Bennett, Joseph Henry | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

BENNETT, Joseph Henry (1809-1878) was born in England and served a five year apprenticeship under Jacob Owen, Chief Architect and Engineer to the Board of Works in Ireland before coming to Canada and settling in Toronto in early 1842. On 11 January 1843 he submitted a design and specification in the competition for Brock's Monument, Queenston Heights, Ont. (OA, Brock Monument Papers, MU296, Design 15). He joined the engineering department of the City of Toronto in 1850, and in 1852 was appointed as Clerk of Works to Kivas Tully to supervise the construction of Trinity College, Queen Street West, Toronto (Minute Book, Trinity College Archives, University of Toronto). He served as City Engineer from 1860 until 1874 and it is in this capacity that he may have been responsible for the design of several city owned buildings and municipal works projects, a task which was handled by the individual holding this office until 1903 when the administrative post of City Architect was created by the municipality. He died in Toronto on 23 July 1878 (obituary in Daily Mail [Toronto], 24 July 1878, 4; portrait in the J.R. Robertson Coll. 2787, Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library).