Murray, David

MURRAY, David (1831-1870), a talented architect and designer who practised in Hamilton and Guelph, Ontario, and later in Michigan from 1866 to 1870. He was owner or partner in the following firms:

Clark & Murray, Architects, Hamilton, June 1853 to August 1854 (with Hutchison Clark)
Murray & Smith, Architects, Hamilton, Aug. 1854 to March 1855 (with Thomas Smith)
David Murray, Architect, Hamilton, April to July 1855
Murray & Tomkins & Co., Architects, Civil and Mechanical Engineers, Hamilton, July 1855 to April 1856 (with W. Graeme Tomkins)
David Murray, Architect, Guelph, Ont. April 1856 to Dec. 1866
David Murray, Detroit, Mich., associated with James Anderson, Jan. 1867 to Aug. 1867
David Murray, Architect, Bay City, Mich. Sept. 1867 to 1869
David Murray, Architect, Muskegon, Mich. 1869-70

Born in Scotland in 1831, he emigrated to Canada in 1851 and settled in Hamilton, Ontario where he obtained a position as assistant to Hutchison Clark, a prominent architect and builder in that city. When Clark entered the competition for the new Brock Monument at Queenston in 1852, he entrusted his young assistant David Murray with the project, and informed the Committee in Toronto that Murray “ ….had principal management of the design for the monument now submitted“ (OA, MU 296, Brock Monument Papers, letter from Hutchison Clark, 9 Aug. 1852). This served as an indication that Murray, then aged 21 years, already had considerable talent as a designer and as a skilled draftsman. The following year, in June 1853, Clark invited Murray to become a full partner in their new firm in Hamilton (see list of works under Clark & Murray). In October 1853 Murray married Ann Eliza Wetherall, niece of Robert Wetherall, the first professional architect to work in the Hamilton area in the early 19th C.

When Clark later decided to retire from the profession in August 1854, Murray formed a new partnership with Thomas Smith, and together their new firm won Second Prize in the competition for the Hamilton Waterworks in 1854. Despite this near-success in this competition, the firm of Murray & Smith was dissolved within seven months, and Murray briefly worked under his own name until July 1855 when he formed a new partnership with W. Graeme Tomkins, a mechanical engineer by training. They operated an office in Hamilton, then opened a branch office in Guelph in late December 1855, with Murray as the resident partner serving clients in Guelph. Once again, this partnership was a brief one, and Tomkins retired in April 1856, leaving Murray to continue on his own for the next decade. There, he was an influential designer of commercial, residential and ecclesiastical projects in and around Guelph. His most impressive work was a sophisticated Gothic Revival design for St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at Fergus, Ont. (1862), and still standing in 2022.

In late 1866 Murray left Canada and moved to Detroit, Mich where he was said to have been “….associated in business with Mr. James Anderson, architect of the new Detroit City Hall” (Detroit Free Press, 9 Jan. 1867, 2). Like all of his previous professional relationships, their collaboration was all too brief. By September of that year Murray had moved again, this time to Bay City , Mich. where it appears he was successful in finding new commissions from local clients in that city. In September 1867 it was reported that “Mr. David Murray, formerly of Guelph, has taken up residence at Bay City and the Daily Signal published there speaks in high terms of some of the buildings which have been erected according to plans by him” (article in the Evening Mercury [Guelph], 2 September 1867, 1). His practise there appears to have ended in early 1869, when he closed his office and moved west to Muskegon, Mich. where he continued to work as an architect, civil engineer and surveyor, and to prepare plans for new buildings in that town.

Murray must have been under considerable duress and anxiety when, on 12 June 1870, he took his own life at Oak Creek, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee, at the age of 39 years (obituary Milwaukee Sentinel, 13 June 1870; Muskegon Reporter, 14 June 1870, and reprinted in the Guelph Advertiser, 30 June 1870, 1; obituary Detroit Free Press, 17 June 1870, 1). The obituary article noted he was “an architect and engineer, and a man of good ability. In his profession, he stood first class, and was a lively and sarcastic writer”. A subsequent inquest into his death reported that he was “labouring under insanity at the time of committing the rash act”, and that “…owing to an unfortunate love affair, he was obliged to run away to escape the wrath of the young lady’s family” (Muskegon Weekly Chronicle, 15 June 1870). This was likely the explanation as to why Murray was constantly on the move during the period of 1866 to 1870 after he had left Canada, and even his departure from Guelph may have been hastened by problems associated with his personal relationships.

MURRAY & SMITH

HAMILTON, ONT., residence on Upper James Street for an unnamed client, 1854 (Daily Spectator [Hamilton], 30 Sept. 1854, 3, t.c.)
WOODSTOCK, ONT., Baptist Church, Beale Street at Adelaide Street, 1854 (Daily Spectator [Hamilton], 31 Oct. 1854, 2, descrip.; Christian Messenger [Brantford], 16 Nov. 1854, 1, descrip.)

