was gained through the towers. The pulpit and choir were on the east side of the auditorium. A gallery, supported on columns which extended up the groined dome, ran round the remaining three sides of the church. The design culminated in a second dome of ornamental stained glass. Emphasis was placed on light and comfort, and (to judge by a photograph of the interior) sight-lines were of equal importance (Illus. 9).
The Bond Street church McCaw & Lennox built no longer exists. It suffered a fate similar to that of its predecessor: late in the evening of 19 September 1981 a fire erupted, and the church, which had for a number of decades been the Evangel Temple, was so badly damaged that it had to be demolished. The land on which it stood was for many years a parking lot.
ERSKINE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
McCaw & Lennox’s second important 1878 commission was Erskine Presbyterian Church on Elm Street (Illus. 10).9 Similar in size and shape to the Bond Street church, Erskine Presbyterian was articulated in brick as opposed to stone. The design was infinitely more elegant. To emphasize the importance of the building, its gables were finished with stone caps. The main structure was divided into a vestibule that extended the whole width of the front and an auditorium of about 18 metres (60 feet) in depth. No drawings or photographs of the interior are known to exist; all that remains is a description. The auditorium was designed along the lines of an amphitheatre, with the floor sloping towards a platform and pulpit at the north end. The organ was behind the pulpit, and a gallery supported on iron columns filled in the other three sides. The ceiling above the nave was decorated with moulded ribs and bosses. When the building was partially destroyed by fire in early 1884, it was restored “according to the original plans of the architect, Mr. E.J. Lennox.”10 If McCaw objected to Lennox’s taking sole credit for the design, the author found no historical record of his complaint.
HOTEL HANLAN
Late in 1879, McCaw & Lennox were commissioned by the world-famous oarsman Edward “Ned” Hanlan to build a hotel on Toronto Island.11 Hanlan wanted to create a luxurious resort hotel not unlike those being built in the United States. The firm’s advertisement read as follows:
TO CONTRACTORS
Tenders to be received for the building of a first-class hotel on the Island, Toronto Bay for
EDWARD HANLAN, ESQ.
Plans and specifications, &c. can be seen at our offices. Builders will be required to give substantiated references and security if required. The lowest or any tender not necessarily accepted. Plans, &c, can be seen on and after the 22nd inst.
McCaw & Lennox,
Architects, 9 & 10 Imperial Building, Toronto.
A sketch of the Hotel Hanlan (Illus. 11) made soon after it was built shows an elegant structure, symmetrical in plan and articulated in American “stick style.”12 Narrow columns (stickwork-like) held up an almost fragile-looking two-tiered veranda which spanned and encircled the building. False timbers decorated the dormers, and towers, punctuating the three bays, were covered by gently concave sloped roofs. All in all, a handsome structure with its roots firmly planted in nineteenth-century America. A photograph taken some years later indicates that the Hotel Hanlan, once the preserve of the wealthy, was attempting to appeal to a broader market: note roof advertising (Illus. 12).
Throughout 1880—81 the firm continued to be busy. Their commissions ranged from unpretentious residences13 to grand villas14 and a summer “cottage” in Parkdale;15 from a large brick commercial building “to be erected on Queen-street West”16 to a much smaller one at the southwest corner of Breadalbane and Yonge Street.17 The Yonge Street building still exists; its Second Empire—style roof is much more dynamic than the one McCaw & Lennox designed for Occident Hall four years earlier.
During the spring of 1881 Ned Hanlan decided to improve his resort, and called on McCaw & Lennox to build a “Bowling Alley, Billiard Room, and Hall” on Toronto Island. The call for tender for that commission is the last known documentation of the McCaw & Lennox partnership. At some point between June and November of 1881, the partnership dissolved. By November of 1881, Lennox advertised alone in the “Tenders Wanted” column of the Globe for contractors to submit bids to erect a “Brick Villa Residence on the Allan property, Shuter-street” (Illus. 13).18 The advertisement lists E.J.’s address as Nos. 8 & 9, the Manning Block, at the southeast corner of King and Yonge streets. Lennox had moved out of the offices in the Imperial Building on Adelaide Street East; the partnership was at an end, and McCaw’s name disappeared from the Toronto directory.
Lennox did not have to wait long for important assignments. The architectural profession was in a state of rapid expansion, and the number of firms kept right on growing, as did the population of Toronto and its inventory of buildings.
A LARGE BRICK WOOLLEN FACTORY AND THE BLOOR STREET BAPTIST CHURCH
By February of 1882 Lennox had been commissioned to erect “a large brick woollen factory” on Front Street East.19 It may well be the Standard Woollen Mills building, 223—237 Front Street East, which is now part of the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre.20 And by October he was advertising for bids on the building of a church.21
The Bloor Street Baptist Church, 1882 (Illus. 14), an unassuming structure of red brick with stone trim, was located at the southeast corner of Bloor and North (now Bay) streets. It was altogether an exercise in restraint. Its most commanding feature was a handsome square tower with a relatively short four-sided spire and “on one side of it, a circular turret with mock winding-staircase-windows and short spiral roof.”22 The tower was “counterbalanced” by large buttresses and a wing. Leading to the tower and providing access to the church was an entrance covered by open-timbered roof, projecting gables, and wrought-iron gates.
From an 1885 description of the interior, its auditorium appears to have been comparable to that of the Bond Street Congregational Church. “Opposite the entrances is the platform, with the baptistry — entirely constructed of marble — behind, and above, a handsome choir and organ gallery, supported by carved columns. A gallery for the general accommodation of worshippers runs round the other three sides of the building. The ceiling is plastered, with groined ribs, dome-shaped in the centre and ornamented with carved capitals, bosses, etc.”23
THE BILTON AND CLARKE RESIDENCES
By the end of 1882 Lennox was designing semi-detached residences for Mrs. Bilton on Gerrard Street, 1882—83 (Illus. 15).24 These are excellent examples of Canadian Queen Anne Revival style. They comprise intricate brickwork, elaborate half-timbering, and two large gables. The semi-detached houses were followed by a residence for an H.E. Clarke at 603 Jarvis Street,25 1882–83 (Illus. 16).26
THE MASSEY MANUFACTURING COMPANY OFFICE BUILDING
In March 1883 a reporter from the Globe wrote a story about the building-trade prospects for the coming season.27 The writer had interviewed a number of prominent architects who, “having suffered through a strike and lost opportunities the previous season, believed it wise not to give out information about their prospects.” The writer pointed out that W. Storm, one of Toronto’s more successful architects, supported these sentiments because information pertaining to trade prospects “might strengthen the hands of those who were contemplating demanding increased wages.” Only seven architects spoke frankly about their upcoming assignments. Lennox was at the top of the list with seventeen projects, followed by Langley, Langley, & Burke with eight. The remaining five firms accounted for thirty other prospective assignments. Two significant pieces of information about Lennox
