William Thomas (architect)
William Thomas | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1799 |
| Died | 26 December 1860 |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Design | Brock's Monument]] |
William Thomas (c. 1799 – 26 December 1860) was an English architect.
Thomas was born in Suffolk, England and apprenticed under Charles Barry and A.W. Pugin as a carpenter-joiner. His younger brother was the sculptor John Thomas, born 1813.
William began his own practice at Leamington Spa in 1831 but suffered bankruptcy in 1837 and emigrated with his wife and 10 children to Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1843, where his career flourished. He was also city engineer in Toronto and across Canada. Two of his sons, William Tutin Thomas and Cyrus Pole Thomas, also became architects. William Thomas senior died in Toronto.
Architect William Thomas is sometimes inaccurately credited with the elaborate stone carvings on Victoria Hall in Cobourg, Ontario. The fine sandstone carvings were in fact, the work of master stonecarver, Charles Thomas Thomas (1820-1867) who was sub-contracted under Worthington Brothers, a prominent Toronto stone cutting firm. The work was completed between 1857 and 1859.
Work
- Wellington County Court House, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, 1841-1843
- St. Paul's Cathedral, London, Ontario, Canada, 1844-1846. Gothic revival
- St. Michael's Cathedral, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, begun in 1845. Gothic revival.
- Church Street Row Housing, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1848
- Brock's Monument, Queenston, Ontario, 1852-1856
- Lansdowne Crescent Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, 1835-1838
- St. Michael's Cathedral Episcopal Palace, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1845-1848. Gothic revival
- Guelph Civic Museum, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, 1847 (originally built as a hotel and commercial building)
- Niagara District Court House, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, 1847. Classical revival style. (Now used as a theatre.)
- Norfolk County Gaol, Simcoe, Ontario, Canada, 1847-1848
- Oakham House, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1848. Tudor-Gothic style.
- Toronto House of Industry (Workhouse), Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1848. Tudor-Gothic style (now used as the Laughlen Lodge for the Aged)
- St. Lawrence Hall, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1850. Neo-classical
- the Italianate Don Gaol, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1852
- St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 1854-1857. Gothic style
- Halton County Court House, Milton, Ontario, Canada, 1855-1857. Baronial-Gothic style. Crenellated towers, cut-stone construction
- Halton County Gaol and Court House Complex, Milton, Ontario, Canada, 1855-1857. Restored 1990
- Quebec City Customs Building, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, 1856. Classical style
- Guelph City Hall, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, 1856-1857. Renaissance revival
- St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1858. Gothic revival
- Halifax Old County Court House, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1858-1862. Italian renaissance style
- Granville Street Mall--Central Block, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1859-1860. Facades of shops and new pedestrian area, with Romanesque and Italianate detail
- Granville Street Mall--North End, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, c. 1860. Romanesque and Italianate detail.
- St. George's Anglican Church, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1870. Gothic revival
- The Old Don Jail, Toronto, 1865
See also
References
- H.M. Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840 (1997) ISBN 0-300-07207-4
- Jim Leonard, Charles Thomas: A Stonemason's Legacy Restored, SSAC Bulletin, Vol. 14, No 3, December 1989, Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada (SSAC).