Okill, John Leigh

OKILL, John Leigh (fl. 1824-30) was the son of John Okill and first cousin of the Rev. George Okill Stuart, archdeacon of York and Rector of Kingston. His first known architectural designs were for the Midland District Courthouse & Gaol, King Street East at Clarence Street, KINGSTON, UPPER CANADA, 1824; demol. 1856 (OA, Upper Canada Sundries, 36447-48, letter from John Okill to Maj. George Hillier, 15 Nov. 1824). Later that same year he advertised the opening of his drawing school at Kingston (Kingston Chronicle, 17 Dec. 1824). By 1828 he had moved to Quebec City where he was offering to teach drawing (Star & Commercial Advertiser [Quebec City], 26 March 1828, 1 advert.). He submitted an architectural proposal for the rebuilding of Notre Dame Cathedral in Quebec but his drawings were passed over in favour of those prepared by Thomas Baillairge (L. Noppen, Notre-Dame-de-Quebec, 1974, 208). In 1829 he was active in Montreal as an architectural draftsman and prepared three drawings of the newly completed Notre Dame Roman Catholic Church designed by James O'Donnell. His drawings survive in the collection of the Archives de la Seminaire de Quebec and are reproduced in F. Toker, The Church of Notre Dame in Montreal, 1970, plates 14, 15 and 31 (inf. from Stephen Otto, Toronto)