his death in 1965, H.B. Dunington-Grubb was a founding member of the CSLA, its president in 1934-5 and 1945 (carrying on his late wife's term of office), and its secretary in 1953. He lectured for just over 25 years at the University of Toronto, contributed many articles to scholarly journals, and was active in several professional organizations, including the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto. He was the recipient of numerous awards and honourary positions, including the first Allied Arts Medal from the Royal Canadian Architectural Institute ever awarded to a landscape architect (the medal was not awarded to another landscape architect for 45 more years.) While his imaginative and original garden designs of inner city and suburban estates remain a monument to his artistry, his innovations in the field of urban improvement and environmental design are his most significant contribution to the profession. He was made a fellow of the CLSA in 1964. He died on February 26th, 1965, aged 84.