JAMES, Silas (1834-1915) of Toronto, Ont. is best known as a surveyor by trade but during the period from 1871 until 1882 it was his association with several Toronto architects which brought him prominence. Born in York Township on 19 June 1834 he was the son of William James, a Justice of the Peace and local Reeve, and was educated at the Grammar School in Newmarket. In 1855 he began an apprenticeship as surveyor with Dennis & Boulton of Toronto and registered as a Provincial Land Surveyor in July 1858. James moved to Victoria, B.C. in 1859 where he was engaged in the milling and mining business and undertook some of the first mine surveys of the Cariboo region of the British Columbia interior. He returned to Toronto in 1864 to continue his career as a surveyor, and in 1867 was appointed as Superintendent of Roads in York County. His first architectural commission came in 1871 when he and David Roberts collaborated on the design for the Church Street Public School. In early January 1872 he formed a partnership with Joseph A. Fowler but the relationship was shortlived and was terminated in July of that year. James worked on his own until August 1873 when he and Joseph Connolly, the talented Irish architect who had recently arrived in Toronto, announced the formation of a new office (Irish Canadian [Toronto], 13 Aug. 1873, 5). Connolly's skills as an ecclesiastical designer were undoubtedly a valuable asset for the new firm and enabled it to attract the patronage of the Catholic church which solicited designs for new buildings in Grafton, Hamilton and Owen Sound. It was, however, the commission for the Roman Catholic church in Guelph which proved to be the most important architectural project in James career, but it is unclear why he and Connolly parted company just a few months after commencing work on this outstanding Gothic Revival work.
In late 1876 James resumed his practise as a surveyor, civil engineer and valuator and only after June 1881 did he again attempt to collaborate with architects, this time with W.H. Mallory and J.W. Mallory. Together, they won the architectural competition for the Grand Central Hotel in St. Thomas, Ont., and received a premium of $100.00 for their effort. However, in less than twelve months this partnership had dissolved, and James had returned to his earlier career as a surveyor, this time in partnership with T.B. Speight. James served as assessor for the City of Toronto from 1886-93, and died there on 11 October 1915 (biography and portrait in Ontario Land Surveyors Annual Reports, 1920, 117-19; biography in C.B. Robinson, History of Toronto and the County of York, 1885, ii, 88)
(works in Toronto unless noted)
SILAS JAMES (works in Toronto unless noted)
(with David Roberts) PUBLIC SCHOOL, Church Street at Alexander Street, 1871 (Annual Report of the Inspector of Schools of the City of Toronto for 1871, 99)
NORTH YORK, Primitive Methodist Church, Finch Avenue East near Woodbine Avenue, Lot 21, Third Concession., 1873 (Globe [Toronto], 15 Feb. 1873, 4, t.c.)
VOLUNTEER'S MONUMENT, Queen's Park, new stone and iron fence, 1877 (Globe [Toronto], 1 Aug. 1877, 3, t.c.)
PARKDALE UNION RAILWAY STATION, Queen Street West at Dufferin Street, 1877-78 (Globe [Toronto], 31 March 1877, 7, t.c.)
JAMES & FOWLER (works in Toronto unless noted)
RISING SUN INN, Yonge Street near St. Mary Street, 1872 (Globe [Toronto], 5 March 1872, 4, t.c.)
ANCASTER, ONT., a new Parsonage for St. John's Anglican Church, Wilson Street East at Halson Street, 1872 (Spectator [Hamilton], 22 April 1872, 3/
CHRIST CHURCH (Anglican), Yorkville, Yonge Street at Heath Street, new Parsonage, 1872 (Globe [Toronto], 11 June 1872, 4, t.c.)
ALL SAINTS ANGLICAN CHURCH, Sherbourne Street at Dundas Street East, new Sunday School, 1872; demol. 1886 (Mail [Toronto], 29 Nov. 1872, 1)
JAMES & CONNOLLY (works in Toronto unless noted)
SCARBOROUGH JUNCTION, Primitive Methodist Church, Kennedy Road at Eglinton Avenue East, 1875 (Globe [Toronto], 16 Jan. 1875, 3, t.c.)
GRAFTON, ONT., Roman Catholic Church, 1875 (Cobourg Sentinel, 23 Jan. 1875, 3; and 12 Aug. 1875, 3; Globe [Toronto], 27 Jan. 1875, 4, descrip.)
YORK COUNTY, Registry Office for South Riding, 1875 (Globe [Toronto], 24 Feb. 1875, 3, t.c.)
HAMILTON, ONT., St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, King Street East at Victoria Street, 1875-77 (Spectator [Hamilton], 12 April 1875, 2, t.c.; K. Foyster, History of the Hamilton Diocese 1856-1981, 79, illus.; Mark Osbaldeston, Unbuilt Hamilton, 2016, 75-77, illus. & descrip.)
SCARBOROUGH, Wexford Primitive Methodist Church, Lawrence Avenue East at Warden Avenue, 1876-77 (Globe [Toronto], 7 Feb. 1876, 3, t.c.; Christian Journal [Toronto], 30 March 1877, descrip.)
KING STREET WEST, west of York Street, row of ten stores, 1876, demol. (Mail [Toronto], 15 April 1876, 4)
GUELPH, ONT., St. Bartholomew's Roman Catholic Church (later Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Cathedral), Norfolk Street, 1876; completed by Joseph Connolly 1877-86 (Globe [Toronto], 14 March 1876, 3, t.c.; and 6 April 1876, 3, t.c.; and 12 June 1876, 3, t.c.; Guelph Daily Mercury, 1 Nov. 1876, 1, descrip.)
LONDON, ONT., St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum, Mount Hope, Richmond Street at Grosvenor Street, 1876-77 (Daily Advertiser [London], 28 Aug. 1876, 4, descrip.; Free Press [London], 4 Sept. 1877, 1, descrip.)
OWEN SOUND, ONT., additions and vaulted ceiling for St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, 15th Street East, 1876 (Globe [Toronto], 1 Sept. 1876, 3, t.c.)
BATHURST STREET, near Lennox Street, Roman Catholic School, 1876 (Globe [Toronto], 29 May 1876, 4, t.c.)
JAMES, MALLORY & MALLORY (works in Toronto unless noted)
GALT, ONT., addition to Queen's Hotel, 1881 (Telegram [Toronto], 15 June 1881, 4, t.c.)
ST. THOMAS, ONT., Grand Central Hotel, a commission won in a competition, 1881-82 (Mail [Toronto], 17 Nov. 1881, 8; Globe [Toronto], 18 Nov. 1881, 8; and 11 Jan. 1882, 8, t.c.)
McGILL STREET, terrace of six houses for Thomas Bonner, 1882 (Telegram [Toronto], 28 Feb. 1882, 4, t.c.)
ANNE STREET, row of three houses for Thomas Bonner, 1882 (Telegram [Toronto], 5 June 1882, 4, t.c.)
ACTON, ONT., Town Hall, Bower Avenue at Willow Street North, 1881-82; completed in 1883 by Mallory & Son, Architects, still standing in 2024 (Acton Free Press, 10 Nov. 1881, 2; and 5 Jan. 1882, 2; and 26 July 1883, 2, payment of fees to Mallory & Son, Toronto)