Week 37 Architects, Part Two

Last week I started to write about the eight important architects that are found in the family tree.  Then I realized there was far too much to write in just one blog and decided to break the information shared in two blogs.  A natural break seemed to be by country and last week covered the architects that lived in the UK.  This week’s blog will be on the last 3 architects that lived in Canada.

Mary Jane Palin was born in Ireland in 1852 to Richard Palin and Jane Wilson.  She married a George Hudson Blakey in Sunderland in 1874.  They went on to have five children and two of them were architects. 

Richard Palin Blakey and William George Blakey

Richard Palin Blakey was born in Sunderland in 1879 and learned his trade there.  He married in England in 1906 and then they emigrated to Canada in 1907 and lived in Edmonton, Alberta. He was appointed Provincial Architect and took direct responsibility for the design of all provincial government buildings until 1925 and then started a private practice with his brother.  Richard died in Edmonton in 1963.

Some of the buildings attributed to Richard Palin Blakey are;

Government house, a residence for the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta, Edmonton, 1913

CourtHouse, Calgary, 1913
Provincial Parliament Building, Edmonton, 1912

Provincial Jail, Fort Saskatchewan, 1913  

Court House, Taber, 1918
Municipal Hospital, Mannville, 1919
Edmonton Exhibition, Women's Building, 1919

Royal Alexandra Hospital, major addition, 1919

CourtHouse, Medicine Hat, 1920

Provincial Institute of Technology & Art, Calgary, 1921
Power Generating Station, Calgary, 1921
Court House, Blairmore, 1923

Municipal Hospital, Wainwright, 1927

Trudel Residence, 1928

Old Courthouse ,Vegreville, 1930

Government House, Edmonton

 William George Blakey was born in Sunderland in 1885 and he learned his trade there and then followed his brother to Canada in 1907.   He took a job in his brother’s department but left in 1909.  After the war, William started off on his own and then in 1925 joined ranks with his brother.  He married in Edmonton in 1914 and died in 1975.

Some of the buildings attributed to William George Blakey in Edmonton are;

Edmonton Journal Building, 1920

Christ Church (Anglican), 1921

Mcfarland Building, 1922

Highlands United Church, 1926

Edmonton City Dairy, 1927

103th Street, residence for Dr. Conrad G. Geggie, 1929

Canada Safeway Store, 1929

100th Avenue, residence for David Reidford, 1930

Central Masonic Temple, 1930-31

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Barracks, 1934 

First Lutheran Church, 1938

GarneauMovie Theatre, 1940

Masonic Temple, 1931

 Click here to find the Blakey Brothers in our family tree

Richard Palin was born in Chester in 1835 to Richard Palin and Lucy Robinson.  He married in 1864 in England and he and his wife and first child emigrated to Ontario, Canada in 1867.  They settled in Collingwood and had four more children there. 

Philip Coles Palin

 Philip Coles Palin was born in Collingwood in 1871.  He moved to Toronto in 1889 where he became a draftsman for Gordon & Helliwell and in 1894 he was employed by the House & Land Investment Co. as a draftsman.  In 1897 he had left Toronto and opened an office in Rat Portage (now Kenora), but then returned to Toronto in 1898 and in 1899 he joined the office of Charles J. Gibson as draftsman.  Sometime in 1900 he moved back to Collingwood and opened an office under his own name, and continued to work there until 1924.  He married Beatrice Harris in Collingwood in 1901.  Philip and Beatrice went on to have five children.

By 1925 he was back in Toronto, as a staff architect with Bell Telephone.  Then in 1930, he moved to Ottawa and worked for the Dept. of National Defence as an architectural draftsman in the Engineering Services Branch.  He retired in 1945 and died in Toronto in 1957 and was later buried in Collingwood. 

Some of the buildings in Collinwood that are attributed to Philip Coles Palin are;

Ste. Marie Street, residence for T.N. Brown, 1900

Hurontario Street, residence and office for Dr. Joseph R. Arthur, 1900
Minnesota Street, residence for W. Bryan, 1900-01

Second Street, residence for Michael P. Byrnes, 1901

Minnesota Street, residence for John McGill, 1901

Pine Street, “'ThursoHouse”, a residence for Dr. Donald McKay, 1902

Ontario Street, residence for W.B. Hamilton, 1903

Maple Street, residence for Alex Johnson, 1903

Elgin Street, residence for D. Wilkinson, 1903

Beech Street, residence for H.B. McFadzen, 1903

Fifth Street, at Oak Street, residence for Alexander Cooper, 1903

Niagara Street, residence for Godfrey E. McLean, 1903

Niagara Street, 'Burcotte',his own home, 1903

Agricultural Hall, 1909
All Saints Anglican Church, a Parish Hall for the church, 1911

Hurontario Street, Fire Hall, 1911

Federal Building, Hurontario Street, 1914-15

Federal Building, Collingwood

Last year, Collingwood honoured Philip Coles Palin and the centenary of the Federal building.

Click here to find Philip C Palin in our family tree