Kneass, Samuel Honeyman | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

KNEASS, Samuel Honeyman (1806-1858), an engineer and architect from Philadelphia, Penn., prepared a Plan for a Parliament House at York, Upper Canada in 1825 (dwgs. at Metro Toronto Reference Library, Baldwin Room). In 1821 Kneass began an apprenticeship in the office of William Strickland, the eminent Philadelphia architect, and remained with him until 1828. It is likely that his Plan for the Parliament House was prepared with the advice of Strickland, as it employs many of the formal devices such as a elaborate portico and semi-circular Assembly Hall that appear in the best Greek Revival work of Strickland. The plan by Kneass was never realised, however, and it would take four years before the government decided to erect the third Parliament Building at York, designed by J.G. Chewett. After 1830 Kneass became involved in engineering work for the Pennsylvania and New York railroads and held the position of City Surveyor in Philadephia from 1849 to 1853 (biography in the National Cyclopedia of American Biography, xxv, 142; Dictionary of American Biography, x, 454-5; S. Tatman, Biographical Dictionary of Philadelphia Architects, 1985, 454)