Millson, Richard Hubert

MILLSON, Richard Hubert (1886-1946) was active in Ottawa in 1915-26 where he was in partnership with Cecil Burgess from 1915 until 1922. They were joined by A.J. Hazelgrove in 1923-24, but Hazelgrove departed in late 1924, leaving Millson & Burgess to continue their practise until 1926. Millson was born in Kingston-on-Thames, Co. Middlesex, England on 27 November 1886, son of Frederick Millson, a landscape and figure painter active in London (see the Dictionary of British Artists 1880-1940, 1976, 355). No information can be found on his education and training, but he emigrated to the United States in 1908 and may have worked in the New York area before moving to Canada in 1915. He settled in Ottawa, and within a few months he had formed a new partnership with Cecil Burgess. They were successful in obtaining commissions for several public, commercial and ecclesiastical buildings in both Ontario and western Quebec. Millson appears to have left the Ottawa area in late 1926 and moved back to the United States, taking up residence in Nassau County, Long Island where he lived in North Hempstead, and later in Port Washington. He died in Baldwin, N.Y. on 24 October 1946 (obituary Brooklyn Eagle [Brooklyn], 26 Oct. 1946, 5). At the time of his death he was described as being a staff architect with the office of Frederic P. Wiedersum & Co., Architects of Valley Stream, N.Y. (inf. Jane Scott Millson, Stroudsburg, Penn.; inf. Helen Gillespie, Ottawa, Ont.)

MILLSON & BURGESS (works in Ottawa unless noted)

ISOLATION HOSPITAL, Range Road, addition of a 3 storey sunroom wing for convalescent patients, 1916 (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 17 Feb. 1916, 8, descrip.)
SPARKS STREET, commercial block for Robert & Russell Blackburn, 1917 (C.R., xxxi, 22 Aug. 1917, 41)
SOUTH OSGOODE, ONT., a church, 1917 (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 1 Oct. 1917, 13, t.c.)
BLESSED SACRAMENT ROMAN CATHOLIC PARISH, Fourth Avenue near Percy Street, a Glebehouse for the parish, 1917 (historical article in the Ottawa Journal, 7 May 1932, 13)
OTTAWA JOURNAL PRINTING CO., Queen Street, 1917-18 (Const., xi, May 1918, 159, illus. & descrip.)
KARS, ONT., St. John's Anglican Church, Old Prescott Road, Osgoode Township, 1918-19 (M. Daley, St. John's Parish 125th Anniversary 1854-1979, illus.)
FITZROY HARBOUR, ONT., public school, for S.S. No. 8, 1919; school closed in 2006 (Montreal Daily Star, 17 May 1919, 36)
RENFREW, ONT., War Memorial Cenotaph, [a commission won in a competition], Raglan Street South at Railway Avenue, 1919 (Ottawa Journal, 31 May 1919, 9)
RENFREW, ONT., Carnegie Library, Railway Avenue at Raglan Street South, 1919; still standing in 2023 (Ottawa Journal, 3 June 1919, 3; M. Beckman, The Best Gift, 1984, 185)
RENFREW, ONT., Fire Hall, Railway Street at Plaunt Street, 1919 (Ottawa Journal, 3 June 1919, 3; E. Wilmott, Where's The Fire, 1980, 78-9, illus.)
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS HALL, Laurier Avenue West near Elgin Street, 1919 (C.R., xxxiii, 14 May 1919, 46, t.c.)
OTTAWA PAINT WORKS, Wellington Street, major alterations, 1920 (C.R., xxxiv, 8 Sept. 1920, 56)
CAMPBELL'S BAY, QUE., residence for the Roman Catholic congregation, 1920 (C.R., xxxiv, 13 Oct. 1920, 60)
OTTAWA ARENA & SKATING RINK, York Street at King Edward Avenue, 1921 (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 26 Feb. 1921, 22, descrip.)
PEMBROKE, ONT., Holy Name Roman Catholic Church, 1921 (C.R., xxxv, 13 April 1921, 59)
COMO, QUE., garden pavilion, garage and stables for J.A. O'Brien, 1921 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], liv, 22 April 1921, 60)
CAMPBELL'S BAY, QUE., Town Hall, 1921 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], liv, 3 June 1921, 60)
ST. MATTHEW'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, Bank Street at First Avenue, major addition and alterations, 1922 (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 24 March 1922, 7, descrip.)
AYLMER, QUE. club house for the United Service Club, 1922 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], lv, 7 April 1922, 52)
PLOUFFE PARK, The Plant City Public Baths, Somerset Street at Preston Street, 1923-24 (C.R., xxxvi, 1 March 1922, 52; xxxviii, 16 April 1924, 369-72, illus. & descrip.; Ottawa: A Guide to Heritage Structures, 2000, 211, illus.; Meredith Stewart, "The Public Baths of Ottawa: A Heritage Reconsidered" in Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, xl, No. 1, Spring 2015, 83-96, descrip. & illus.; Andrew Waldron, Exploring the Capital: An Architectural Guide to the Ottawa-Gatineau Region, 2017, 168-9, illus. & descrip.)
PEMBROKE, ONT., West Ward Roman Catholic School, located "...near St. John's Roman Catholic Church", 1922 (Daily Standard [Kingston], 22 March 1922, 10; C.R., xxxvi, 5 April 1922, 57, t.c.)
CORNWALL, ONT., public school, 1922 (C.R., xxxvi, 22 March 1922, 49, t.c.)

