BRIEN, Francis (1835-1908) was first recorded as an architect in Ridgetown, Ont. and he designed a public school in the nearby town of Palmyra, Ontario in 1880. He was born in Howard Township, Kent County, Ontario in 1835 and he was trained in the building trades in Toronto. He was recorded as a carpenter in that city in 1871. He later moved to southwestern Ontario and settled in Ridgetown. By 1890 he had relocated to Windsor, Ont. (Directory of Essex, Kent & Lambton, 1890, 243). Brien later moved to Essex, Ontario in 1903, and is presumably the same "Frank Brien, Architect" of Essex, Ontario who was credited with the design of the new Methodist Church in that town in 1908. This church was complete at the time of his death in Essex on 24 October 1908 (obituary Essex Free Press, 30 Oct. 1908, 5; Evening Record [Windsor], 2 Nov. 1908, 8, news item on death of Francis Brian [sic], architect).
PALMYRA, ONT., public school, 1880 (Globe [Toronto], 8 Jan. 1880, 3, t.c.)
ESSEX, ONT., Methodist Church, 1908 (Evening Record [Windsor], 20 Jan. 1908, 3, t.c.)