HOLMAN, Hugh Gordon (1879-1955) was born in Stratford, Ont. on 28 November 1879 and articled with Harry Powell, a prominent local architect in that town, from 1895 to 1900. Holman then moved to Winnipeg and was employed as a draftsman with several architects there including George C. Browne (in 1900-01), with J.H.G. Russell (in 1901-03), with Samuel Hooper (in 1903-05), and later as assistant to Hooper at the Provincial Dept. of Public Works in 1905-06. He opened his own office on 1 June 1906 and designed a number of commercial, residential and institutional works, at first under his own name (1906-09), then briefly in partnership with Edgar Prain (1909-10), and again as sole practitioner in 1911-14. After serving overseas during WWI, he returned to Stratford (1920-22), then moved to Toronto to open a new office where he prepared plans for several schools and commercial buildings. The largest and most important commission of his career was that for the Park Plaza Hotel, Bloor Street West at Avenue Road, TORONTO, ONT. Originally conceived as a flamboyant 15 storey high rise chateau with a mansard roof, the construction of this $2 million project began in 1927 and was halted after the stock market crash of October 1929, and did not resume until July 1933 when Yolles & Rotenberg, a local contractor and developer, took over the building and hired Chapman & Oxley to finish the project. Holman died in Toronto on 27 October 1955 (death notice Toronto Star, 28 Oct. 1955, 26; biog. Winnipeg Saturday Post, 8 June 1912, 39; biog. and port. Who's Who & Why in Canada, 1915-16, 416; biog. F.H. Scholfield, Story of Manitoba, 1913, ii, 334; inf. Ontario Association of Architects)
HOLMAN & BARTON (works in Winnipeg)
WINNIPEG, MAN., George A. Eastman & Co.,Cumberland Avenue at Donald Street, a three storey brick office and warehouse block, 1907 (Winnipeg Tribune, 5 March 1907, 11, descrip.)
H.G. HOLMAN (works in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta)
(with Alex Pirie) GLEICHEN, ALTA., a new public school, 1907 (Morning Albertan [Calgary], 27 Aug. 1907, 7, t.c.)
LLOYDMINSTER, SASK., rectory for St. John's Anglican Church, 1907-08 (Canadian Churchman [Toronto], 5 Dec. 1907, 789)
WINNIPEG, MAN., St. Margaret's Anglican Church, Home Street at Buell Street, 1908 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 25 April 1908, 6, & 10, illus. & descrip.)
WINNIPEG, MAN., warehouse for Northern Shirt Co., commissioned by the Northern Syndicate Co., Bannatyne Avenue at Charlotte Street, 1908 (Winnipeg Tribune, 22 July 1908, 10; C.R., xxii, 29 July 1908, 26)
CARLYLE, SASK., residence for T.L. Neish, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 1 Sept. 1909, 21)
HOLMAN & PRAIN (works in Winnipeg)
WINNIPEG, MAN., warehouse on Gertrude Avenue, 1910 (Winnipeg. b.p. 327, 1910)
WINNIPEG, MAN., factory and warehouse for G.A. Eastman, Young Street, 1910 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 19 April 1910, 2, t.c.)
WINNIPEG, MAN., residence and garage for F.W. Scott, on The Kingsway, 1910 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 14 April 1910, 3, t.c.)
WINNIPEG, MAN., commercial block for W.S. King and George Douglas, Balmoral Street at Portage Avenue, 1910 (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 21 June 1910, 9, t.c.)
H.G. HOLMAN (works in Manitoba and Ontario)
WINNIPEG, MAN., residence for T.G. Thompson, Dorchester Street, Fort Rouge, 1911 (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 25 Feb. 1911, 11, t.c.)
WINNIPEG, MAN., Maple Leaf Apartments, Corydon Avenue at Wentworth Street, for M. Myerson, 1912 (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 29 April 1912, 3; Winnipeg b.p. 1022, 26 April 1912; C.R., xxvii, 29 Jan. 1913, 54, illus. & descrip.)
WINNIPEG, MAN., garage for Matthew Pebbles, Kennedy Street, 1912 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 6 July 1912, 11)
WINNIPEG, MAN., Robinson & Co. Ltd. Department Store, Main Street, major addition at rear facing Albert Street, 1912 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 6 July 1912, 11)
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, MAN., residence for F.G. Taylor, 1912 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 20 July 1912, 11)
WINNIPEG, MAN., warehouse 'for a Winnipeg syndicate', Smith Street near Portage Avenue, 1912-13 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 30 Nov. 1912, 13, illus.)
WINNIPEG, MAN., residence for William R. Allan, Roslyn Road, 1914 (City of Winnipeg, 1983-The Year Past, 55-6, illus.)
STRATFORD, ONT., major alterations to Gerlach-Barklow Building, William Street, 1920 (dwgs. at Stratford-Perth Archives)
STRATFORD, ONT., mill for the Stratford Flax Co., Romeo Street at Douro Street, c. 1920 (dwgs. at Stratford-Perth Archives)
STRATFORD, ONT., Anne Hathaway Public School, 1922 (C.R., xxxvi, 7 June 1922, 50; Const., xvii, March 1924, 96-8, illus. & descrip.)
TORONTO, ONT., Marion Court Apartments, Roncesvalles Avenue at Marion Street, for W.H. Bagshaw, 1926 (Toronto b.p. 89144, 10 May 1926)
TORONTO, ONT., Gray's Inn Court Apartments, Beaconsfield Avenue at Queen Street West, 1926 (Toronto b.p. 91166, 12 July 1926)
TORONTO, ONT., office block for Advertising Display Co., Yonge Street at Bredalbane Street, 1926 (C.R., xl, 17 Nov. 1926, 48)
TORONTO, ONT., Park Plaza Hotel, Bloor Street West at Avenue Road, 1927-31; altered 1987-88; altered and restored 2020-21 (Toronto Star, 9 Dec. 1926, 2, illus.; and 5 May 1927, 3, illus. & descrip., and August 3, 1928, 18; Toronto b.p. 99786, 14 June 1927; C.R., xli, 25 May 1927, 314, illus.; Daily Commercial News [Toronto], 15 June 1927, 1, illus.)
PENETANGUISHINE, ONT., Provincial Hospital for the Criminally Insane, 1931-32 (C.R., xlv, 15 April 1931, 63-4; and 30 Dec. 1931, 80, illus. in advert.)
COMPETITIONS
CALGARY, ALTA., City Hall, 1907. This architect, together in a team with Alex Pirie, was one of nine Canadian competitors for this major commission. Their plans were awarded the Second Prize, but W.M. Dodd was declared the winner (Daily Herald [Calgary], 7 May 1907, 9, list of competitors).