BURROWES, Marcus Robinson (1874-1953), a talented Detroit architect and a master of the Tudor Revival style, was born in Tonawanda, N.Y. on 8 April 1874. He moved to Colorado and attended the Denver School of Fine Arts, and articled with H.Ten Eyck Wendell, a prominent Denver architect, in 1893 (Denver City Directory, 1893, 229). He briefly worked as draftsman for the Dept. of Public Works in Ottawa, and in February 1899 opened his own office in Sarnia, Ont. (C.A.B., xii, Feb. 1899, 42). His best known work there was the refined Beaux-Arts design for the Sarnia Public Library, a symmetrically composed landmark containing a central rotunda and domed roof with clerestory lighting. In 1906 or 1907 he left Sarnia and moved to Detroit, and worked in the office of Stratton & Baldwin (in 1907-09) before establishing a partnership with Dalton R. Wells (1878-1951). In 1910 their firm was chosen by the Walker family of Walkerville, Ont. to design the Customs & Excise Building for their distillery company in Walkerville. The Walker family had been successfully served by the architectural firm of Albert Kahn & Ernest Wilby during the period of 1903 to 1910, so it is unclear why they chose Burrowes & Wells for the prized commission of the mansion for Hiram Walker (1912-13). This palatial English Tudor residence was a masterful composition rivalling those found in the exclusive neighbourhood of Grosse Pointe, Mich., and it likely influenced the decision to hire the same firm to design elaborate private houses for J. Herrington Walker, and for Harry Dingwall, both located on Devonshire Road in Walkerville.
Burrowes commenced practice in Detroit under his own name after 1914, and in 1920 he formed a new partnership with Frank Eurich. Their firm designed dozens of sumptuous Tudor Revival houses in Detroit, Farmington, and Grosse Pointe, as well as five branches for the Detroit Public Library system, including the Duffield, the Parkman, the Redford and the Gabriel Richard Libraries (the latter an exquisitely detailed and faithful interpretation of the English Gothic style). Much of Burrowes later career was devoted to the Starr Commonwealth Home for Boys in Albion, Mich. He retired from the profession in 1952, and took up residence in London, Ont., and died there on 16 June 1953 (obit. Detroit Free Press, 18 July 1953; Michigan Society of Architects Monthly Bulletin, Sept. 1953, 38). A small monograph devoted to the career and work of Burrowes was published by the Farmington Hills Historical Commission in 1992 (Jean M. Fox, Marcus Burrowes: English Revival Architect, 1992, 34 p.). A biography and photographic portrait of Burrowes was published in the Detroit Free Press, 3 May 1928, p. 2.
M. R. BURROWES (works in Sarnia and elsewhere)
SARNIA, ONT., C. Sanders & Son, Victoria Street at Davis Street, undertakers studio with residence, 1899; renamed D.J. Robb Funeral Home; still standing in 2023 (Sarnia Observer, 31 March 1899, 5; C.R., x, 5 April 1899, 2; inf. Ian Mason, Sarnia)
SARNIA, ONT., two frame dwellings for the Mackenzie Brothers, 1899 (C.R., x, 5 April 1899, 2)
SARNIA, ONT., addition of north wing to the General Hospital, 1899; demol. (C.R., x, 3 May 1899, 3, t.c.)
SARNIA. ONT., Y.M.C.A. for the Grand Trunk Railway 'near the Tunnel Station', on Russell Street South, 1899; demol. (Sarnia Observer, 21 July 1899, 5)
SARNIA, ONT., Bank of Toronto, Front Street at Cromwell Street, a remodelling of the old Lougheed Building, 1901 (Sarnia Observer, 18 Sept. 1901, 3)
SARNIA, ONT., hotel for P. Heuser, 1902 (C.R., xiii, 20 Aug. 1902, 2)
SARNIA, ONT. Public Library, Wellington Street, 1902-03; addition, 1906; demol. (C.R., xiii, 13 Aug. 1902, 1, t.c.; xvi, 31 Jan. 1906, 2; Sarnia Observer, 3 Sept. 1903, 4, descrip.; C.A.B., xviii, Oct. 1905, 149 and plate illus.; M. Beckman, The Best Gift, 1984, 138, 156, illus.)