DAVID MURRAY

HAMILTON, ONT., eastern wing for the Jail, and completion of unfinished portions of the main building, 1854-55 (Daily Spectator [Hamilton], 28 Feb. 1855, 2, Letter from the architect; and 14 April 1855, 3, t.c.; and 23 Nov. 1855, 2, letter from the architect)
GUELPH, ONT. block of stores for Thomas Sandilands, Market Square at Wyndham Street, 1855 (Guelph Advertiser, 5 July 1855, 3, t.c.)
GUELPH, ONT., reconstruction of the ground floor of the County Jail, Woolwich Street, 1856-57 (Guelph Advertiser, 6 Nov. 1856, 3, t.c.)
GUELPH, ONT., a 'gentleman's residence' for an unnamed client, 1857 (Guelph Advertiser, 9 April 1857, 3, t.c.)
WOODSTOCK, ONT., Oxford County Court House, alterations and improvements, c. 1860 (dwgs. at Univ. of Western Ontario, D.B. Weldon Library, Dwg. Coll.)
GUELPH, ONT., store for the Horsman Brothers, Wyndham Street, 1861 (Elora Observer, 22 March 1861, 2, descrip.)
FERGUS, ONT., St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, St. George Street West at Tower Street North, 1862; still standing in 2022 (Galt Reporter, 21 March 1862, 2; Elora Observer, 9 Jan. 1863, 2, descrip.)
GUELPH, ONT., South Ward School, Waterloo Avenue at Glasgow Street, 1862-63 (inf. Gordon Couling, Guelph)
GUELPH, ONT., Anglo-American Hotel, for James O'Neil, designed 1859; built 1862 (Sun [Orangeville], 1 Jan. 1863, 2, descrip.)
WALKERTON, ONT., Bruce County Court House and Jail, Cayley Street, a commission won in a competition in 1860; design revised in 1863; built 1865-66; still standing in 2022 (Globe [Toronto], 17 Nov. 1863, 2, t.c.; and 19 Dec. 1863, 4; Weekly Spectator [Hamilton], 19 Nov. 1863, 1; M. Carter, Early Canadian Court Houses, 1983, 222, illus.)
GUELPH, ONT., flour mill for William Hockin, on the Speed River below Well's Bridge, 1864 (Weekly Mercury, [Guelph] 28 Oct. 1864, 2, descrip.)
GUELPH, ONT., addition to the Town Hall, Carden Street at Wyndham Street North, perhaps for a Market House, 1864 (Weekly Mercury [Guelph], 25 Nov. 1864, 2; and 6 April 1865, 2)
GUELPH TOWNSHIP, West End School House, for S.S. No. 4, Parkview Road, 1865; altered 1978 (Weekly Mercury [Guelph], 27 Jan. 1865, 3; and 10 Aug. 1865, 2, descrip.)
GUELPH, ONT., Wellington County Court House, Woolwich Street, major addition to the Court House and alterations to the court room, 1865; still standing in 2022 (Weekly Mercury [Guelph], 23 March 1865, 3, t.c.; A. Adamson & M. MacRae, Cornerstones of Order, 1983, 105-06, illus.)
GUELPH, ONT., Senior Girl's School, Dublin Street, 1865; demol. 1968 (Weekly Mercury [Guelph], 25 May 1865, 3, t.c.)
GUELPH, ONT., Agricultural Hall and Drill Shed, 1865-66 (Weekly Mercury [Guelph], 26 Oct. 1865, 2, descrip.; and 23 Nov. 1865, 2, descrip.; and 1 March 1866, 2; Globe [Toronto], 8 Feb. 1866, 2, descrip.)
SARNIA, ONT., Belchamber House Hotel, Front Street, a four storey brick hotel with 75 rooms, 1866; still standing in 2023 (Sarnia Observer, 7 Dec. 1866, 2, descrip.; Detroit Free Press, 9 Jan. 1867, 2, descrip.; Register of Sarnia Heritage Property, 2010, illus. & descrip.)
SARNIA, ONT., The St. Clair House Hotel, for Mr. Baker, 1866-67 (Detroit Free Press, 9 Jan. 1867, 2, descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., an 'Italian villa' on Jefferson Avenue for an unidentified client, 1867 (Evening Mercury [Guelph], 9 Jan. 1868, 1)
BAY CITY, MICHIGAN, residence for Mr. E. O'Connor, Centre Street at Monroe Street, 1867 (Evening Mercury [Guelph], 9 Jan. 1868, 1)
BAY CITY, MICHIGAN, new passenger Railway Station, Jefferson Street, between Third St. and Fourth Street, 1868 (Detroit Free Press, 3 July 1868, 3, descrip., and credited to J.W. Murray (sic), Architect)
DETROIT, MICH., an 'Italian villa' on Jefferson Avenue for an unidentified client, 1867 (Evening Mercury [Guelph], 9 Jan. 1868, 1)
MUSKEGON, MICH., Roberts Block, Western Avenue, a two storey commercial block for Julius Roberts, 1870 (Detroit Free Press, 24 March 1870, 1)
MUSKEGON, MICH., Landreth Block, Western Avenue at Jefferson Street "....across from the Post Office", a three storey brick block for Mr. Landreth, 1870 (Detroit Free Press, 24 March 1870, 1, descrip.)

COMPETITIONS

HAMILTON, ONT., Hamilton Waterworks, 1854. David Murray collaborated with John Ryall and Thomas Smith to submit an entry in the 1854 competition for this major municipal project. Their proposal was one six designs submitted by architects and engineers, and their scheme was awarded Second Prize (Mark Osbaldeston, Unbuilt Hamilton, 2016, 57-59, illus. & descrip.). The winning design was sent in by an American engineer Samuel McIlroy, but his scheme was never built. An original set of six watercolour drawings now held at the William Ready Division of Archives & Research Collections at McMaster University in Hamilton, and all signed with the pseudonym " H 13 " may be part of the Second Prize submission prepared by Murray in 1854 for this competition. In 1855 Murray wrote a Letter to the Editor of the Hamilton Spectator confirming that he had actively participated in the competition for the Water Works held during the previous year (Daily Spectator [Hamilton], 14 Aug. 1855, p. 2, col. 4).
GUELPH, ONT., Town Hall & Market Building, 1855. Buoyed by his close win in the Hamilton competition in 1854, Murray, now living in Guelph, was ambitious enough to prepare two separate designs in the competition for the Town Hall & Market (Tri-Weekly Advertiser [Guelph], 6 June 1856, 2). There were 18 submissions from across Ontario, but Murray was not a finalist, and the First Premium was awarded to William Thomas of Toronto