BELL, Andrew (1835-1912) was born at Toronto, Ont. on 21 December 1835. He graduated in 1853 in Arts from Queen's University, Kingston and obtained his commission to practice surveying in 1866, by which time he had begun his first major architectural project, a vast woolen mill complex for James Rosamond located in Almonte, Ontario. The complex was intended by its proprietor to be a completely self-contained and integrated manufacturing centre. From 1869 until 1885 Bell devoted much of his time to carrying out land surveys for the Dominion government, and served as engineer in charge of construction for several railway and canal projects in Ontario while continuing to work as an architect. In 1886 he began an architectural and engineering practice with Edward T. Wilkie of Almonte, with whom he collaborated on the Town Hall in Arnprior, Ont, 1888-89. He also served as clerk-of-works to Thomas Fuller, Chief Architect of the Department of Public Works, for the construction of the Post Office in Almonte, 1889-91 and for the Post Office in Carleton Place, Ont., 1890-92. Bell made extensive use of local building stone from the Almonte region in his designs, and delivered a lengthy paper on the subject to the Ontario Association of Architects in 1896. His essay, entitled 'Building Stones of Eastern Ontario' was 'based on forty years of experience both in engineering and architectural building' (C.A.B., ix, March 1896, 42-3). He died in Almonte on 22 October 1912 (obituary in the Perth Courier, 25 Oct 1912, l; biography in Ontario Land Surveyors Annual Report, 1913, 78, with portrait in 1918 Annual Report; W. Cochrane, Canadian Album - Men of Canada, 1894, iv, 235; inf. J. Dunn)
ALMONTE, ONT., Victoria Woolen Mill, for James Rosamond, 1863-67 (list of works in Ontario Land Surveyors Annual Report, 1913, 78). An aerial perspective of this building complex, together with a history of the company, appears in the publication called Dominion Illustrated: Special Number Devoted to Montreal, 1891, 66.
CORNWALL, ONT., woolen mill for the Cornwall Manufacturing Co., for George Stephen of Montreal, 1867; burned 1870; rebuilt 1872 (Montreal Herald, 13 Jan. 1868, 2, descrip.; Almonte Gazette, 17 July 1868, 2, descrip.)
ALMONTE, ONT., school house, 1868-69 (Almonte Gazette, 22 Jan. 1869, 2, descrip.)
ALMONTE, ONT., St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, 1869 (Old St. Mary's: Biography of the Church, n.d., 15-17, illus.)
CARLETON PLACE, ONT., Hawthorn Woolen Mill, Emily Street, for Abraham Code, M.P.P., 1871 (Ottawa Citizen, 12 May 1871, 2, t.c.)
ALMONTE, ONT., Merchant's Bank, 1874 (Perth Courier, 9 Jan. 1874, 4)
ST. ANDREW'S, QUE., Christ Church (Anglican), 1877 (E. May, A Hundred Years of Christ Church, St. Andrew's, 1919, 35-6, illus.)
ALMONTE, ONT., 'The Maples', a residence for Andrew Bell, architect, Mitcheson Street, 1883 (Ottawa Journal, 9 March 1974, 35, illus.)
ARNPRIOR, ONT., Town Hall, 1888-89; altered 1978 (C.A.B., i, Sept. 1888, 7; Pembroke Observer, 21 Sept. 1888, 1, descrip.)
ARNPRIOR, ONT., public school, 1897 (C.R., viii, 25 March 1897, 2)
ALMONTE, ONT., skating rink, 1900 (C.R., xi, 29 Aug 1900, 2)