SARNIA., ONT., pavilion at Lake Huron Park for the Sarnia Street Railway Co., 1905; demol. 1930 (C.R., xv, 22 Feb. 1905, 2; inf. Ian Mason, Sarnia)
SARNIA, ONT., residence for Alfred M. Kaiser, London Road near Blanche Street, 1906; still standing in 2023 (Register of Sarnia Heritage Property, 2010, illus. & descrip.)
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MICH., buildings on the estate of George G. Booth, Lone Pine Road, including The Garage, 1908; Twin Cottage, 1910; The Greenhouse, 1910; south entrance and gate to the Cranbrooke Estate, 1917 (Kathryn Eckert, Buildings of Michigan, 1993, 165)
(with Chester Woods of Sarnia) SARNIA, ONT., large residence for Chester Belton, London Road near MacKenzie Street North, 1923; still standing in 2023 (Register of Sarnia Heritage Property, 2010, illus. & descrip.)
BURROWES & WELLS (works in Walkerville, Ont.)
WALKERVILLE, ONT., an outdoor garden pavilion or "entertainment pergola" on the grounds of the factory and plant of Hiram Walker & Sons, on the lawn, running down to the River, 1910 (Detroit Free Press, 4 Sept. 1910, 10, descrip.)
WALKERVILLE, ONT., Federal Customs Office building for Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd., 1910-11 (C.R., xxiv, 23 Nov. 1910, 27)
WALKERVILLE, ONT., residence for H.R.Dingwall, Devonshire Road, 1912-13 (C.R., xxvi, 14 Feb. 1912, 66; Evening Record [Windsor], 15 Nov. 1912, 10, illus.)
WALKERVILLE, ONT., residence for Hiram Walker, Devonshire Road, 1912-13 (C.R., xxvi, 14 Feb. 1912, 66; Evening Record [Windsor], 22 Nov. 1912, 9, illus.; Brickbuilder [Boston], xxiv, May 1915, Plate 75, illus., plans; Western Architect [Chicago], xxiv, Oct. 1916, plate illus.)
WALKERVILLE, ONT., residence for J. Herrington Walker, Devonshire Road, 1912-13 (C.R., xxvi, 20 March 1912, 68, t.c.)
M.R. BURROWES (works in Michigan)
DETROIT, MICH., Duffield Branch Library, 1919 (American Architect [New York], cxvi, 17 Sept. 1919, illus. plates)
GROSSE POINTE, MICH., mansion for Ralph H. Booth, Washington Road, 1924 (W. Hawkins Ferry, The Buildings of Detroit, 1968, 229, descrip., illus. plate 330)
DETROIT, MICH., Gabriel Richard Branch Library, 1923-24 (American Architect [New York[, cxxvii, 14 Jan. 1925, illus. plates)
BURROWES & EURICH (works in Michigan)
NORTHVILLE, MICH., Meadowbrook Country Club, a new Locker House, in the English style of architecture, 1926 (Detroit Free Press, 4 April 1926, Section Five, p. 6, illus. & descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., The North Branch Y.M.C.A., Woodward Avenue at Winona Avenue, 1926-27 (Detroit Free Press, 31 Oct. 1926, 16, descrip.)
BIRMINGHAM, MICH., Municipal Town Hall, Pierce Street at Merrill Street, 1928 (Detroit Free Press, 13 May 1928, Section Seven, p. 3, descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., large addition to Burns Public School, 1929 (Detroit Free Press, 1 May 1929, 1)
DETROIT, MICH., Salvation Army Citadel, LaBelle Avenue near Woodward Avenue, in Highland Park, 1929 (Detroit Free Press, 26 May 1929, 9)
DETROIT, MICH., Mortgage & Contract Co. Building, West Fort Street, a new 5 storey office building, with a branch of the American State Bank, 1929 (Detroit Free Press, Section Six, p. 5, illus. & descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., Hazel Park High School, Highland Avenue near Nine Mile Road, 1929 (Detroit Free Press, 29 Dec. 1929, Section Seven, p. 4, illus. & descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., Redford High School, 1931; demol. 2012 (Detroit Free Press, 21 June 1931, 41)
ALBION, MICH., Starr Commonwealth School for Boys, major addition of gymnasium and manual training workshop, 1934-35 (Detroit Free Press, 27 April 1934, 11, descrip.; and 13 Jan. 1935, 3, descrip.)