WILLIAMS, George Norman (1891-1963) served as Provincial Architect for Ontario from 1946 to 1958. With his staff and assistants in the Dept. of Public Works, he was directly responsible for the design and construction of buildings erected for provincial use during this period. Born in Toronto on 3 October 1891 he attended local schools there, but does not appear to have received a formal education in architecture. Instead he articled with the prominent Buffalo, N.Y. architect George Cary as a student and draftsman (in 1906-10), then returned to Toronto where he joined John M. Lyle (in 1910-15) as an architectural draftsman, and as a student in evening classes at the Atelier Lyle for two years. With the encouragement of his mentor Lyle, he teamed up with William M. Ferguson, another apprentice in the Lyle office, and submitted a sophisticated Beaux-Arts design in the competition for the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1911 (Const., v, February 1912, 53-55, illus.). Their scheme was awarded Second Prize.
Williams then joined the Ontario Government as assistant architect in the Institutions Branch (in 1915-25), overseeing plans for hospitals and reformatories. From 1925 he served as Department Architect for the provincial Health Dept., and in 1942 was appointed Deputy Provincial Architect, a post he held until late 1945. On 1 January 1947 he succeeded George White as Provincial Architect and Deputy Minister of Public Works, and remained with the department until his retirement in September 1958. Williams died in Toronto on 10 November 1963 (obit. Globe & Mail, 11 Nov. 1963, 31; Toronto Star, 11 Nov. 1963, 35; bog. and port. Ottawa Journal, 27 Jan. 1947, 7, illus.; inf. Ontario Assoc. of Architects; inf. Douglas McTaggart, Toronto). The Ontario Archives holds numerous sets of drawings for buildings designed by White and his staff during the period from 1942 to 1958 (OA, RG15-13). A three volume Finding Aid to the collection was prepared in 1993 (Ont. Archives, DPW Design & Construction Branch, Inventory 88, Vol. 1-3).
TORONTO, ONT., residence for Frederick C. Borsh, High Park Boulevard at Indian Road, 1912 (Toronto b.p. 33872, 11 May 1912)
TORONTO, ONT., residence for James Crang, St. Clair Avenue West opposite Alberta Avenue, 1917 (Toronto b.p. 14453, 10 Oct. 1917)
TORONTO, ONT., Perth Avenue Public School, Perth Avenue at Antler Street, 1917 (Toronto b.p. 15127, 29 Nov. 1917)
TORONTO, ONT., stores and apartments for Calderone Brothers, St. Clair Avenue West at St. Clair Gardens, 1917-18 (Const., x, Dec. 1917, 433)
ONTARIO GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS
ANGUS, ONT., residence for the Forester, 1941 (dwgs. OA)
ORILLIA, ONT., major addition to the Provincial hospital school, 1943-44 (C.R., lvi, 8 Dec. 1943, 24)
SAULT STE. MARIE, ONT., Forest Insect Laboratory, 1944-45 (The Nugget [North Bay], 26 Sept. 1944, 8, illus. & descrip.)
SMITHS FALLS, ONT., Mental Hospital for the Prov. of Ontario, 1946-47 (C.R., lix, Nov. 1946, 98)
ALGONQUIN PARK, ONT., West Gate Entrance Buildings, 1950 (dwgs. OA)