pursued his career vigorously and as early as 1885 he had one of the largest architectural practices of its kind in Canada. What Lennox lacked in eduction, he more than made up for in shrewdness and salesmanship. An able promoter, E.J. was receptive to the press and was most accommodating when it came to having his photo taken (Illus. 4). He was also politically astute. His active membership in such notable organizations as the Masons, the Board of Trade, and Cameron Loyal Orange Lodge was to prove mutually beneficial.12
His professional success was such that in 1901 he was able to purchase a building on Bay Street to house his firm (Illus. 133). Lennox’s career continued to flourish until 1915, when for some as yet undiscovered reason, he turned away from his practice. By 1917, the firm of E.J. Lennox, Architect was officially closed.13 Though no longer practising, Lennox continued to consider himself an architect first and foremost. And when legislation was passed in 1931 to provide architects with certification, Lennox applied for and became an accredited architect. The date was 29 September of that same year. At the time, Lennox was seventy-seven years old; his application lists no date of birth and his handwriting was not steady.
E.J. Lennox died on 15 April 1933. His passing was noted in many newspapers (Illus. 3), including the New York Times, as well as important architectural journals. His contributions to the City of Toronto, and to his profession, were praised and remembered. In his obituary in the Telegram, M. Forsey Page, president of the Ontario Architectural Association, commended Lennox not only for his buildings and his knowledge of modern architectural technologies but also for his willingness to share this knowledge with younger architects.14 His funeral took place in one of his last great works, St. Paul’s Anglican Church on Bloor Street East. E.J.’s good friend of more than forty years, Canon Henry John Cody, rector of St. Paul’s, officiated.
E.J. Lennox was an impressive talent who was arrogant, combative, and fearless when it came to speaking his mind. Despite his eccentricities, he was commissioned to design many of Toronto’s more notable structures and ultimately became known as the “builder of Toronto.” Lennox believed that he was destined to be a great architect. The quantity and quality of his work speak to that conviction.
Illus. 1: Ontario Bank, northeast corner of Wellington and Scott streets, 1862, William Irving and Joseph Sheard (demolished).
Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library
Illus. 2: Ontario Bank. Detail.
Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library
Illus. 3: Lennox’s obituary in the Toronto Star, 17 April 1933.
Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library
Illus. 4: E.J. in 1892 in front of one of his more important works, the Freehold Loan Building, Adelaide Street East, 1889.
Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library
1 Early Practice
OCCIDENT HALL
The first known record of E.J. Lennox as a practising architect is an advertisement in the Globe, 15 May 1876 (Illus. 5). At that time he was in partnership with a William Frederick McCaw, and their firm asked for contractors to bid on the erection of Occident Hall, at the southeast corner of Queen and Bathurst streets.1 McCaw & Lennox developed a successful practice, though they faced stiff competition from a growing number of architectural firms practising in Toronto.2 The number of advertisements for contracting bids in the Globe and Toronto Telegram between 1876 and 1881 confirms that McCaw & Lennox were popular and sought after.3 Their commissions ranged from large churches to school houses in Stratford and Owen Sound; from “commodious” brick villas to commercial properties; from a “first class” hotel on the Island, Toronto Bay, to a summer cottage and the design and construction of 2,000 lineal feet of esplanade and terracing at the lakefront in Parkdale. Only a few of the buildings McCaw & Lennox contracted for have been documented. Occident Hall was a major commission and no mean building in its time. C.P. Mulvany, in his Toronto, Past and Present until 1882 (published 1884), praised the building as handsome and “unique in its design and furniture.”4 Completed in 1878 (Illus. 6), Occident Hall was a tentative exercise in Second Empire style. The original roof is gone and the building, now called the Big Bop, no longer witnesses the secret meetings of Masons; it now vibrates to the sound of hard rock music.
While building Occident Hall, McCaw & Lennox entered a competition for the laying out and beautifying of “the City Parks, viz, the Queen’s Park, High Park, and the Eastern Park,” which offered $300 to the winners.5 Their proposal to the Public Walks and Gardens Committee, dated 17 May 1876, was highly detailed, including a grand promenade, ornamental lamps, a large oval-shaped pond, rockeries, and a great deal more. By 19 June 1876 the committee had chosen the winning plans: “For the Queen’s Park: – 1st Prize Plan, bearing the motto ‘Manu Forti,’ by Messrs. McCaw & Lennox, Toronto.”6 Despite the judges’ glowing tributes to their design, the city did not go ahead with the Queens Park beautiflcation program, and months later McCaw and Lennox had to chase City Hall for their $300 prize.7
BOND STREET CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
The original Bond Street Congregational Church burned to the ground in 1878, and McCaw & Lennox were called on to design a new building.8 They designed a large, “modern” Gothic building that was 24 metres (80 feet) wide and 27 metres (90 feet) deep and could accommodate some fourteen hundred worshippers (Illus. 7). Its main tower on the southwest corner was about 40 metres (130 feet) high (about thirteen storeys), while the tower to the north side was 20 metres (65 feet) high, exactly half the height of the main tower. The roof of the church was octagonal in shape, and was topped by a similarly shaped ornate monitor (Illus. 8) to allow for ventilation.
Entrance to the church 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