HALL, George William (1852-1935) was active in Brantford, Ont. where he maintained an office as an architect for more than thirty years. Born in Ipswich, England on 17 March 1852, he was brought to Canada at a young age by his family and lived almost his entire career in Brantford. No information has been found on his early education and training, but he began to work as a contractor and builder about 1880 and many of his early residential works were likely designed by Hall who then acted as builder to construct these works following his plans (see list below). By July 1895 he began to list himself as an architect (Brantford Expositor, 27 July 1895, 1, advert.; Brantford City Directory, 1896-97, 282). He designed a variety of ecclesiastical, institutional, residential and industrial works in Brantford and surrounding towns, most often in a reserved Romanesque Revival style, evident in his plans for the Calvary Baptist Church, Brantford (1896), the Methodist Church in Stoney Creek (1903), and the Methodist Church in Dunnville (1904), all of which are still standing today in 2022.
He also served as local supervising architect on the construction of the federal Post Office in Brantford, designed by David Ewart and built 1913-15, but this commission appears to be the last project he worked on, and no references to his activity as an architect have been found after this date. In 1908 Hall encountered a close call with death when he was accidentally shot by muskrat hunters along the Grand River while he was crossing the Murray Street Bridge in Brantford. A full report of the incident was published in the Brantford Daily Expositor, 31 March 1908, 1. Hall was elected as an Associate of the newly formed Royal Architectural Inst. of Canada, and was nominated as one of the first Fellows of that organization in October 1908 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 24 Oct. 1908, 2). In 1921 he was briefly in partnership with Mr. Van Allen, as Hall & Van Allen, Architects (Brantford Expositor, 21 Feb. 1921, 12, advert.). He later died in Brantford on 3 October 1935 (obit. Brantford Expositor, 4 Oct. 1935, 6; and 8 Oct. 1935, 6; obit. Canadian Engineer [Montreal], lxxix, 15 Oct. 1935, 46).
G.W. HALL (Residential works in Brantford)
SOUTH STREET, at Brock Street, 'South Terrace', two houses for J.J. Sims and Rev. B.C. Needham, 1881 (Daily Expositor [Brantford], 7 Dec. 1881, 2, descrip.)
VICTORIA STREET, brick residence for R.J. Beal, 1881 (Daily Expositor [Brantford], 8 Dec. 1881, 2)
BROCK STREET, brick residence for James Hazell, 1881 (Daily Expositor [Brantford], 8 Dec. 1881, 2)
BROCK STREET, brick residence for William Tristam, 1881 (Daily Expositor [Brantford], 8 Dec. 1881, 2)
ERIE AVENUE, residence for William Farr, 1898 (C.R., ix, 3 Aug. 1898, 2, t.c.)
MAPLE AVENUE, residence for William E. Lochead, 1901 (Daily Expositor [Brantford], 25 April 1901, 5, t.c.; C.R., xii, 1 May 1901, 2)
PARK AVENUE, residence for Arthur L. Whitaker, 1903 (Brantford Expositor, 28 May 1903, 2, t.c.; C.R., xiv, 3 June 1903, 2, t.c.)
NORTHUMBERLAND STREET, at Brock Street, residence for George W. Hall, architect, 1903 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 18 Nov. 1903, 1)
WELLINGTON STREET, residence for Thomas Hollinrake, 1906 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 21 April 1906, 2, t.c.; and 25 Aug. 1906, 1, descrip.; C.R., xvii, 2 May 1906, 4, t.c.)
unnamed street, residence for T.H. Linscott, 1906 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 25 Aug. 1906, 7)
ALBION STREET, residence for Mrs. Andrew Cleghorn, 1907 (Const., i, Oct. 1907, 66)
CHATHAM STREET, residence for William F. Cockshutt, 1907 (Const., i, Oct. 1907, 66)
SHERIDAN STREET, residence for Dr. Bradley W. Linscott, 1911 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 11 March 1911, 2, t.c.; C.R., xxv, 15 March 1911, 54, t.c.)
NELSON STREET, residence for George H. Strobridge, 1913 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 8 Feb. 1913, 8, t.c.)
