PENTECOST, Ashton Spencer (1863-1936) was active in Toronto, Ont. from 1900 until c. 1935 where he gained a considerable reputation as a talented delineator by providing '...pen and ink and colour perspectives' to a variety of architectural offices in the city (C.R., xvi, 24 May 1905, advert.). Born in England on 25 February 1863, he is almost certainly the same 'Ashton Pentecost' who was first recorded in Chicago in 1886, and by 1888 he was maintaining an office in the Opera House Block there, in the partnership of Douglas S. Pentecost & Ashton Pentecost, Architects (Daily Inter-Ocean [Chicago], 26 Feb. 1888, 10; City of Chicago Directory, 1888). He was said to have possessed "....considerable experience in England as well as in the United States, and is credited as being one of the most talented draughtsmen in Chicago". In 1890 he attached his name as the 'Designer & Delineator, Chicago, Ill.' to a drawing published in the Inland Architect [Chicago], showing a sophisticated Shingle Style house located in the village of West Toronto Junction, near Toronto, Ontario.
By 1893 he had relocated to Buffalo, N.Y., where he worked under his own name, or in partnership with E.A. Phillips, and later with Alonzo W. Baggaley until 1899. By 1900 he was living in Toronto where he was a draftsman for Beaumont Jarvis (in 1900-01), and from 1902 until 1915 he was employed by George W. Gouinlock. From 1920 until 1932 he worked as an architectural draftsman in the Chief Engineers's Dept. of the Canadian National Railway, working from their offices at Union Station in Toronto. While assisting in the office of G.W. Gouinlock, he submitted a design, under his own initiative, in the competition for the new Town Hall in Meaford, Ont (inf. Fred Kennedy, Heritage Meaford). He was one of seven Ontario architects who competed for this project, but his scheme was not premiated, and the First Prize was awarded to Ellis & Connery of Toronto. Pentecost died in Toronto on 10 December 1936 (death notice Globe & Mail [Toronto], 11 Dec. 1936, 20; Toronto Star, 11 Dec. 1936, 39).
(works in Toronto unless noted)
A. PENTECOST (works in Chicago)
CHICAGO, ILL., block of flats on West Congress Street for V. Bullier, 1886 (Daily Inter-Ocean [Chicago], 27 March 1886, 7)
D. S. & A. PENTECOST (works in Chicago and Ontario)
CHICAGO, ILL., a pair of three storey brick houses on Lincoln Avenue for E.J. Lewis, 1888 (Chicago Daily Tribune, 15 July 1888, 6)
CHICAGO, ILL., a three storey residential flat block for E.J. Lewis & Paul Durand, Park Avenue near Lincoln Street, 1888 (Chicago Daily Tribune, 15 July 1888, 6)
CHICAGO, ILL., a 4 storey brick block with retail store and flats, Cottage Grove Avenue, for Alexander McIntosh, 1888 (Chicago Daily Tribune, 15 July 1888, 6)
HAMILTON, ONT., large 3 storey brick stables complex for the St. Nicholas Hotel, James Street North near Merrick Street, for Alex & Charles Dunn, 1888-89 (Chicago Daily Tribune, 28 Oct. 1888, 17; Engineering & Building Record [New York], xviii, 10 Nov. 1888, building contracts, page x)
CHICAGO, ILL., a pair of two storey houses with stone fronts, for James Quick, Washington Boulevard near Oakley Avenue, 1888-89 (Chicago Daily Tribune, 4 Nov. 1888, 24)
A. PENTECOST (works in Toronto and Buffalo)
WEST TORONTO JUNCTION, residence for Mrs. Henrietta F. D'Eye, Mulock Avenue, 1890 (Inland Architect [Chicago], xvi, Oct. 1890, illus.)
BUFFALO, N.Y., tenement house of eight units on Van Rensselaer Street, for Mrs. Charles Stoddart, 1895 (Buffalo Commercial, 9 April 1895, 11)
PHILLIPS & PENTECOST (works in Buffalo)
BUFFALO, N.Y., architectural competition for the new Public School, Delevan Avenue at Moselle Street, 1895. The office of Phillips & Pentecost was one of 13 architects who submitted a design for this educational building (Buffalo Enquirer, 13 Sept. 1895, 1). Their design was one of 4 semi-finalists, and they received a prize of $100. for their effort. The winner was F.W. Calkins of Buffalo.
BUFFALO, N.Y., The Buckingham Apartments, Allen Street at Mariner Street, a five storey apartment block "...in the Elizabethan style of the Tudor period", for Frederick B. Robins, 1896 (Buffalo Courier, 8 March 1896, 10, illus. & descrip.)
