The Architects
Photo: Edmund Burke
(© McGill-Queen's University Press)
Burke & Horwood
Architect Edmund Burke was one of Canada's pre-eminent architects. He was also one of the three founding members of the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada. J.C.B. Horwood was a Toronto architect born in Quidi Vidi, Newfoundland. He trained at architectural firms in Toronto and New York City. Horwood strongly associated himself with the Arts and Crafts movement in the late 1890s. He partnered with Edmund Burke in 1894. Horwood and his associates became known for the Chicago style steel-frame construction and fire-proof materials they adopted for large commercial buildings. Their projects included office buildings, retail stores, sanatoria and residences in Toronto's affluent Rosedale area.
Photo: Andrew Randall Cobb
(Courtesy NSARMS)
Andrew Randall Cobb
Cobb was one of the most renowned architects in Atlantic Canada. He is one of the first élèves of the École des Beaux Arts to practice architecture in the region and his homes and buildings are famous for their exterior aesthetic appeal, comfortable interiors, well-crafted details and built-in furniture.
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Andrew Cobb was born in 1876 in Brooklyn, New York, son of an American father and a Canadian mother. He was 14 when his father died, and he moved to his mother's home province of Nova Scotia, settling in Greenwich, Kings County. He completed his schooling in nearby Horton School and later attended Acadia University. He won a scholarship to the School of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned BSc and MSc degrees (1904).
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He worked in Cleveland, Ohio for the next few years, contributing to the design of, among other projects, the Cuyahoga County Court House. He spent 1907, 1908, and 1909 in Paris where he attended the École des Beaux Arts. During his vacations, he "toured the Continent", spending time in Italy, France and England studying architecture.
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Returning to Halifax from Paris he entered into a partnership with Halifax-born architect Sydney P. Dumaresq. The partnership was dissolved in 1912 by which time both men had established sufficient reputations to strike out on their own.
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He worked mainly in Nova Scotia and was busy until he was killed at the age of 68. He and three others were killed instantly when the city bus on which they were travelling was struck by a car.
Photo: James Charles Philip Dumaresq
(Courtesy Syd Dumaresq)
James Charles Philip Dumaresq
Born in 1840 in Sydney, J.C. practised throughout the region. He designed seven of the original homes on Young Avenue. He died in 1906 and his practice was taken over by his son Sydney Perry Dumaresq who had joined him in the practice in 1899 and did a few projects on Young Avenue as well. He designed seven of the original homes on Young Avenue. He died in 1906 and his practice was taken over by his son Sydney Perry Dumaresq who had joined him in the practice in 1899 and did a few projects on Young Avenue as well.
Very little is known of Dumaresq’s architectural education. In 1868 and 1869 he was working as a carpenter in Sydney. If he followed the general pattern of his day, he was probably apprenticed to an architect before establishing his own business, in Halifax in the early 1870s; his skill and expertise point to this kind of training. He was typical of many Canadian architects of his generation who raised their status from craftsman to professional, an avenue which would close when professional standards became more stringent later in the century. Dumaresq worked alone for extended periods, but he is known to have formed at least six partnerships, some of which were short-lived liaisons of convenience. Even in his earliest associations he appears to have been the senior partner.
During his career Dumaresq made a significant contribution to the appearance of the cities and towns of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He was among the architects who flocked to Saint John, N.B., after the fire of 1877 in order to rebuild the city and advance their careers.
About 1884 Dumaresq formed a partnership with Harry H. Mott of Saint John which would last at least ten years, although Dumaresq returned to Halifax around 1885.
Dumaresq’s eclecticism was in step with developments in late Victorian architecture and the needs of his clients. His domestic work ranged from an elegant Queen-Anne Revival “cottage” on fashionable Young Avenue in Halifax, through a traditional Maritime Gothic residence in Sydney, to plans for a simple duplex.
In 1899 Dumaresq’s son Sydney Perry joined his father to form J. C. Dumaresq and Son, and he continued the practice after his father’s death; he was followed in turn by a son and a grandson. James Dumaresq was thus the founder of a family with a distinctive place in the history of Canadian architecture.
