HALL, Mark (c. 1838-1926) was born in Ireland and arrived in Toronto after 1870. His name appears as “builder & contractor” for the next ten years in city directories (Toronto City Directory, 1871-72, 86). His first independent works date from 1872, but there are no recorded designs by him during the following eight years. It is known, however, that he was associated with the firm of Stewart & Strickland, acting as their superintendent from October 1876 to March 1877, overseeing the construction of the very first buildings on the grounds of the Toronto Exhibition (now the Canadian National Exhibition) which opened in September 1878 (see The Telegram [Toronto], 14 Oct. 1876, 1). By 1880 Hall was listed as both “builder and architect”. In 1883 he designed the Stick Style timber lodge for the Lakeside Home for Little Children, located on Toronto Island, and his previous experience on the site of the Toronto Exhibition made him the logical choice as architect for many of their later buildings erected there in 1890, 1892, 1893 and 1899. One of his largest commissions in Toronto was for The Robertson Brothers Chocolate Co. factory complex on Queen Street East near Jarvis Street, extending southward through to Richmond Street East (1896, with several later additions), and still standing today in 2022. His designs for the five storey brick addition to this industrial complex facing Queen Street East (1903), and the adjacent four storey blocks facing Richmond Street East (1905 and 1909), were both executed in a distinctive Romanesque Revival style. Hall appears to have retired from practise after 1912. He died in Toronto on 20 December 1926 (obit. with port. Toronto Star, 21 Dec. 1926, 3; Telegram [Toronto], 21 Dec. 1926, 15; Const., xx, Jan. 1927, 34)
Mark HALL (works in Toronto)
VICTORIA STREET, near Gerrard Street East, residence for David Walker, 1872 (Mail [Toronto], 2 Dec. 1872, 3)
SEATON STREET, near Beech Street, residence for Mark Hall, architect, 1872 (Mail [Toronto], 29 Nov. 1872, 1)
WIMAN SWIMMING BATHS, Toronto Island, near the Eastern Gap, 1882; demol. (Globe [Toronto], 24 April 1882, 6, descrip.; Daily Mail [Toronto], 26 June 1882, 5, descrip.)
SIMCOE STREET, pair of houses for Richard Dennis, 1882-83 (Toronto b.p. 200, 27 Dec. 1882)
LAKESIDE HOME FOR CHILDREN, Lakeshore Avenue, Toronto Island, 1883; demol. (Telegram [Toronto], 6 July 1883, 6, descrip.; C.P. Mulvaney, Toronto: Past and Present, 1884, 266-71, illus. & descrip.)
SHERBOURNE STREET, at Shuter Street, residence for Thomas B. Taylor, 1883 (Telegram [Toronto], 9 April 1883, 2, t.c.)
MECHANICS INSTITUTE, Adelaide Street East at Church Street, conversion of the old Music Hall into a public Reading Room for the Toronto Public Library, 1883-84; demol. (Globe [Toronto], 21 July 1883, 10, descrip.; 31 July 1883, 8, t.c.)
WOODGREEN METHODIST CHURCH, Queen Street East at Strange Avenue, major additions, 1887 (Telegram [Toronto], 2 Aug. 1887, 2, t.c.)
PROSPECT PARK SKATING & CURLING RINK, Prospect Street at Ontario Street, 1888 (Toronto World, 15 Oct. 1888, 4, descrip.)
SPADINA AVENUE, three stores for Walter S. Lee, 1889 (Architectural Era [Syracuse], iii, April 1889, Supplement, 1)
TORONTO EXHIBITION, extension to the Fruit & Flower Hall, with new Dog Show Building, 1890; all demol. (Telegram [Toronto], 30 May 1890, 6, t.c.)
BONAR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, College Street at Lansdowne Avenue, 1890 (Globe [Toronto], 18 Oct. 1890, 10, illus. & descrip.)
TORONTO EXHIBITION, Grandstand, 1892; burned 1906 (Globe [Toronto], 15 June 1892, 2, t.c.)
TORONTO EXHIBITION, Livestock sheds and stables, 1893; demol. (C.R., iv, 2 March 1893, 2)
BUNTIN, REID & CO., Wellington Street West, warehouses, 1895; burned 1904 (Toronto b.p. 1830, 27 Feb. 1895)
MARKHAM STREET, north of Harbord Street, residence for Rev. Peter Addison, 1896 (Toronto b.p. 3118, 10 March 1896)
ROBERTSON BROTHERS LTD., Queen Street East through to Richmond Street East, west of Jarvis Street, storehouse, 1896; additions to factory complex in 1900, 1903, 1905 and 1909; all still standing in 2022 (Toronto b.p. 3469, 22 Sept. 1896; and b.p. 185, 29 March 1900; and b.p. 1384, 3 July 1903; and b.p. 2058, 19 Sept. 1905; and b.p. 14094, 5 March 1909)
QUEEN CITY STORAGE CO., Front Street East near Scott Street, warehouse, 1898, demol. c. 1958 (C.R., ix, 13 April 1898, 4)
NO. 8 FIRE HALL, College Street at Bellevue Avenue, addition, 1899; burned 1972, rebuilt (Toronto b.p. 181, 6 July 1899)
TORONTO EXHIBITION, Machinery Hall, 1899; demol. (Berlin News Record (Kitchener), 6 July 1899, 4, descrip.; C.R., x, 12 July 1899, 3)
CRESCENT ROAD, near South Drive, residence for Mark Hall, architect, 1900 (Toronto b.p. 45, 26 June 1900)
JOHN HILLOCK & CO., Queen Street East at George Street, warehouse, 1902 (Toronto b.p. 469, 6 Oct. 1902)
ROBERT WATSON & CO., Sorauren Avenue near Dundas Street West, major addition to factory, 1912 (Toronto b.p. 36289, 26 July 1912; inf. Alec Keefer, Toronto)