SWALES, Francis Samuel (1878-1962), a talented and prolific delineator, draftsman and architect active in London, England and later in Montreal, Que., in Vancouver, B.C., and, after 1919, in New York City. Born in Oshawa, Ont. on 14 June 1878, he studied architecture at the Athenaeum in Rochester, N.Y. and graduated there in 1896. He then moved to Paris to attend the Ecole des Beaux Arts where he trained in the Atelier organized by Jean Louis Pascal. To gain admission to the Ecole, he competed against dozens of French and American architectural students. His elaborate presentation drawings earned him Second Place in the roster, and were subsequently published in The Builder [London], xlix, 1 Oct. 1910, 369-70 and illus. plate. After graduation he returned to the United States and worked briefly in Chicago for Col. James M. Wood, an expert in theatre design. In 1902 Swales moved from Chicago to St. Louis, Missouri and worked as assistant to Emanuel L. Masqueray, a French-trained American architect who had been appointed Chief Designer of exhibition buildings at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1903 (completed and later opened in 1904). While in St. Louis, he spent a year in the office of Elmes & Young as ’chief designer’, overseeing their design for the expansion of the St. Louis Terminal Station, and preparing drawings for their competition submission for West Point Military Academy, and for their winning design for the Custom House in San Francisco (won in 1903; built 1905-06).
In late 1903 Swales moved to London, England to take up a post as project manager and supervisor for the Waring-White Building & Construction Company, who were leading contractors for major buildings there including the Ritz Hotel (1906), the Waldorf Hotel, the Parkside Hotel, the Cotton Exchange Building at Liverpool, and the Calico Printers Building in Manchester (1911-12). He also advised on some of the decorative details used on the façades of Selfridge’s Department Store in London ( 1907-09), initially designed by D.H. Burnham of Chicago, and completed by R. Frank Atkinson of London. While in England, he proved himself to be a capable architect in his own right, designing The Guilford Hotel at Sandwich, a six storey seaside resort complex executed in a mature and thoroughly convincing Edwardian style that served as precursor to his later work on the CPR Hotel in Vancouver.
By 1909 Swales had also honed his skill as an articulate writer and observer of contemporary Beaux-Arts architecture both in France as well as in the United States. He wrote a series of perceptive observations and commentary on American commercial architecture for the British architectural journal called The Architectural Review [London], xxv, January 1909, 13-19, illus.; and February 1909, 82-91, illus.; and March 1909, 135-42, illus.; and May 1909, 253-59, illus.. He also authored an extensive illustrated tribute to John Merven Carrere, the talented New York City architect who had died suddenly in early March 1911. This article by Swales never appeared in American sources, but it too was published in England, in The Architectural Review [London], xxix, May 1911, 283-293, illus.
In 1911 he moved back to Canada, settling in Montreal where he accepted a position as designer in the Architectural Dept. of the Canadian Pacific Railway, working under the direct supervision of the Chief Architect William S. Painter. They collaborated on several projects, but by 1913 Swales was given full responsibility as project architect for CPR buildings. His masterpiece in Canada is unquestionably that of the major addition to the Hotel Vancouver in Vancouver, B.C. (1912-14), an elaborate Edwardian landmark with a stepped 16 storey tower topped by an extensive outdoor roof garden which ran the full length of the building. Sadly, this entire complex was demolished in 1949, but the colour presentation drawings prepared by Swales in 1913 have survived in the form of an illustrated book called “Hotel Vancouver”, now part of the collection of British Columbia Public Archives in Victoria (BCPA NW 971.1 Va H832).