PENTECOST, BYRENS & BAGGALEY (works in Buffalo)
BUFFALO, N.Y., The Otowego Apartments, a five storey apartment block with 10 apartments, for William Larkin, at No. 74 Days Park Road, 1897 (Buffalo Evening News, 9 Sept. 1897, 7, descrip.; Buffalo Express, 9 Sept. 1897, 9, descrip.)
BUFFALO, N.Y., block of flats for E. Churchill, Elmwood Avenue at Anderson Place, 1897 (Buffalo Evening News, 8 Sept. 1897, 5; Buffalo Express, 9 Sept. 1897, 9, descrip.)
PENTECOST & BAGGALEY (works in Buffalo and the Niagara Peninsula)
BUFFALO, N.Y., two houses for J.J. Rumsey, Elmwood Avenue at Delaware Avenue, 1898 (Daily Mercantile Review [Buffalo], 15 March 1898, 2, descrip.)
BUFFALO, N.Y., residence for J.J. Lawless, South Park Boulevard at Woodside Avenue, 1898 (Daily Mercantile Review [Buffalo], 23 March 1898, 2, descrip.)
FORT ERIE, ONT., major addition and alterations to summer residence at Crescent Beach, for Allan Gardner, 1898 (Daily Mercantile Review [Buffalo], 15 March 1898, 2, descrip.; Buffalo Review, 4 April 1898, 8)
BUFFALO, N.Y., a six storey apartment block at Elmwood Avenue and Summer Street, for William Larkin, 1898 (Buffalo Evening Times, 16 Aug. 1898, 1)
A. PENTECOST (works in Buffalo)
BUFFALO, N.Y., large residence for George Baker Long, "...in the Colonial style", located in the Elmwood District, 1899 (Buffalo Times, 17 March 1899, 5)
A. PENTECOST (works in Toronto)
ST. LUKE'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, St. Joseph Street at St. Vincent Street, addition of a Parish Hall and Sunday School, 1902; demol. 1930 (Toronto b.p. 112, 18 April 1902; C.R., xiii, 23 April 1902, 6; Brief Historical Sketch of the Parish of St. Luke, Toronto, 1956, 9)
CONSUMER'S GAS CO., Eastern Avenue near Saulter Street, retort house, 1905; purifying house, Eastern Avenue at Booth Avenue, 1905-06; coal shed, 1906 (Toronto b.p. 1806, 9 Aug. 1905; b.p. 2736, 27 Dec. 1905; b.p. 4766, 1 Aug. 1906)
CONSUMER'S GAS CO., Front Street East at Trinity Street, valve house or governor house, 1905; purifying house, 1907 (Toronto b.p. 2674, 8 Dec. 1905; b.p. 7045, 18 April 1907)
NORWAY, EAST TORONTO, residence for John W. Hand, Berkeley Avenue, 1908 (C.R., xxii, 3 June 1908, 24, illus.)
YORK THEATRE, Yonge Street at Bloor Street, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 13 Jan. 1909, 24, descrip. & illus.)
RUDD PAPER BOX CO., Richmond Street West at Spadina Avenue, warehouse, 1909; demol. (Toronto b.p. 16091, 26 June 1909; NAC, MG30, B86, item 8, John D. Bartlett Coll., Fenestra Steel Sash Catalogue, c. 1914, 44, 51, illus.)
DEER PARK AVENUE, near St. Clair Avenue West, residence for Thomas P. Stewart, 1909-10 (Toronto b.p. 18559, 7 Dec. 1909)
RUSSELL HILL DRIVE, near Heath Street West, residence for George Wilkie, 1910 (Toronto b.p. 19162, 5 March 1910)
ROXBOROUGH STREET EAST, near Rosedale Ravine Drive, residence for William G. McKendrick, 1910 (Toronto b.p. 19189, 8 March 1910)
WARREN ROAD, at Lynwood Avenue, residence for Dr. G. Herbert Burnham, 1910 (Toronto b.p. 20574, 14 May 1910)
EDGEWOOD AVENUE, near Kingston Road, a residence 'at Norway' in East Toronto for John W. Hand, 1911 (Builder & Contractor [Toronto], i, 15 May 1911, 154, illus. & descrip.)
KINGSWOOD ROAD, south of Kingston Road, large residence for William J. McCoy, at 229 Kingswood Road, 1923; still standing in 2024 (City of Toronto b.p. 65293, 29 Sept. 1923; inf. Barbara Myrvold, Toronto; dwgs. at City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 200, Series 410, File 2370)
WINDSOR, ONT., Canadian National Railroad Passenger Station, 1924 (dwgs. Plan Room, CNR Offices, Union Station, Toronto)