WILY, Daniel Berkley (1832-1889), a native of village of Corey, Isle of Jersey, England, where he was born on 22 May 1832. He arrived in Canada in 1852 and settled in Sherbrooke, Que., but by 1856 he had moved to Hamilton, Ont. where he was a partner with Frederick J. Rastrick and William Hall (Spectator [Hamilton], 12 March 1857, 1, advert.). The firm of Rastrick, Hall & Wily was active until late 1859. By 1861, he had moved back to southern Quebec.
He is almost certainly the same "Daniel Wily, Architect" who appears in Montreal in 1868 as a partner with John W. Hopkins (see list of works under Hopkins & Wily). Their collaboration lasted until 1879, and was remarkably successful, producing over one hundred designs for significant commercial, institutional and residential buildings in Montreal and the surrounding area. The partnership was dissolved in late 1879, and nothing can be found on Wily until 1887 when 'D.B. Wily, Architect, C.P.R." was noted as a resident of Donald, B.C. (Williams British Columbia Directory, 1889, 561). In 1887 he was credited with the design of the new Presbyterian Church at DONALD, B.C.. Just two years later, Wily died at Donald Landing, B.C. on 26 September 1889 (obit. Inland Sentinel [Kamloops], 28 Sept. 1889, 5). His obituary refers to him as 'Buildings Inspector and Architect" for the C.P.R., and it is likely that many of the CPR railway stations erected from 1886 to 1889 on the line from Donald, B.C. to the coast were designed by Wily (inf. Rob Gilbert, Kamloops Museum & Archives). Wily was later buried at Pioneer Cemetery in Kamloops, B.C.
DONALD, B.C., St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 1887; and credited to "Mr. Wylie [sic], Architect"; church closed 1899 and congregation moved to Golden, B.C. (Victoria Daily Times, 8 July 1887, 2)