HERIOT, John Charles Allison (1862-1921), active in Montreal, Que. in several partnerships including:
Dunlop & Heriot, Montreal (1893 to 1895)
Brown, MacVicar & Heriot, Montreal (1896 to November 1898)
MacVicar & Heriot, Montreal (December 1898 to 1921)
Born in Georgeville, Que. and educated at Stanstead Academy, he subsequently came to Montreal and obtained a position as an articling student in the office of Alexander F. Dunlop after 1880, later becoming a junior partner there before moving to New York State to attend Cornell University. He graduated from the School of Architecture there, then relocated a few miles east to Albany, N.Y. where he joined the busy office of Isaac Perry, the Supervising Architect who had been commissioned to complete the work on the Albany State Capitol after the untimely death of its designer, H.H. Richardson, who had died in April 1886 at the age of 47 years. Heriot spent two years working under Perry, then moved to New York City where he was employed in the office of Robert H. Robertson (partner of Robertson & Potter), and, more significantly, a two year period with the talented New York architect and designer Arnold Brunner (of Brunner & Tryon, Architects). It was there that he honed his knowledge and ability to use the fashionable Romanesque Revival style, evident in his impressive presentation drawings for “A Suburban Residence”, credited to Dunlop & Heriot, but signed by Heriot and published in the Canadian Architect & Builder, vii, June 1894, double page plate illus.
After his return to Montreal in 1893 he was invited by his mentor there, A.F. Dunlop, to form a new partnership (see list of works under Dunlop & Heriot). It is unclear why Heriot left this seemingly successful and productive collaboration after less than three years; by 1896 he had joined with David R. Brown and Donald MacVicar (see works under Brown, MacVicar & Heriot). In 1898 Brown departed, leaving MacVicar and Heriot to start a new firm which was active for more than twenty years. A full list of works by their office appears in the entry under Donald MacVicar (as MacVicar & Heriot).
In addition to his architectural activity, Heriot was known as an expert in heraldic art and decoration, and an authority on the design and interpretation of flags. He was also associated with local army militia affairs, becoming a member of the Prince of Wales Fusiliers, and his participation likely influenced the decision to hire MacVicar & Heriot to design the new Prince of Wales Armoury in Montreal in 1907. Heriot died in Montreal on 24 July 1921 (obit. Gazette [Montreal] 25 July 1921, 6; obit. and port. Montreal Daily Star, 25 July 1921, 6; biog. Canadian Architect & Builder, vi, May 1893, 57; Montreal: The Metropolis of Canada Illustrated, 1894, 234).