Photo: Sydney Perry Dumaresq
(Courtesy Syd Dumaresq)
Sydney Perry Dumaresq
Sydney Perry Dumaresq was a noted Nova Scotia architect, known for many buildings in Halifax including the Dingle Memorial Tower (with Andrew Cobb), and the Art Deco CBC Radio Building.
With family ties running back to the British isle of Jersey, the Dumaresqs have been practicing architecture in the Maritimes since the 1860s. "To my knowledge, this record of family architecture practice is unmatched in Canada," according to Paul E. Frank, the Atlantic representative and Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.
In 1899, Sydney Perry joined his father to form J.C. Dumaresq and Son, and he continued the practice after his father’s death. Following Sydney Perry are three generations of the family in practice. The late Phil Dumaresq, his son Syd Dumaresq, and Syd's youngest son, Dean.
Elliot & Hopson Ad - McAlpines Halifax City Directory 1900-1901
Elliot and Hopson
Edward Elliot (1828–1901) was a Canadian architect who was responsible for many important public buildings in Nova Scotia. Dartmouth-born Edward Elliot trained in Boston but returned to Halifax in 1878 and went on to become one the city’s most respected architects. Four years previous to this contract, he had designed Halifax City Hall. He also designed the Young Avenue Point Pleasant Park gates.
Charles Henry Hopson (1865-1941), was an important regional architect in Nova Scotia, was born in Reading, England and served an architectural apprenticeship there with Joseph Greenaway from 1880. In 1884 he moved to London and worked as a draftsman for Frederick G. Knight and Horace Cheston before emigrating to Philadelphia where he found a position in the office of James H. Windrim. Hopson then worked for Jeremiah O'Rourke, a leading architect of Newark, N.J. and moved to Halifax, N.S. in 1888.
In 1895, Edward Elliot joined with Charles Henry Hopson. Henry came to work under Elliot as his junior partner. Their company, Elliot & Hopson Architects, introduced many American architectural styles to the Maritimes, and was the first firm to open an architecture office in Cape Breton. Elliot died in 1901. Hopson decided to continue to practise and invited his younger brother Edward G. Hopson to form a new partnership and they opened two offices, one in Halifax and the other in Sydney, N.S.
Photo: c.1912 Herbert Elliot Gates
(Courtesy NSARMS)
Herbert Elliot Gates
Major Herbert Elliot Gates was one of Nova Scotia's outstanding architects. He was born in Dartmouth in 1874 and worked out of his office in Halifax. Gates trained in the office of Edward Elliot, the architect of Halifax City Hall, and established his own practice in 1898. Between 1899 and 1903, the period in which the Liverpool Town Hall was designed by him, Gates also taught architecture at the Victoria School of Art and Design.
Besides the Young Avenue home he designed, Gates received many commissions, including the Nova Scotia Telephone Company, for buildings throughout the province, the Department of Education, and provincial hospitals. One of Gates’ most accomplished designs was the Nova Scotia Technical College, now the School of Architecture and Planning building at Dalhousie University and the Provincial building on Hollis Street in collaboration with Andrew Cobb and Sydney Perry Dumaresq.
The Major served on Halifax City Council as alderman from 1911-1912. Gates built a summer home in Hubbards in the 1920s called Grovehurst where he and his English wife, Eleanor, spent their leisurely time. Herbert died in 1944 at Grovehurst and Eleanor died in 1937. Both are buried in Pine Hill cemetery in Hubbards
Photo: Richard Arthur Johnson's former
home on Tobin Street
Richard Arthur Johnson
Johnson (1871-1949), was born in England, was educated there, and came to Canada as a child. He appears to have left Canada after 1890 and was engaged as draughtsman in some of the best Boston offices as a chief draughtsman of William G. Preston, a well-known Boston architect. He returned to Nova Scotia and, after working in Sydney for a short period, returned to Halifax in 1904. Johnson's architectural career ended before 1930, and he died at Bedford, N.S. in 1949.
