HANLEY, Thomas C. (1842-1907), was born on 1 November 1842 on a farmstead near Read, Ont. north-east of Belleville, Ont., the son of devout Irish Catholic parents Denis Hanley and Ann Connors. He was educated there, but he left Canada about 1863 and went to Pennsylvania to seek work, and trained as a carpenter in the town of Corry in western Pennsylvania. He returned to Belleville in 1872 and appears to have become a successful builder and contractor there. By 1876 he was being credited as “the architect” for residential works and his name is listed as an architect and builder in Belleville in local directories (Directory of the County of Hastings, 1879-80, 191). During the next twenty-five years he established a reputation as a knowledgeable and competent designer, and a skilled proponent of the fashionable Second Empire style which he employed with assurance in his design for “Glanmore”, the residence of John P.C. Phillips in Belleville (1882-83). He also appears to have been a favoured local architect with the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kingston, designing Catholic churches in his home town of Read, as well as in Deseronto, Campbellford, Perth, Merrickville, Lansdowne, and Lanark.
For unexplained reasons, Hanley abandoned a seemingly successful practise in Belleville in 1904 and moved to Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay), practising there for one year, then relocating to the twin city of Port Arthur where he continued to design residential, commercial and ecclesiastical works. An unexpected illness in late 1906 necessitated his relocation to Toronto for treatment, and he died at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto on 3 January 1907 and was later buried at St.Michael’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Port Arthur, Ont. (obit. Daily Times-Journal [Fort William], 3 Jan. 1907, 1; obit. Daily Intelligencer [Belleville], 3 Jan. 1907; inf. Mary Esther Hanley, Toronto; inf. Lois Foster, Belleville)
Thomas C. HANLEY (works in Belleville)
DUNDAS STREET EAST, at Bleeker Avenue, residence for Thomas S. Carman, 1876 (Daily Intelligencer [Belleville], 2 Dec. 1876, 2, descrip.)
VICTORIA AVENUE, near Bleeker Avenue, residence for W.R. McRae, 1879 (Daily Intelligencer [Belleville], 16 Dec. 1879, 1, descrip.)
CHARLES STREET, residence for Charles P. Holton, 1879 (Daily Intelligencer [Belleville], 16 Dec. 1879, 1, descrip.)
WILLIAM STREET, near Bridge Street East, residence for Fred Lingham, 1879-80 (Daily Intelligencer [Belleville], 16 Dec. 1879, 1)
SIDNEY TOWNSHIP, residence for Abel H. Jones, in the First Concession, 1881 (Daily Ontario [Belleville], 28 Sept. 1881, 2, descrip.)
QUEEN STREET, at MacDonald Avenue, residence '.....for a friend', on the lot owned by Edmund H. LaRoche, 1881 (Daily Ontario [Belleville], 28 Sept. 1881, 2)
BRIDGE STREET, 'Glanmore', residence for John P.C. Phillips, 1882-83 (C. Cameron & J. Wright, Second Empire Style in Canadian Architecture, 1980, 140-41, illus.; dwgs. at Hastings County Museum)
ST. THOMAS ANGLICAN CHURCH, Church Street, major improvements, 1891 (C.R., ii, 14 March 1891, 2)
HIGH SCHOOL, Church Street, alterations and improvements, 1896 (C.R., vii, 11 June 1896, 2, t.c.)
Thomas C. HANLEY (works elsewhere in Eastern Ontario)
PETERBOROUGH, ONT., mansion for George A. Cox, Hunter Street, to be occupied by J.H. Roper, 1885 (Peterborough Daily Examiner, 16 Oct. 1885, 4, descrip.)
MADOC, ONT., residence for James C. Dale, 1885 (Peterborough Daily Examiner, 23 Oct. 1885, 4, descrip.; C. Cameron & J. Wright, Second Empire Style in Canadian Architecture, 1980, 134-5, illus., but lacking attribution)
DESERONTO, ONT., High School, 1889 (Daily Whig [Kingston], 6 March 1889, 4, t.c.)
READ, ONT., St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic Church, Enright Road near Weese Road, 1892; still standing in 2023 (Catholic Record [London], 24 Sept. 1892, 1, illus. & descrip.)
PRESCOTT, ONT., High School, 1893-94 (Weekly Intelligencer [Belleville], 8 March 1894, 8, descrip.)
FOXBORO, ONT., Methodist Church, Ashley Street, 1894; still standing in 2023 and now called The Chapel of the Good Shepherd (Weekly Intelligencer [Belleville], 29 Nov. 1894, 1, illus. & descrip.)