HAMILTON ROAD, at Echo Place, large residence for A. L. Baird, 1913 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 27 May 1913, 6)
G.W. HALL (Institutional & Ecclesiastical works in Brantford)
CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH, Dalhousie Street near Peel Street, 1896; church closed c. 2015 and building converted to residential use; still standing in 2022 (Brantford Expositor, 11 April 1896, 5, illus. & descrip.; and 31 July 1896, 12, illus. & descrip.)
DARLING STREET PUBLIC SCHOOL, major addition, 1899 (Brantford Expositor, 13 April 1899, 9; C.R., x, 31 May 1899, 2, t.c.)
HOUSE OF REFUGE, Mount Pleasant Road, major addition, 1900 (C.R., xi, 14 March 1900, 3, t.c.; Brantford Weekly Expositor, 29 Nov. 1900, 8, descrip.)
MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL, Marlborough Street, 1900-01 (Brantford Expositor, 5 Dec. 1900, 5; C.R., xi, 12 Dec. 1900, 2, t.c.)
YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, Wellington Street at George Street, 1901; with major additions 1905-06 (C.R., xii, 20 Feb. 1901, 1; and xvi, 12 July 1905, 4; Brantford Daily Expositor, 3 Dec. 1901, 3, illus. and detailed architectural descrip.; and 7 June 1905, 1; and 15 Jan. 1907, 3, detailed descrip.)
SALVATION ARMY BARRACKS, Darling Street, 1901 (C.R., xii, 22 May 1901, 3, t.c.)
HURON STREET CHURCH, perhaps Trinity Anglican Church, Cayuga Street near Huron Street, 1903; still standing in 2022 (C.R., xiv, 18 Feb. 1903, 2)
EAGLE PLACE WESLEY METHODIST CHURCH, Cayuga Street at Superior Street, South Brantford, 1903; still standing in 2022 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 8 June 1903, 1, descrip.; Free Press [London], 11 Aug. 1903, 10)
COLBORNE STREET METHODIST CHURCH, additions and alterations to the church, 1903 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 7 July 1903, 2, t.c.)
BRANT COUNTY COURT HOUSE, addition to the residence of the Jail Governor, 1904 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 10 June 1904, 2, t.c.)
DARLING STREET PUBLIC SCHOOL, 1906 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 29 June 1906, 8, t..c.; and 25 Aug. 1907, 1, illus., and 7, descrip.)
EAST END FIRE HALL, Mary Street at Murray Street, 1907 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 26 March 1907, 2; and 14 May 1907, 2, t.c.; and 2 Jan. 1908, 1; Const., i, Oct. 1907, 63)
ALEXANDRA PUBLIC SCHOOL [also called East End Public School], major additions, 1907 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 22 Oct. 1907, 3)
RYERSON PUBLIC SCHOOL, major addition, 1910 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 2 March 1910, 1)
KING EDWARD PUBLIC SCHOOL, major addition, 1910 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 2 March 1910, 1)
ALFRED AVENUE, skating and curling rink for Robert Trench, 1912 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 29 March 1912, 8, descrip.; C.R., xxvi, 10 April 1912, 65)
ELM AVENUE METHODIST CHURCH, in Echo Place, a new Sunday School for the church, 1914; church closed 2009; all demol. (Brantford Daily Expositor, 18 May 1914, 7, descrip.)
BRANTFORD MUNICIPAL RAILWAY CO., Colborne Street, conversion of the old power station of the Grand Valley Railway into a new passenger station for the radial railway, 1915 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 16 Feb. 1915, 5, descrip.)
G.W. HALL (Commercial & Industrial works in Brantford)
VERITY PLOW CO., Clarence Street at Wellington Street, additions to factory, 1898 (C.R., ix, 8 June 1898, 3)
SCARFE PAINT CO., Greenwich Street, office building and factory, 1898 (C.R., ix, 1 June 1898, 2; 6 July 1898, 2)
BAILEY PATENT SCISSORS CO., Dalhousie Street, conversion of the old Waterous Co. building into a new factory, 1898 (Brantford Expositor, 11 Aug. 1898, 1; and 16 Aug. 1898, 3)
WILLIAM STREET, at Palace Street, retail store and residence for A.A. Lister, 1905 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 2 March 1905, 2, t.c.)
