HEAD, Edward Francis (1854-1924), an early and successful architect and engineer active in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario who was recorded in the following offices:
Head & Demar, Brandon, Man. May 1883 - May 1884 (with Edward Demar)
E.F. Head, Minnedosa, Man. 1885-1886
E.F. Head, Portage La Prairie, Man., January 1889 to 1892
Head & Bossons, Portage La Prairie, Man. 1893-1894 (with J.H. Bossons)
Peters & Head, with dual offices in Winnipeg, Man. and Rat Portage, Ont., 1897-98 (with S. Frank Peters of Winnipeg)
E.F. Head, Company Architect, Lake Superior Pulp Co., Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. 1899-1901
Head & Radford, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. 1902 (with John A. Radford)
E.F. Head, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. 1903-09
E.F. Head, Assistant Provincial Architect, Winnipeg, Man. 1909-1916
E.F. Head, Engineering Dept., C.N.R., Winnipeg, 1917-24
Head was born at Cork, Ireland on 9 June 1854 and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He articled as a student in the office of Clark, Forde & Co., Civil Engineers in London and remained with the firm for nine years. Head emigrated to Canada in 1879 at the age of twenty-five and settled first at Brandon, Man. where he was employed by Edward McCoskrie (Marshally & Co., Directory of Brandon, 1883, 43). In late May of that year he had formed a partnership with Edward Demar (Brandon Daily Mail, 29 May 1883, 1, advert.) but their firm was dissolved within a year and Head moved to Minnedosa, Man. (Henderson's Manitoba & the North West Territories Directory 1886-87, 336). In July 1887 he was appointed as Chief Architect of the Red River Valley Railway in Manitoba. By January 1889 he had moved to Portage la Prairie and in 1893 formed another partnership, this time with J.H. Bossons of that town. Like many of his partnerships arrangements before and after, this firm of Head & Bossons was quickly dissolved in early 1894 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 23 April 1894, 7).
The dearth of work in Manitoba forced Head to relocate in Rat Portage (now Kenora), Ontario in 1894, and within three years he established a dual practice with S. Frank Peters of Winnipeg (see list of works under Peters & Head). Again this partnership was shortlived, and Head continued to attract major commissions under his own name until 1899 when he moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. It was there that he became the company architect for the Lake Superior Pulp Company and it is to him that it may be possible to attribute the design of some of the most significant Romanesque Revival landmarks of industrial architecture in Canada. Employed by Francis H. Clergue, the ambitious and highly successful industrialist, Head designed the monumental stone pulp mill, steel plant and rail mill buildings that Clergue had conceived by harnessing hydro power from the nearby St. Mary's River rapids.
By March of 1902 Head decided to return to private practice (Sault Star, 6 March 1902, 1, advert.) and, in a continuing search for business partners, joined with John A. Radford to form an architectural partnership (apparently his last). Like all the partnerships before, this too was destined to last for less than a year, and Head continued to live and work in Sault Ste. Marie until 1909. He moved to Winnipeg in early 1910 when he received the appointment of Assistant Provincial Architect for Manitoba, working under the direct supervision of Samuel Hooper, Provincial Architect (Sault Star, 10 March 1910, 1). From 1917 to early 1924 E.F. Head worked in the Engineering Dept. of the Canadian National Railways, assisting them with new track lines for the Hudson Bay railway. Head died in Winnipeg on 17 December 1924 (obit. Winnipeg Tribune, 18 Dec. 1924, 5; biography and portrait in W. Cochrane, The Canadian Album: Men of Canada, v, 1896, 444).
Edward F. HEAD (works in Manitoba & Saskatchewan)
SHOAL LAKE, MAN., a large hotel for the Manitoba and North West Railway Co., 1886 (Brandon Mail, 3 June 1886, 1)
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, MAN., large grain elevator, for the Farmer's Elevator Co., 1887; with later addition designed by E.F. Head, 1891 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg] 14 June 1887, 2, t.c.; Spectator [Rapid City], 1 May 1891, 1)
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, MAN., Methodist Church, 1888 (Manitoba Weekly Free Press [Winnipeg], 26 July 1888, 2)
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, MAN., Land Titles Building, Third Street at Lorne Avenue West, 1889 (Manitoba, Early Architecture of Portage La Prairie, 1983, illus.)
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, MAN., residence for Dr. Milroy, Dufferin Avenue, 1890 (Manitoba Weekly Free Press, 31 July 1890, 16)
RAPID CITY, MAN., grain elevator for Farmer's Elevator Co., 1891 (Spectator [Rapid City], 1 May 1891, 1)
NEEPAWA, MAN., grain elevator for Farmer's Elevator Co., 1891 (Spectator [Rapid City], 1 May 1891, 1)
AUSTIN, MAN., grain elevator for Hon. Walter Clifford, 1891 (Spectator [Rapid City], 1 May 1891, 1)
INDIAN HEAD, SASK., grain elevator for Lord Brassey, 1891 (Spectator [Rapid City], 1 May 1891, 1)
CARBERRY, MAN., major addition to the Western Hotel, for Thomas Huckell, 1891 (C.R., ii, 30 May 1891, 2)
BRANDON, MAN., grain elevator for Smart & Darrach, Pacific Avenue, 1892 (Brandon Mail, 8 Sept. 1892, 3)
SINTALUTA, SASK., grain elevator, for the Farmer's Elevator Co., 1892 (Brandon Mail, 8 Sept. 1892, 4)
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, MAN., Costigan Block, Saskatchewan Avenue West, 1893 (Manitoba, Early Architecture of Portage La Prairie, 1983, illus.)