HASTINGS, ONT., presbytery for the Roman Catholic Church, 1896 (Daily Examiner [Peterborough], 10 April 1896, 5, t.c.)
DESERONTO, ONT., St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church, Dundas Street at Brant Street, 1896; still standing in 2023 (C.R., vii, 13 Aug. 1896, 1, t.c.)
NAPANEE, ONT., reconstruction of the West Ward School, 1896 (C.R., vii, 10 Sept. 1896, 1, t.c.)
TWEED, ONT., Public School, 1897 (C.R., vii, 28 Jan. 1897, 1, t.c.)
CAMPBELLFORD, ONT., St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Centre Street at Bridge Street East, 1900; still standing in 2023 (Catholic Record [London], 21 April 1900, 6, descrip.; 17 Nov. 1900, 8, descrip.; E. Boland, History of the Diocese of Peterborough 1882-1975, 259-61, illus.)
DESERONTO, ONT., Methodist Church, remodelling of the church, with addition of a new Sunday School, 1900 (C.R., xi, 21 March 1900, 2)
PERTH, ONT., St. John's Roman Catholic Church, Wilson Street East at Church Street, major addition and interior alterations, 1900; still standing in 2023 (C.R., xi, 30 May 1900, 2, t.c.; Perth Courier, 21 Dec. 1900, 8, descrip. & illus.)
LANSDOWNE, ONT., St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Kidd Road North, near Fairfax Road, 1901; still standing in 2023 (Catholic Record [London], 9 March 1901, 8)
DESERONTO, ONT., Naylor's Opera House, Main Street at Prince Street, for Thomas Naylor, 1901; still standing in 2023 (orig. drawing at the Deseronto Archives, now part of the Community Archives of Belleville & Hastings County; inf. Frank Korvemaker, Regina, Sask.)
MERRICKVILLE, ONT., St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Main Street West at St. Patrick Street, 1902-03; still standing in 2023 (C.R., xii, 13 Nov. 1901, 1, t.c.)
LANARK, ONT. Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Princess Street near Owen Street West, 1902-03; still standing in 2023 (Lanark Era, 14 Aug. 1901, 1; C.R., xiii, 5 Feb. 1902, 2) ,
Thomas C. HANLEY (works in Fort William)
ST. PATRICK'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, Archibald Street South at Donald Street, new tower, major addition and remodelling, 1904 (Catholic Register [Toronto], 1 Dec. 1904, 5, descrip.; Daily Times-Journal [Fort William], 17 Dec. 1904, 7)
ARCHIBALD STREET SOUTH, at Arthur Street, residence for John King, 1905 (Daily Times-Journal [Fort William], 4 April 1905, 4)
ST. LOUIS HOTEL, Victoria Avenue, major addition, 1905 (C.R., xvi, 24 May 1905, 4)
Thomas C. HANLEY (works in Port Arthur)
COURT STREET NORTH, residence for Louis Walsh, 1905 (C.R., xv, 8 March 1905, 2)
ARTHUR STREET, residence for George Clavet, Mayor, 1906 (Daily News [Port Arthur], 8 Feb. 1906, 4)
ARTHUR STREET, at Waverly Street, residence for James S. McNulty, 1906 (Daily News [Port Arthur], 8 Feb. 1906, 4)
COURT STREET, residence for P.H. Finger, 1906 (Daily News [Port Arthur], 8 Feb. 1906, 4)
DAWSON AVENUE, residence for W.J. Schwingler, 1906 (Daily News [Port Arthur], 8 Feb. 1906, 4)
BAY STREET, residence for George Otto, 1906 (Daily News [Port Arthur], 8 Feb. 1906, 4)
QUEEN'S HOTEL, Front Street, large addition, 1906 (Daily Times-Journal [Fort William], 5 May 1906, 9)
CANADIAN NORTHERN HOTEL, large addition, 1906 (Daily Times-Journal [Fort William], 5 May 1906, 9)
COURT STREET NORTH, at Stephen Street, residence for Neils N. Jorpland, 1906 (C.R., xvii, 11 April 1906, 2)
ARTHUR STREET, at Regent Street, residence for Isaac L. Matthews, 1906 (Daily Times-Journal [Fort William], 5 May 1906, 9)
FIRE HALL, Court Street at Cooke Street, 1906 (Daily Times-Journal [Fort William], 5 May 1906, 9, descrip.)
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, Arthur Street at Algoma Street, 1906 (C.R., xvii, 29 Aug. 1906, 2, t.c.)