SCOTT, William (1821-1889), active in Windsor, Ont. and one of the first professional architects to work in Essex County. Born in Tralee, Ireland on 21 January 1821, he emigrated to Upper Canada in 1853 and settled in Sandwich, Ont., then moved to Windsor in 1858. He was the Chief Engineer in charge of the construction of the old Great Western Railway from London to Windsor, and was credited with conceiving the original idea of building a railway tunnel in 1855 allowing GWR trains to travel across the border under the St. Clair River to downtown Detroit. It was not until 1908 that the tunnel was finally built. Scott designed (and built) a home for his family on a site near the present City Hall Square, and the residence stood until 1947 when it was demolished. While living in Windsor, he served a term as Mayor. Scott moved his architectural practise to Detroit in 1872, and invited his son John Scott to form a partnership in 1874, when the firm was renamed William Scott & Son, and then as William Scott & Co from 1875. Their new firm included the father William Scott, another son A.H. Scott, and a young architect from England, Alfred Wood ( Detroit Free Press, 4 May 1875, 1).
In Canada, his best known work was the impressive Second Empire style design for the Post Office & Custom House in Windsor, Ont. (1879). This commission was one of the few federal buildings not designed by the Chief Architect of the Dept. of Public Works, but instead it was awarded to a local architect. William Scott’s own drawings for the building have survived, and are reproduced in the Canadian Historic Sites series of Occasional Papers No. 24, 1980, pp. 64-5. He appears to have been well-versed in the fashionable Richardsonian Romanesque style, and used it to great effect in the designs prepared for Hiram Walker, who commissioned Scott to design an elaborate terrace of three storey houses in Detroit in 1887. Scott died in Detroit on 30 June 1889 (obit. Detroit Free Press, 1 July 1889; inf. Hiram Walker Historical Museum; inf. City of Windsor Archives)
WILLIAM SCOTT & CO. (works in Michigan and Ontario)
SALINE, MICH., a mansion for William Davenport, East Michigan Avenue at Old Creek Drive, 1875; still standing 2017 (USA, National Register of Historic Places - Michigan; inf. Saline Area Historic Society; inf. Einar E. Kvaran)
WINDSOR, ONT., Crawford House Hotel, a commercial block with stores and offices, for Alexander Crawford, Riverside Drive at Ferry Street, 1875; demol. 1934 (Detroit Free Press, 4 May 1875, 1; inf. Andrew Foot, Windsor)
DETROIT, MICH., Wayne County Savings Bank, Congress Street near Griswold Street, 1876 (W. Hawkins Ferry, The Buildings of Detroit, 1968, 80, illus. plates No. 88-89)
SAULT STE. MARIE, MICH., Chippewa County Court House, Maple Street at Court Street, 1877 (Kathryn Eckert, Buildings of Michigan, 1993, 536-7, illus.)
WINDSOR, ONT., Post Office & Customs House, Ouellette Street at Pitt Street, 1879 (Canada, Sessional Papers, Report of the Dept. of Public Works, 1880, Appendix 3, 12, descrip.; C. Cameron & J. Wright, Second Empire Style in Canadian Architecture, 1980, 64-5, illus.)
ANN ARBOR, MICH., Central Fire Station, East Huron Street, 1882-83 (Kathryn Eckert, Buildings of Michigan, 1993, 139)
DETROIT, MICH., a terrace of six houses for Hiram Walker, 1887 (Inland Architect [Chicago], x, Sept. 1887, plate illus.)
MARQUETTE, MICH., Upper Peninsula Branch Prison & House of Correction, 1887-89 (Kathryn Eckert, Buildings of Michigan, 1993, 496, illus.; Kathryn Eckert, The Sandstone Architecture of the Lake Superior Region, 2000, 112-14, illus.)
HOUGHTON, MICH., Houghton National Bank, Shelden Avenue, 1888-89 (Kathryn Eckert, Buildings of Michigan, 1993, 465-66)
COMPETITIONS
STRATFORD, ONT., High School, 1877. The Detroit firm of William Scott & Co. was one of 34 American and Canadian architects who submitted designs for this large educational building. A complete list of entrants appeared in The Stratford Beacon, 5 Oct. 1877, 2. The design by Scott was not among the finalists, and the commission was later awarded to McCaw & Lennox of Toronto.