Johnson was active in Halifax and Sydney from 1902 until after 1926. According to his obituary he was born in England and educated there and 'came to Canada as a small child'. He appears to have left Canada after 1890 and was 'engaged as draughtsman in some of the best Boston offices as a chief draughtsman of William G. Preston, well known Boston architect' (Sydney Record, 20 Oct. 1902, 8). By 1902 he had returned to Halifax and was admitted into partnership with the Hopson Brothers where he was assigned to operate the Sydney N.S. branch of the firm. In late June 1903 this office was closed and Johnson formed a new but short-lived partnership with R.B. Whitten as 'successors to Hopson Brothers'. By 1904 he had returned to Halifax where he prepared an innovative though not particularly adventurous design for the A.M. Bell & Co. Store, one of the first commercial buildings in the Maritimes constructed entirely of concrete. Johnson's architectural career ended before 1930, and he died at Bedford, N.S. on 5 July 1949.
Photo: Brookfield Bros letterhead
George Henry Jost
George Henry Jost (1851-1922) was the son of Thomas Philip Jost, a sea captain and resident of Halifax, Nova Scotia. His name appears as 'architect' in the nominal and classified listings of the Halifax City Directory from 1875 until 1914, but he was frequently absent from the city while on assignment with the firm of S.G. Brookfield & Co., one of the largest and most successful building contractors in the Maritimes in the late nineteenth century. Jost was residing in St. John's, Newfoundland from 1884 until 1886, and in his role as Architect and Superintendent for the Brookfield Company he designed several public and institutional works there.
In January 1905, Jost commenced practise on his own account in Halifax, and it was there that his largest commissions for the Chronicle Block and for the Herald & Mail Building were completed. He designed a cottage for Benjamin F. Pearson on the "Emscote" estate on the Northwest Arm, one on Lucknow Street, as well as residences on Coburg and Spring Garden Roads.
According to the Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, "He was a competent though not adventurous designer, remaining active until his retirement in 1914." Because of his connection with the Brookfield Company, it is possible he had a hand in its design.
Photo: Sir Andrew Thomas Taylor (Public Domain)
Sir Andrew Thomas Taylor
Sir Andrew Thomas Taylor, of Edinburgh, Scotland, opened his own office in London, England, in 1879 and then took on a partner, George William Hamilton Gordon of Harrow, England in 1882. The firm became Taylor & Gordon. This allowed Taylor to travel to Canada in 1883 to open an office in Montreal, while Gordon took care of the British business in England.
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It proved to be a lucrative move. Taylor's corporate work continued to flourish across Canada and included the building of branch banks for the Bank of Montreal and some rival banks. Taylor's Canadian relatives, Montreal's affluent Redpath family, brought him into contact with a small group of financiers and entrepreneurs. The Redpath family’s involvement with McGill College also helped Taylor to receive numerous commissions there. He also designed a number of the mansions lining Montreal's famous Square Mile. There is no evidence, however, that Gordon ever lived in Canada. From 1898 to 1902, Taylor also dedicated much of his time to designing country homes and apartment buildings. His designs were spacious and eclectic in style, borrowing from his English training with influences from trips to the United States.
Photo: Tremaine's office in Queen Building,
Hollis Street
Harris Stuart Tremaine
Harris Stuart Tremaine (1866-1938) was active in Halifax, N.S. where he advertised his services as an architect in City Directories from 1892 to 1913. Born on 12 October 1866, he was educated in Halifax, and served an apprenticeship in the office of J.C. Dumaresq. Much of his early career was spent in Halifax operating an office under his own name where his commissions included educational and commercial buildings, the largest of which was The Roy Building (1896-97), a plain, unadorned six-storey brick block located on Barrington Street. By 1910, however, there are almost no recorded works by him, but he was able to obtain a position teaching architectural drawing at the Nova Scotia Technical College in 1911.
A lack of construction activity in Halifax may have prompted Tremaine to move to Ottawa where he was appointed as a staff architect in the federal Department of Public Works on 9 April 1913. He rose through the ranks there, and after 1925 he returned to Halifax to serve as the Resident Architect for the D.P.W. in Nova Scotia, overseeing the construction of federal buildings throughout the province. Tremaine died in Halifax on 6 December 1938.