Swales moved to New York City after 1919 and became a regular contributor to the monthly architectural journal called Pencil Points (later called Progressive Architecture). His knowledge of (and admiration for) leading architectural delineators of the day can be seen in a series of his articles on “The Technique of Rendering’, published in this journal between August 1923 and November 1924. These articles included a tribute to his mentor Emmanuel Masqueray (Pencil Points, v, Nov. 1924, 59-67, illus.). Swales later became an advisor on the Regional Plan of New York, and wrote a series of illustrated articles on the subject of ‘New York and Its Plans’ in Pencil Points, xv, June 1934, July 1934, and Sept. 1934. He retired after 1940 and died in Yonkers, N.Y. on 5 November 1962 (obituary Herald Statesman [Yonkers], 7 Nov. 1962, 2;. New York Times [New York City], 8 Nov. 1962, 39; biog. and port Who’s Who & Why in Canada, 1915-16, 1318; biog. Rochester Society of Architects, A Chronicle of Architecture and Architects in Rochester, 1939, 8-9; biog. and works in A. Stuart Gray, Edwardian Architecture: A Biographical Dictionary, 1985, 343, illus.; D. Luxton, Building The West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 382, 519).
Francis S. SWALES (works in Canada)
(with Walter S. Painter) VICTORIA, B.C., major addition to the Empress Hotel, including the North Wing, the Humboldt Street Wing, and the South Wing facing Belleville Street, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 30 Aug. 1911, 63)
LONDON, ONT, proposal for a new City Hall and Police Station, Dundas Street, “…in the old Colonial style”, 1912 (London Free Press, 13 April 1912, 1, descrip.)
(with Watt & Blackwell) LONDON, ONT., Public Comfort Station, on the site of the old King Street Fish Market, 1912 (London Free Press, 1 July 1912, 3, illus.)
(with Walter S. Painter) VANCOUVER, B.C., major addition to the Hotel Vancouver, for the C.P.R., Granville Street at Georgia Street, 1912-14; interior Bar and billiard room, 1915; The Grill Room, 1916; all demol. 1949 (C.R., xxvi, 30 Oct. 1912, 56-7, illus. & descrip.; Const., vii, May 1914, 172-3, 178, illus. & descrip.; and ix, May 1916, 140-8, illus. & descrip.; Vancouver Sun, 21 June 1916, 8, descrip.; [The American] Architectural Review [Boston], xix, April 1913, 137, illus.; American Architect [New York], cx, 13 Sept. 1916, 153-58, 161, illus.; The Architect [San Francisco], xii, Aug. 1916, 81-6, 121, descrip., & Plates No. 17 to 30; Architectural Review [London], xlii, August 1917, 29-40, illlus. & descrip.; Vancouver Sun, 20 March 1915, 2, descrip.; and 25 Oct. 1915, 5, and descrip. of basement Bar and Billiard Room at the Hotel; and 31 Dec. 1915, 2, descrip.). A detailed architectural description of the Main Ball Room in the hotel by Swales was published in The Vancouver Sun, 29 Dec. 1915, p. 3.
Francis S. SWALES (works in the U.S.A.)
(with George D. Mason) DETROIT, MICH. Office building for Berry Brothers, c. 1900 (Builder [London], ciii, 6 Dec. 1912, 681, illus.)
(with Col. J.M. Wood) DETROIT, MICH., The Elks Office Block, c. 1900 (Builder [London], ciii, 6 Dec. 1912, 683, illus.)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., Canadian Pacific Railway Pavilion at the Panama Pacific Exposition, 1914-15 (Mail & Empire [Toronto], 14 April 1914, 9, illus. & descrip.; Ottawa Journal, 14 April 1914, 11, illus. & descrip.; C.R., xxix, 5 May 1915, 498; Calgary Herald, 8 April 1915, 10, detailed descrip. of completed Pavilion). His design for this CPR Pavilion later received a Gold Medal from the Exhibition Committee (The Sun [Vancouver], 24 June 1915, 5).
Francis S. SWALES (works in England and Europe)
SANDWICH-ON-SEA, CO. KENT, ENGLAND, The Guilford Hotel, c. 1908; demol. 1974 ([The American] Architectural Review [Boston], xix, April 1913, 140-41, illus. & descrip.)
LONDON, ENGLAND, exhibition pavilion for the Gramaphone Co., at the Franco-British Exhibition, West London, near Shepherd’s Bush, 1908; demol. (R.I.B.A. Journal [London], xv, 25 July 1908, 554, illus.)
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, Canadian Pacific Railway Pavilion at the International Exposition, 1910 (Builder [London], xlix, 30 July 1910, 131-2, illus.)