QUEEN STREET, a three storey commercial block for W.F. Cockshutt, 1906 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 25 Aug. 1906, 1, illus., and 7, descrip.)
QUEEN STREET, commercial block of stores and offices for William F. Cockshutt, 1911 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 24 June 1911, 5, t.c.; C.R., xxv, 5 July 1911, 61, t.c.)
BRANTFORD OVEN & RACK CO., Campbell Street at Brock Street, factory, 1911-12 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 4 Dec. 1911, 2, t.c.; C.R., xxv, 27 Dec. 1911, 65)
HYGENIC DAIRY LTD., Colborne Street, office and factory, 1916 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 17 Aug. 1916, 3, t.c.; and 31 Aug. 1916, 7, descrip.)
BRANTFORD STATIONERS LTD., Grey Street, a new factory 1920 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 18 March 1920, 9, t.c.)
G. W. HALL (works elsewhere in Ontario)
MOUNT PLEASANT, ONT., Public School, 1901 (Brantford Weekly Expositor, 20 Dec. 1900, 4; and 31 Aug. 1901, 2, detailed descrip.; C.R., xii, 27 March 1901, 2)
BURFORD, ONT., Methodist Church, King Street at Alexander Street, for Rev. H. Caldwell, 1902; demol. (Brantford Weekly Expositor, 10 April 1902, 6, t.c.; and 3 Oct. 1902, 2, illus. & detailed descrip.)
OHSWEKEN, ONT., new school for the Six Nations Indian Council, 1902 (Brantford Expositor, 8 Oct. 1902, 6)
ST. GEORGE, ONT., a bank for J.P. Lawrason, Main Street at Beverly Street, 1903 (Hamilton Spectator, 4 Feb. 1903, 8; C.R., xiv, 18 March 1903, 3; inf. Robert Hamilton, of Hamilton, Ont.)
STONEY CREEK, ONT., Methodist Church, King Street West at Lake Avenue South, 1903; still standing in 2022 (Brantford Expositor, 3 March 1903, 6; and 14 Aug. 1903, 6, descrip.; Evening Times [Hamilton], 7 Aug. 1903, 3, descrip.; C.R., xiv, 25 March 1903, 2; inf. Robert Hamilton)
DUNNVILLE, ONT., residence for W.A. Fry, proprietor of The Dunnville Chronicle, 1903 (Brantford Expositor, 15 April 1903, 10)
DUNNVILLE, ONT., Grace Methodist Church, Broad Street East at Maple Street, 1904; still standing in 2022 (Brantford Expositor, 25 Jan. 1904, 6; L. Sorge, History of Grace United Church, 1980, 15, 17, illus.)
DUNNVILLE, ONT., a new hotel, costing $15,000, 1905 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 18 March 1905, 1; and 25 Aug. 1906, 7)
BURFORD, ONT., commercial block and retail store for John Robertson, King Street, 1905 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 20 April 1905, 4)
PARIS, ONT., residence for S. McV. Lloyd, 1905 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 3 June 1905, 2, t.c.; C.R., xvi, 7 June 1905, 4, t.c.)
SELKIRK, ONT., High School, 1906 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 25 Aug. 1906, 7)
SWEET'S CORNERS, ONT., Methodist Church, Rainham Road near Sweet's Corners Road, 1906; addition, c. 1970; church still standing in 2022 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 25 Aug. 1906, 7)
ST. GEORGE, ONT., Presbyterian Church, Beverly Street East, near Lorimer Street, 1907-08; still standing in 2022 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 12 Jan. 1907, 6; and Brantford Weekly Expositor, 17 Jan. 1907, 5; and Weekly Expositor, 13 Feb. 1908, 5, descrip.; C.R., xvii, 16 Jan. 1907, 2, t.c.)
SELKIRK, ONT., a public school with 4 classrooms, 1908 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 23 March 1908, 1, t.c.)
ECHO PLACE, ONT., School for S.S. No. 14, Brantford Township, 1911-12 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 28 Jun 1911, 8, t.c.; and 24 Oct. 1911, 4, t.c.; and 5 Oct. 1912, 20, illus.; C.R., xxv, 5 July 1911, 59)