POWER, Patrick (1818-1892) was active in St. John's, Newfoundland as an architect and builder after 1850. He was credited with the design of Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church at Harbour Grace, Nfld. in 1853. This major ecclesiastical landmark, overlooking Conception Bay, was modeled after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and featured an elaborate Renaissance Revival facade and a large central dome. Opened in December 1853, a detailed architectural description of the church was published in The Patroit & Terra Nova Herald [St. John's], 10 Dec. 1853, 2. This landmark stood for nearly 40 years, but was totally destroyed by fire on 2 September 1889, and replaced by a smaller church shortly after.
Power was born in Newfoundland in 1818, and was baptized there on 17 March 1818. He likely received his training in the building trades in the Colony, and may have worked as a contractor, or sub-contractor, on the construction of the Roman Catholic Basilica-Cathedral on Military Road in St. John's between 1841 and 1855. Power appears to have left Newfoundland in 1854 or 1855. In 1856, the City of Toronto Directory records a person named " Patrick Power" living and working as a builder on West Market Street (Brown's Toronto General Directory, 1856, 206. This person was, in fact, the same individual from Newfoundland. In 1862, the local Toronto newspaper called The Globe published a list of new buildings by Patrick Power "architect & builder" and stated that he was "....the builder of the Catholic Cathedral at St. John's, Nfld., probably the most magnificent church in North America', thus confirming his previous activity in the colony of Newfoundland. By 1862, Power had added a woodworking and planing mill to his operations in Toronto, and he remained until after 1865. No references to his work in Ontario can be found after this date, and he appears to have returned to Newfoundland. He may be the same "Patrick Power" who died in Newfoundland on 4 May 1892.
(works in Newfoundland)
HARBOUR GRACE, NFLD., Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, 1853; burned 1889 (The Patriot & Terra Nova Herald [St. John's], 10 Dec. 1853, 2, detailed descrip.)
(works in Toronto)
LORETTO CONVENT & ACADEMY, for the Roman Catholic diocese, Bond Street at Dundas Street East, 1862; demol. (Globe [Toronto], 26 Feb. 1862, 1, descrip.)
JOHN STREET, near the Queen's Printing Office, cottage for Samuel M. Jarvis, 1862 (Globe [Toronto], 26 Feb. 1862, 1, descrip.)
DUMMER STREET (now St. Patrick Street), at Caer Howell Street (now Elm Street), residence for the pastor of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, 1862 (Globe [Toronto], 26 Feb. 1862, 1, descrip.)
EAST END BREWERY, River Street at Beech Street (now Dundas Street East), on the banks of the Don River, a 3 storey brick building for Robert Defries, 1862 (Globe [Toronto], 26 Feb. 1862, 1, descrip.)