GEMMELL, John (1850-1915) was born in Mayhole, Ayrshire, Scotland in 1850 and was brought to Canada by his family in 1851. He was educated at the Model School, and at Upper Canada College, and likely took a interest in architecture and building from his older brother William Gemmell, who by early 1870 had become a partner with James Avon Smith, a talented and prolific architect who had opened an office in Toronto in 1858 (see list of works under J. Smith & W. Gemmell). John, the younger brother of William, articled with Smith c. 1869-71, and after the untimely death of William G. Gemmell in December 1872 as a result of a skating accident, it was Smith who then asked John G. to take the place of his late brother. The new firm, also called Smith & Gemmell, was remarkably prolific, designing over one hundred ecclesiastical, institutional and commercial buildings in Ontario, and in other locations from Alberta to New Brunswick (see list of works under James A. Smith & John Gemmell).
After the retirement of Smith in 1910, John Gemmell continued to work under his own name. He was elected as Associate member of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1880, and was one of the founding members of the Ontario Association of Architects in 1890. He later served as President of the O.A.A. in 1904. Gemmell died in Toronto on 28 March 1915 (obit. Globe [Toronto], 29 March 1915, 6; Toronto Star, 29 March 1915, 3, port., obit. 7; Telegram [Toronto], 29 March 1915, 6 & 7; Toronto Daily News, 29 March 1915, 5). He left an estate exceeding $103,000 (OA, York County Wills, 30216, 3 July 1915) and attached to the Will was a sketch for proposed Presbyterian Church in Swansea, to be funded by a portion of his estate. A photographic portrait of Gemmell appeared in the Canadian Architect & Builder, xvii, Feb. 1904, 28. He wrote frequently on design and architecture; his essays include 'The Entrance Door', on its functional and aesthetic aspects (C.A.B., vi, Jan. 1893, 5), and 'Colour in Architecture' (C.A.B., xiii, Feb. 1900, 34-5, with a critique of the essay in C.A.B., xiii, June 1900, 118.
TORONTO
HURON STREET, north of Bloor Street West, a group of three houses, consisting of one detached house, and a pair of semi-detached houses, erected on land owned by the architect, 1888; all three houses still standing as of 2019 (inf. Marybeth McTeague, City of Toronto)
ELLIS AVENUE, residence for Alexander Gemmell (father of John Gemmell), 1889 (inf. Toronto Historical Board)
(with W.R. Gregg) HIGH PARK LAWN BOWLING & CURLING CLUB, Indian Road near Algonquin Avenue, 1910-11 (Toronto b.p. 24368, 11 Nov. 1910; b.p. 29481, 4 Aug. 1911)
NORTHERN CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, Glen Road at Roxborough Street East, 1913-14 (Toronto b.p. 7227, 2 Oct. 1913; Const., x, Dec. 1916, 405-10, illus. & descrip.)
SWANSEA PUBLIC SCHOOL, addition, 1914-15 (Toronto Star, 29 March 1915, 7, list of works in obituary)
MORNINGSIDE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Kennedy Avenue at Morningside Avenue, 1916 (inf. Toronto Historical Board)
COMPETITIONS
OTTAWA, ONT., Departmental & Justice Buildings, 1907. Gemmell was one of 30 entrants who submitted designs in this national competition (Const., i, Oct. 1907, 48-50). The scheme by Gemmell, called Design No. 3, was ranked 19th place, scoring only 44 out of 100. Described by Gemmell as 'classic' in style, the juror Edmund Burke found the design 'had no distinctive character', and that 'there is no raison d'etre for the tower, which does not group with the buildings' (OA, Horwood Papers, Report of Edmund Burke on the Competition for the Departmental & Justice Buildings). The competition was won by E. & W.S. Maxwell, but their scheme was never built.