MANN & MacNEILLE, architects of New York City, consisting of Horace Borchsenius Mann (1868-1937) and Perry R. MacNeille (1872-1931) are credited with preparing a Master Plan for a new town development on the south side of TROIS RIVIERES, QUE. in 1919. Commissioned by the Three Rivers Shipyards Ltd., this development was intended for lands bounded by Normand Boulevard on the east, the CPR Tracks on the north, and Royale Boulevard on the south, and included an elaborate proposal for a Civic Centre complex modeled in a Tudor Revival style with a public square as well as 7 storey Chateau Style hotel building nearby. A full illustrated description of the proposal, together with perspective drawings of individual model house types, and a birds-eye view of the entire development, was published in the New York architectural journal called Architecture [New York], xl, July 1919, 180-190, illus. It is unclear if any of the proposal, or the model house types, were ever built in Trois Rivieres.
Horace B. Mann was born in Orange, N.J. and was educated at the School of Architecture at Columbia University in New York. He trained under Snelling & Potter, and formed a partnership with Perry R. MacNeille in 1903. They were active until 1930 (J. Ward, Architects in Practice New York City 1900-1940, 1989, 50). Mann died in New York on 16 July 1937 (obit. Architectural Forum [New York], lxvii, Sept. 1937, 86; biog. H. Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects, 1956, 389-90). Perry R. MacNeille joined with Mann in a partnership in 1903 and was responsible for the design of several educational, ecclesiastical and residential works produced by their firm, and was active a city planner on several projects in the New York City region. He died in New York on 1 October 1931 (obit. Pencil Points [New York], xii, November 1931, 854; biog. H. Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects, 1956, 384).
Together, the firm of Mann & MacNeille are best known for their large community plan for Bristol, Pennsylvania, described as ‘American’s Greatest Single Industrial Housing Development’ (American Architect [New York], cxiii, 15 May 1918, 599-615, illus. & descrip.). They also designed company town projects in Sheffield, Alabama for the Air Nitrate Corp. (Architectural Forum [New York], xxix, Sept. 1918, 69-74, illus. & descrip., with plates No. 46-48), and the new housing development in Perryville, Maryland (American Architect [New York], cxiv, 30 Oct. 1918, 503-10, illus. & descrip., with plates No. 129-35. All three developments served as models for their scheme at Trois Rivieres, Quebec. They are also credited with the design of several impressive country houses in Long Island, N.Y. including the mansion for Nathan Jonas at Great Neck (1927; now demol.). A brief biography of the firm was published in R.B. MacKay, Anthony Baker & Carol A. Traynor, Long Island Country Houses and Their Architects 1860-1940, 1997, 272, illus. & descrip.)