MARTIN, Leonard (1869-1935), a prominent architect in London, England who, with Sydney V. Kendall, also of London, won the competition for the Bain Avenue Housing Project in TORONTO, ONT. in 1912. Sponsored by the Toronto Housing Company, the competition was juried by leading Toronto architects including Henry Sproatt, J.C.B. Horwood and by Eden Smith (Mail & Empire [Toronto], 12 Sept. 1912, 4; C.R., xxvi, 18 Sept. 1912, 63). The elaborate design for this major project in Toronto by Martin & Kendall may have proven to be too costly; within months, the Housing Company had set aside the plans from London, England, and awarded the commission to one of their own jurors, Eden Smith (see list of works under Eden Smith & Son).
Within four years Martin was again active in Canada, designing an elaborate Arts & Crafts mansion called ASHCROFT MANOR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, commissioned by an unknown client, and likely located near Vancouver or Victoria, B.C. (1916). A full suite of plans, elevations, sections and a description of this ten bedroom house appeared in Building News [London], cxii, 28 March 1917, 282, descrip., and two illus. plates).
Martin was born in July 1869 and educated at the South Kensington School of Art, and at the Royal Academy Schools. He articled with John Giles, with Albert E. Gough, and with John E. Trollope in London, and was in partnership with Henry J. Treadwell from 1891 to 1910. He was nominated as a Fellow of the Royal Inst. of British Architects in 1902, and died in London in late 1935 (obit. and list of works R.I.B.A. Journal, xliii, 7 March 1936, 498; biog. Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, ii, 140-41).
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