BOWES, John (1820-1894) was born in Kilkenny County, Ireland and arrived in Canada after 1845. He lived and worked in Kingston as an architect and builder until 1859 when he moved to Ottawa to join the staff of the Department of Public Works. On 20 May 1861 he obtained the appointment as Measurer of the Parliament Building for which construction had begun in 1860 (statement by Bowes in Province of Canada, Sessional Papers, 1863, xii, No. 2, Report on the Commission to Inquire into Matters Connected with the Public Buildings at Ottawa, Appendix of Testimony, unpaginated). He held the position of assistant architect in the Department throughout the 1860's and 1870's, and frequently accepted commissions from private clients in the Ottawa area. He worked under his own name or in partnership with his son James R. Bowes, to whom most of the work was often directed because '..Mr. Bowes is kept continually busy by the duties of his Office under government, and all the outside work devolves upon his son Mr. James R. Bowes' (Ottawa Citizen, 6 Dec. 1875, 4).
In 1879 he became the superintendent of penitentiaries in the Dept. of Public Works, a position which allowed him the latitude to put forward his own ideas on the design and construction of prisons in Montreal, Kingston and elsewhere without the interference or objections of the Chief Architect of the Department. Signed drawings by Bowes verify that he alone was responsible for directing these works, and the architectural style which he employed in these institutions differs from that of Thomas S. Scott or Thomas Fuller who held the position of Chief Architect during Bowes tenure. He retired in 1892 and died in Ottawa on 8 September 1894. Bowes left an estate valued at $32,000 (obituary in the Free Press [Ottawa], 10 Sept. 1894, 7; Ottawa Citizen, 10 Sept. 1894, 7; C.A.B., vii, Sept. 1894, 114; Carleton Co., Wills, 2518; inf. from Dana Johnson, Ottawa; biog. and port. Jennifer McKendry, Architects Working in the Kingston Region 1820-1920, 2019, 16)
KINGSTON, ONT., pair of houses for Margaret Delaney, Johnson Street, 1851 (Kingston, Buildings of Architectural and Historic Significance, v, 1980, 83-4, illus.)
KINGSTON, ONT., a three storey stone building, Wellington Street at Clarence Street, 1858 (Daily News [Kingston], 9 Feb. 1858, 3, t.c.)
KINGSTON, ONT., Customs House, with Collector's Residence, 1858 (Semi-Weekly Spectator [Hamilton], 27 Oct. 1858, 4, descrip.)
BELLEVILLE, ONT., major addition for St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church, 1863; later replaced by new church designed by Joseph Connolly in 1886 (Hastings Chronicle [Belleville], 5 Aug. 1863, 2, descrip.)
KINGSTON, ONT., House of Providence, Montreal Street, 1870-71 (Daily British Whig [Kingston], 5 Dec. 1870, 2, t.c.)
OTTAWA, ONT., Roman Catholic Convent, Ottawa Street, 1872 (Daily Citizen [Ottawa], 13 Feb. 1872, 2, t.c.)
OTTAWA, ONT., St. Patrick's Orphan Asylum, Hugh Street at Maria Street, 1872-73 (Irish Canadian [Toronto], 15 Jan. 1873, 3, descrip.; Canadian Freeman [Toronto], 8 May 1873, 2, descrip.)
(with Thomas Fuller) OTTAWA, ONT., Parliamentary Library, Wellington Street, begun 1860; completion of roof and interiors, 1873-74 (Canada, Sessional Papers, 1874, No. 2, Appendix 18, 121). Bowes was 'the Measurer and Clerk of Works' to Thomas Fuller...' (Free Press [Ottawa], 15 Aug. 1876, 3, descrip.)
OTTAWA, ONT. decorations inside The Parliamentary Library, Wellington Street, for the Grand Ball of Quebec Members of the House of Commons, 1876 (Evening Star [Montreal], 29 Feb. 1876, 3, descrip.)
LAVAL, QUE., St. Vincent de Paul Penitentiary, Levesque Boulevard East, including these buildings and additions:
East Wing, 1878-81, altered 1962; and
West Wing, 1880-83, damaged by fire in 1962 and demol. in 1970; and
Prison chapel, 1880; and
Workshops buildings, 1880-89; demol. 1962; and
Rotunda and Dome, 1884-89; and
South Wing, 1888-90, damaged by fire in 1962 and demol. in 1970; and
North Lodge and Gateway, c. 1885 and completed by others in 1893-94, now demol.
(Canada, Sessional Papers, 1878, No. 7, Appendix 16, Report of the Chief Architect, 74-5, descrip.; 1881, No. 6, Appendix 3, Report of the Chief Architect, 16, descrip.; dwgs. at NAC, F.J. Alexander Coll., Dwg. 178, drawings for Prison door and details signed by Bowes)
KINGSTON, ONT., St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Johnson Street, interior refinishing of the cathedral, and new wood pews throughout the nave, 1878 (Daily British Whig [Kingston], 24 Dec. 1878, 3, descrip.)
KINGSTON, ONT., Kingston Penitentiary, King Street West, including these buildings and additions:
South Workshop Building, reconstruction of the block after a fire, to accommodate cells for insane prisoners transferred from the Rockwood Asylum, and addition of a new ceiling for the prison chapel, 1881-82; and
Dining Hall, addition of second floor inside the Hall to accommodate a school, 1888-89; and
East Workshop, conversion of the workshop to a Prison of Isolation, 1889-94; and later converted to a hospital
(Canada, Sessional Papers, 1880, No. 6, Appendix 3, Report of the Chief Architect, 15; 1881, No. 6, Appendix, Report of the Chief Architect, 21)