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, MAN., Fire Hall, Saskatchewan Avenue West, adjacent to City Hall, 1893 (Manitoba, Early Architecture of Portage La Prairie, 1983, illus.)
Edward F. HEAD (works in Kenora, Ontario and region)
GARDNER, RICE & McLEOD STORE, Main Street, for J.E. Rice, 'adjacent to the Imperial Bank', 1895 (Rat Portage News [Kenora], 21 April 1895, 3)
TUNNEL ISLAND, residence for Henry Langford, 1896 (C.R., vii, 4 June 1896, 2)
LAKE OF THE WOODS BREWING CO., at Lawrenson's Creek, for Abraham Kingdom, 1897-98 (C.R., viii, 9 Sept. 1897, 2; Rat Portage Miner [Kenora], 4 March 1898, 1, illus. & descrip.; dwgs. for brewery stables, Lake of the Woods Museum, Kenora)
KEEWATIN, ONT., Public School, 1897 (A. Shaw, History of Keewatin as Township, Village and Town 1876-1926, 1973, 23)
IMPERIAL BANK BLOCK, Main Street, c. 1897 (Rat Portage News [Kenora], 23 Dec. 1898, 2, list of works in advert.)
BRYDON-ROBINSON BLOCK, Main Street, c. 1897 (Rat Portage News [Kenora], 23 Dec. 1898, 2, list of works in advert.)
CENTRAL SCHOOL, Park Street, 1898; demol. 1977 (Rat Portage Miner [Kenora], 8 April 1898, 1, descrip.; and 2 Sept. 1898, 1)
HOSE BLOCK, Main Street at Second Street, for Jacob Hose, 1898 (C.R., ix, 13 April 1898, 2; Rat Portage Miner [Kenora], 6 May 1898, 8, descrip.)
JULIA STREET, residence for Edward F. Head, architect, 1898; burned 1899 and rebuilt by the architect (Rat Portage Miner [Kenora], 24 June 1898, 5; and 7 April 1899, 8)
RAT PORTAGE COLD STORAGE CO., Fort Street at Matheson Street, erected for Hon. R.E.P. Vereker, 1898 (Rat Portage News [Kenora], 9 Sept. 1898, 5, descrip.)
TUNNEL ISLAND, residence for A. Cyril Boyce, 1898 (Rat Portage News [Kenora], 23 Sept. 1898, 8)
FULLERTON BLOCK, Fort Street at Matheson Street, 1899 (Rat Portage News [Kenora], 27 April 1899, 7, descrip.)
THIRD STREET NORTH, at Rupert Road, residence for William G. Johnson, 1899 (Rat Portage News [Kenora], 27 April 1899, 7)
THIRD STREET NORTH, at Rupert Road, residence for Harry Mundt, 1899 (Rat Portage News [Kenora], 27 April 1899, 7)
RUPERT ROAD, near Third Street North, residence for Maj. Levesque, 1899 (Rat Portage News [Kenora], 27 April 1899, 7)
Edward F. HEAD (works in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario)
(attributed) CONSOLIDATED LAKE SUPERIOR CO., Huron Street near the Sault Locks, Sulphite Pulp Mill, 1899-1900; office building 1900-01; Algoma Iron Works Block, 1900-01, erected for Francis H. Clergue (inf. from C. Tossell, Sault Ste. Marie; dwgs. at Engineering Dept., Abitibi-Price Co., Sault Ste. Marie)
(with John A. Radford) O'BRIEN BLOCK, Queen Street, for William O'Brien, 1902-03 (Sault Star, 15 May 1902, 1, t.c.; and 16 April 1903, 6, descrip.)
(with John A. Radford) STEELTON, Public School, 1902 (C.R., xiii, 4 June 1902, 2)
(with John A. Radford) CORNWALL HOTEL, Queen Street, major addition, 1902 (Sault Star, 24 July 1902, 1)
(with John A. Radford) STEELTON, hotel for W. O'Brien, 1902 (Sault Star, 28 Aug. 1902, 1)
(with John A. Radford) BARNES BLOCK, Queen Street at Gore Street, for J.W. Barnes, 1902 (Sault Star, 28 Aug. 1902, 1)
SYMON & CAMPBELL BLOCK, Queen Street near Gore Street, 1903-04 (Sault Star, 3 Dec. 1903, 4, t.c.)
TURNER BLOCK, Queen Street at Brock Street, a four storey commercial block, 1904 (Sault Star, 18 Feb. 1904, 1, descrip.)
CLARENDON HOTEL, additions and alterations, 1904 (Sault Star, 3 March 1904, 8)
SYMON & CAMPBELL BLOCK, complete rebuilding of the commercial block after a fire, 1904 (Sault Star, 13 Oct. 1904, 8)
STEELTON, ONT., Public School, 1905 (Sault Star, 4 May 1905, 8, t.c.; and 6 July 1905, 1)
KOHLER STREET PUBLIC SCHOOL, 1906 (Sault Star, 21 June 1906, 8)
CAMPBELL PUBLIC SCHOOL, Albert Street, west of Bruce Street, 1906 (Sault Star, 15 Feb. 1906, 3; inf. from Sault Ste. Marie Public Library)
Edward F. HEAD (works in Ontario)
CHAPLEAU, ONT., alterations to H.A. West's Hotel, 1908 (C.R., xxii, 1 July 1908, 24)
SUDBURY, ONT., residence for James McCool, Lisgar Street, 1908 (C.R., xxii, 1 July 1908, 25)