POWER, Thomas Rice Porter (1859-1930), son of John Power, a leading architect in Kingston, Ont., was born there in 1859 and attended Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ont. He later trained under his father, assisting him with many projects under the firm name of Power & Sons from November 1873 onward. After the death of his father in March 1882 he joined his brother Joseph W. Power and inherited the practise. The brothers continued to use the original name of the firm Power & Son until after 1915, but it is unclear what role Thomas played in the design, construction and supervision of many of the commissions carried out by their office. In 1925 a tender call for the rebuilding of the Medical Building at Queen's University in Kingston was signed " Thomas R.P. Power & Colin Drever, Architects", an indication that it was Thomas Power, not his brother Joseph Power, who was active in Kingston after 1920 (Montreal Daily Star, 4 March 1925, 21, t.c.)
Thomas Power joined the Ontario Association of Architects on 8 November 1890. A newspaper obituary for Thomas, published in 1930, acknowledges his role as '.....a fine designer and draftsman'. Power died in Kingston on 20 July 1930 (obit. Whig-Standard [Kingston], 21 July 1930, 3; Const., xxiii, August 1930, 279; C.R., xliv, 3 Sept. 1930, 1082). The National Archives of Canada in Ottawa holds an extensive collection of original drawings by the firm of Power & Son (from 1873 to 1919), and by Power & Son & Drever (from 1919 to 1925). The Accession number for the collection is Acc. 81203/19. An illustrated catalogue of work by this firm, containing biographies of each architect, was prepared by Joan Mattie and published in 1986 by the Public Archives Canada in a document entitled "100 Years of Architecture in Kingston - John Power to Drever & Smith", illus. (biog., port. and list of works in Jennifer McKendry, Architects Working in the Kingston Region 1820-1920, 2019, 79-98)
KINGSTON, ONT., R.J. Reid Co., Princess Street, major additions and improvements to retail stores and warehouse, 1915 (Daily Standard [Kingston], 22 May 1915, 4, t.c.)
KINGSTON, ONT., conversion of the old Congress Hotel & Hall into an apartment building for H.B. Wartell, 1921 (Daily Standard [Kingston], 28 Feb. 1921, 11, t.c.)