ADAMS, Edwin James (1861-1914) served as Chief Penitentiary Architect for the federal Department of Justice from 1896 until 1914. Born in Ottawa, Ont. on 26 February 1861 he was the son of James Adams, Chief Trades Instructor of the provincial penitentiary at Kingston, Ont. He moved from Ottawa to Kingston with his parents in 1870 and may have acted as an assistant to his father in the 1880's, thereby gaining a broad knowledge of the design of prison facilities in Ontario. In April 1894 he was appointed as a trades instructor at the Kingston Penitentiary and later succeeded his father as Chief Trades Instructor there on 1 February 1896. When the Department of Justice became fully independent from the Department of Public Works in 1896 Adams was asked to take on the role of Penitentiary Architect for Canada and was eventually transferred to the Department headquarters in Ottawa in 1902.
The formal post of Architect to the Penitentiaries Branch was created on 1 July 1906 and Adams held this position overseeing all architectural work on penitentiary properties in Canada until his death. He prepared the plans for the enlargement of the federal prison at Edmonton, Alta. in 1906 (C.R., xvii, 8 Aug. 1906, 5), and designed the major addition to the New Westminster, B.C. prison in 1911 (C.R., xxv, 26 July 1911, 59). His death occurred at Kingston on 12 June 1914 (obituary in Ottawa Citizen, 16 June 1914, 6; inf. from Dana Johnson, Ottawa; biog. Jennifer McKendry, Architects Working in the Kingston Region 1820-1920, 2019, 10). The list of works below has been extracted from the Annual Reports of the Minister of Justice as to Penitentiaries, 1896 to 1915, and can be found bound with the federal Sessional Papers published by the Government of Canada.
DORCHESTER, N.B., additions to Dorchester Penitentiary, including workshops, 1898-1909; walls and towers, 1909-16
STONY MOUNTAIN, MAN., major additions to Stony Mountain Penitentiary, including workshops, 1903-11, demol. 1991; North Cell wing, 1905-08, demol.; new walls and towers, 1908-14; Main Gate and stores building, 1914-15, demol.
LAVAL, QUE., major additions to St. Vincent de Paul Penitentiary, including workshops, 1901-08; the Hospital, 1908-15; Chapel, 1914-20; Warden's Residence, 1911-12
EDMONTON, ALTA., Alberta Provincial Prison, Government Avenue, 1905-06 (Edmonton Bulletin, 31 July 1906, 1 & 5, descrip.)
KINGSTON, ONT., a large residence for Mr. O'Leary, Deputy Warden of The Penitentiary, located diagonally opposite the Penitentiary, King Street West, 1909 (Daily Standard [Kingston], 18 Aug. 1909, 8, descrip.)
PRINCE ALBERT, SASK., major additions to Saskatchewan Penitentiary, including stables, blacksmith shop and brickmaking plant, 1911, all demol.; Warden's Residence, 1912; Deputy Warden's Residence, 1912-13; South Cellblock wing, 1914; stables and sheds, 1914-15
KINGSTON, ONT., additions to the Penitentiary, King Street West, including extensive remodelling of the North Wing to accommodate 160 new cells, 1913-15 (Daily Standard [Kingston], 29 March 1913, 2, descrip.)