TAFT, Joseph H. (1855 -1911), an architect active in New York City, N.Y. who is credited with a remarkable Shingle Style ecclesiastical work in Kitchener, Ont. which still stands unaltered (extant 2023). Built in 1899-1900, the First Church of Christ Scientist, Water Street North at Francis Street North, KITCHENER, ONT. was described as ‘the first entirely new House of Praise that has been erected by the Christian Scientists in Ontario’ (Berlin News-Record [Kitchener], 6 Aug. 1900, p. 1 & 4, detailed architectural descrip.). The form and character are unique, combining a rugged fieldstone base with English half-timber frame walls clad with stucco panels, and a bold circular corner tower reminiscent of seaside estates in New England designed by Peabody & Stearns or McKim, Mead & White. The building was adapted to fit on a tight triangular building site, with the principal facades facing onto two streets.
Taft first appears in New York City in 1887 and continues to practise there until 1909 (D.S. Francis, Architects in Practice New York City 1840-1900, 1979, 74; James Ward, Architects in Practice New York City 1900-1940, 1989, 76). He was a cousin of U.S. President William H. Taft (1857-1930), and may have received commissions for projects from members of the Taft family. He was a member of the Architectural League of New York, and an Associate of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences. He designed a number of distinctive brownstone terraces of townhouses in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, several of which have recently been designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2012. Taft died at Cornwall-on-Hudson on 16 July 1911 (death notice New York Times, 17 July 1911, 9; biog. and list of works in Riverside-West End Historic District Extension - Designation Report, 26 June 2012, p. 240-41, published by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and now online).