MILLSON, BURGESS & HAZELGROVE (works in Ottawa unless noted)

J.A. LAROQUE LTD. DEPARTMENT STORE, Rideau Street at Dalhousie Street, 1922-23 (C.R., xxxvi, 16 Aug. 1922, 49; Ottawa Journal, 19 May 1923, 5, illus. & descrip.)
CORNWALL, ONT., major addition to High School, 1923 (C.R., xxxvii, 28 March 1923, 51)
FIRE HALL NO. 11, Parkdale Avenue, 1923-24 (Ottawa Journal, 16 July 1923, 13, t.c.; Ottawa: A Guide to Heritage Structures, 2000, 209, illus.; ACORN - Architectural Conservancy of Ontario Journal, Vol. 47, No. 1, Spring 2022, 6-7, illus. & descrip.)
ST. PATRICK'S ORPHAN'S HOME, Gloucester Street at Kent Street, 1924 (C.R., xxxviii, 5 March 1924, 113)
HULL, QUE., Zion Presbyterian Church (now called Cushman Memorial Church), Hanson Street at Wright Street, 1924; still standing in 2023 (Ottawa Journal, 22 March 1924, 38, t.c.)
LANSDOWNE PARK, major additions to the Howick Pavilion Exhibition Building, 1926 (Ottawa Journal, 8 Feb. 1926, 2; 13 April 1926, 3, descrip.)

MILLSON & BURGESS (works in Ottawa unless noted)

ELGIN STREET, a 7 storey apartment block, on the site of the old Protestant Orphan's Home, 1925 (Ottawa Citizen, 29 July 1925, 4, detailed descrip.)
OTTAWA DRAMA LEAGUE, a theatre, 1926 (C.R., xl, 12 May 1926, 52)
MAXVILLE, ONT., United Church, Main Street South, opposite Peter Street, 1926; church closed 2019 and converted to residential use; still standing in 2023 (Ottawa Journal, 14 May 1926, 27, t.c.; 3 August 1926, 3, descrip.; 14 Dec. 1926, 5, illus. & descrip.)
LAURIER AVENUE, apartment house for Wolf Shenkman, 1926 (C.R., xl, 21 July 1926, 54)
PERTH, ONT., St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Drummond Street West at North Street, 1926; still standing in 2023 (C.R., xl, 10 Nov. 1926, 52; xli, 15 June 1927, 612, illus.)