PRINDLE, Harry Edward (1873-1928), a talented New York City architect and designer, was born there on 2 April 1873 and educated at Cooper Union Scientific School. He took classes at the Art Students League, studied art and architecture at the Brooklyn Institute Art School, and later received Gold Medals for his designs from both the Architectural League of New York, and from the Chicago Sketch Club. Prindle trained in several offices in New York City, and was employed as supervising architect of Cochise County in Arizona for two years, and later opened an office on Fifth Avenue in 1912 (J. Ward, Architects in Practice in New York City 1900-1940, 1989, 62). In late 1912 he was invited to Montreal to take charge of the drafting room of the C.P.R. Superintendent of Buildings, but left the company in 1914 and opened his own office there.
Despite his experience, his credentials, and his past awards, only one significant work in Canada can be attributed to him, that for the Chateau style C.P.R. Railway Station, St. Paul Street at Henderson Street, QUEBEC CITY, QUE., 1915-16 (C.R., xxix, 12 May 1915, 50, t.c.; Evening Journal [Ottawa], 12 Aug. 1915, 2, descrip.; Building News [London], cix, 29 Dec. 1915, 743, descrip.; Const., ix, Jan. 1916, 3-6, illus. & descrip.; Ottawa Journal, 10 Aug. 1916, 11, illus. & descrip.; C.R., xxix, 24 Nov. 1915, 1203-05, illus. & descrip.; Canadian Railway & Marine World [Montreal], xviii, Sept. 1915, 338, descrip; xix, Sept. 1916, 360, illus. & descrip.; dwgs. Quebec City Archives E352.12, 1915). Constructed with native Argenteuil granite and Deschambault limestone, the station was conceived as 'a modern adaptation of the chateaux of Loire Valley in France', and was intended to harmonize with earlier distinctive landmarks in Quebec City such as the Drill Hall (E.E. Tache, 1884-87), and the Chateau Frontenac Hotel (Bruce Price, 1892-94, addition 1897).
In 1916 Prindle carried out a minor commission for alterations and improvements to the Shaughnessy Mansion, Dorchester Boulevard West, MONTREAL, QUE. (Montreal, Les Residences, 1987, 104-05, illus.). The mansion was restored 1986-88 and now forms part of the Canadian Centre for Architecture. In 1918 he entered the service of the United States Government as Supervisor of Housing for the Emergency Fleet Corp., and was credited with the design and layout of the town of Harriman, Pennsylvania, but few if any references to his work after 1918 have been found. Prindle died at Mount Vernon, N.Y. on 28 November 1928 from injuries sustained after being struck by a taxicab in New York City on October 6 (obituary, Daily Argus [Mount Vernon],28 Nov. 1928, 2; biog. and port. Who's Who and Why in Canada, 1915-16, 1250)