KEEFER, Alan (1883-1952), a prominent architect in Ottawa, Ont. who was active there in the following firms:
Weeks & Keefer, Architects, 1908-10
Alan Keefer, Architect, 1910-Dec. 1912
Keefer, Richards & Abra, Architects, Jan. 1913-May 1913
Alan Keefer, Architect, May 1913-1916
Alan Keefer, Staff Architect, Dept. of Public Works 1916-1952
Born at Dagus Mines, Pennsylvania in 1883, Alan Keefer was the son of Charles H. Keefer, a prominent civil and hydraulic engineer who had been engaged on a canal project in Pennsylvania in 1883. He was also the grandson of Thomas Coltrin Keefer, a leading engineer in Canada in the 19th C. Alan was raised in Ottawa and attended Ashbury College. He would later become the architect for the new buildings for his alma mater, located in Rockcliffe Park.
Keefer studied architecture in Boston, Mass. and graduated from the Dept. of Architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During this period he spent several months working as an apprentice to Stanford White, in his New York City office of McKim, Mead & White. After returning to Ottawa, he practised the profession in partnership with Arthur L. B. Weeks (see list of works under Weeks & Keefer), and then worked under his own name from 1910 until late 1912. In January 1913 he was invited to join the existing firm of Richards & Abra as a partner, but their collaboration was unusually brief, and abruptly dissolved just 5 months later, in May 1913. Keefer then opened a new office under his own name.
The disastrous fire in the Centre Block of Parliament Hill on 3 February 1916 had a major impact on the career of Keefer. Shortly after the fire, he applied for, and was accepted as, a new staff architect with the federal Department of Public Works, and he remained with the department for the next 35 years. He was extensively involved in the reconstruction of the Parliament Buildings from 1916 until 1924, and was said to have contributed many of the designs for stone sculpture incorporated into the façade of the new Peace Tower (1917-24). After 1925, Keefer frequently collaborated with the sculptor Cleophas Soucy in the design and execution of the stone carving within the interior corridors and rooms of the restored Centre Block at Parliament Hill. In 1918 Keefer prepared an elaborate design for a National Victory Monument to be erected at Nepean Point. Although not built, his original drawing for the project has survived, and is now held in the Picture Collection of the National Archives of Canada (NAC, Picture Collection, C 104975).
Keefer was also heavily involved in the planning and development of Rockcliffe Park Village, because the Keefer family owned a large part of the lands that now form this residential neighbourhood in Ottawa. A detailed essay on his planning work at Rockcliffe appears in Martha Edmond, Rockcliffe Park: A History of the Village, 2005, 62-64, illus. In addition, he designed more than a dozen detached houses in Rockcliffe from 1910 to 1930, including the plans for “Stornaway”, now used as the residence of the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (built 1914). Keefer continued his employment with the Dept. of Public Works right up until a few weeks before his death in Ottawa on 21 July 1952 (obituary Ottawa Citizen, 22 July 1952, 4, with biography p. 1 & p. 12; Ottawa Journal, 22 July 1 & 2, with Editorial tribute 23 July 1952, 6).
A. KEEFER
(works in Ottawa unless noted)
SPARKS STREET, at Bank Street, hotel, bank and stores for Allan Keefer and Percy Shaver, 1909-10 (C.R., xxiii, 22 Dec. 1909, 24)
HULL, QUE., residence for Charles K. Graham, Aylmer Road, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 16 Nov. 1910, 27)
KOOTENAY, B.C., Industrial School for the St. Eugene Mission, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 19 April 1911, 56; dwgs. at NAC, NMC RG22, 77803/11, bundle 55)
WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Lyon Street at MacLaren Street, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 7 June 1911, 60, t.c.)
ROCKCLIFFE PARK, residence for the architect, Acacia Avenue, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 30 Aug. 1911, 61; Martha Edmond, Rockcliffe Park - A History of the Village, 2005, 62-3, 212-13, illus.)
ROCKCLIFFE PARK, 'Raewood', a residence for Thomas C. Keefer Jr., Coltrin Road [now Manor Avenue], 1911 (C.R., xxv, 30 Aug. 1911, 61, t.c.; Martha Edmond, Rockcliffe Park - A History of the Village, 2005, 211, illus.)
ROCKCLIFFE PARK, residence for Richard C. McConnell, Buena Vista Road, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 30 Aug. 1911, 61)
ROCKCLIFFE PARK, 'Lindenelm', a residence for Wilson M. Southam, Acacia Avenue, 1911 (Martha Edmond, Rockcliffe Park - A History of the Village, 2005, 205-08, illus.; Andrew Waldron, Exploring the Capital: An Architectural Guide to the Ottawa-Gatineau Region, 2017, 128-9, illus. & descrip.)
SPARKS STREET, at Lyon Street, commercial block for Dr. David H. Baird, 1912 (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 15 March 1912, 26, illus.; C.R., xxvi, 27 March 1912, 69)
KEEFER, RICHARDS & ABRA
SMITH'S FALLS, ONT., Bank of Commerce, 1913 (Ottawa Journal, 10 April 1913, 23)
OTTAWA LADIES COLLEGE, First Avenue at Lyon Street, 1913-14 (C.R., xxvii, 30 April 1913, 175; Ottawa Journal, 20 Sept. 1913, 17, illus.; and 20 June 1914, 25, illus. & descrip.; Ottawa: A Guide to Heritage Structures, 2000, 178, illus.)
LOWE-MARTIN PRINTING CO., Nepean Street near Bank Street, 1913 (C.R., xxvii, 14 May 1913, 74)
A. KEEFER
ROCKCLIFFE PARK, 'Casa Loma', a residence for Harry S. Southam, Acacia Avenue, 1913 (H. Kalman, Exploring Ottawa, 1983, 137; Martha Edmond, Rockcliffe Park - A History of the Village, 2005, 209-10, illus.)
ROCKCLIFFE PARK, 'Stornoway', a residence for Asconi J. Major, now used by the Leader of the Opposition, Acacia Avenue, 1914 (Martha Edmond, Rockcliffe Park - A History of the Village, 2005, 192-3, illus.; Andrew Waldron, Exploring the Capital: An Architectural Guide to the Ottawa-Gatineau Region, 2017, 129, illus. & descrip.)
LANSDOWNE PARK, Agriculture & Horticulture Hall for the Central Canada Exhibition, 1914 (C.R., xxviii, 25 Feb. 1914, 73; Evening Journal [Ottawa], 11 July 1914, 20, illus. & descrip. but lacking attribution; City of Ottawa Archives, set of eight drawings with title sheet signed by Allan Keefer, 1914; inf. Ian Hunter, Perth, Ont.)
MACKAY STREET, at Thomas Street, porch additions and renovations to existing house, c. 1920 (National Capital Commission, National Capital Region Heritage, n.d., 88-9, illus.)
ROCKCLIFFE PARK, 'Waterstone', a mansion for Frederic E. Bronson, Acacia Avenue, 1928-31 (Martha Edmond, Rockcliffe Park - A History of the Village, 2005, 213-14, illus.; Andrew Waldron, Exploring the Capital: An Architectural Guide to the Ottawa-Gatineau Region, 2017, 130-31, illus. & descrip.)
COMPETITIONS
HULL, QUE., Ottawa Golf Club, Aylmer Road, 1909. Keefer was one of 8 architects from Canada and the United States who submitted plans for the new Club House (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 11 Dec. 1909, 1). He tied in Second Place with another Ottawa architect C.P. Meredith. The winner was Edgar Horwood & L. Fennings Taylor.