HODGINS, William (1827 - c. 1870) specialised in the design of school buildings in Ontario after 1850, and was an acknowledged expert on the subject of educational buildings. He was active in the following firms:
William Hodgins, Architect & C.E., Toronto, Nov. 1851 to June 1852
William Hodgins, Architect & C.E., London, Ont., July 1852 to Dec. 1852
Hodgins & Peters, Architects, with offices in Hamilton, Ont. and London, Ont,, Jan. 1853 to Dec. 1853 (with Samuel Peters)
William Hodgins, City Engineer & City Architect for Hamilton, Jan. 1854 to Feb. 1856
William Hodgins, Architect, Albany, N.Y. 1856 to 1858
Steinwehr & Hodgins, Architects, Albany 1858-59
William Hodgins, Architect, Albany, 1860- c.1865
Born in Ireland in 1827, he arrived in Upper Canada after 1850 and opened an office on King Street East in Toronto (British Colonist [Toronto], 11 Nov. 1851, 3, advert). In January 1852 he placed an advertisement in a local journal, stating that he had “ …devoted much attention to the study of School Architecture, and offers his services to School Authorities throughout the Province, in preparing Designs, with detailed Plans and Specifications of Grammar and Common Schools, and their appendages, so as to meet the requirements of the present improved system of Education” (Journal of Education for Upper Canada [Toronto], v, Jan. 1852). This self-promotion must have been successful, for within a year he already had designed new schools at Perth, Ont., at St. Catharines, Ont., and in Hamilton, Ont. He was said to have “…acquired much experience in the practise of Ecclesiastical, Domestic and School Architecture in Great Britain”, an indication that he may have been active as an architect in England before 1850 (Journal of Education for Upper Canada [Toronto], vi, June 1853, 96).
Hodgins moved to London in July 1852 and opened an office under his own name. While there, he met another prominent architect, Samuel Peters, and both agreed to form a partnership with dual offices in London, Ont. (headed by Peters), and in Hamilton, Ont. (headed by Hodgins). Their collaboration lasted only for one year, and in early 1854 Hodgins was appointed as City Engineer for Hamilton, Ont. In this position, he also held responsibility for the architectural design of structures on city lands, including public buildings in city parks and city cemetery grounds. He appears to have possessed considerable skill as a draftsman and delineator, and his suite of seven original watercolour drawings for the Gate Lodge & Residence at the Hamilton Cemetery (1854) demonstrate his impressive knowledge of the Gothic Revival style. This full set of signed drawings has survived, and are now part of the Collection of the McMaster University Library in Hamilton. In 1855 he was awarded a prize of £ 1.10 s. for “Best Specimen -Architectural Drawing” at the 1855 Provincial Exhibition, and another prize of £ 2.0 for “Best Specimen of Coloured Geometrical Drawing” (Canadian Agriculturalist [Toronto], vii, 1855, 342).
For reasons which are unclear, Hodgins was dismissed from his position of City Engineer in Hamilton in early 1856. He publicly objected to his dismissal with a strongly worded letter of protest published in February 1856 (Spectator [Hamilton], 22 Feb. 1856, 2). This event may have hastened his departure from Canada, and Hodgins moved to Albany, N.Y. in 1856 where he opened an office as an architect. The Toronto Globe of 14 January 1858, p. 2 reported that “William Hodgins, formerly City Engineer of Hamilton, C.W.” was living and working as an architect there, and was involved in the construction of Dudley Observatory, Albany (built 1852-56, and opened 28 August 1856). He was later credited with the refined Gothic design for the State Street Presbyterian Church in that city (1861-62). His most significant project from this period was the Free Public Library in Cornell, N.Y. (1864-66), a sophisticated Renaissance Revival landmark funded entirely by Ezra Cornell, founder of the University bearing his name. No information has been found on the activity of Hodgins in Albany, N.Y. after 1865.
WILLIAM HODGINS (works in Ontario)
LONDON, ONT. Wesleyan Methodist Church, North Street at Clarence Street, 1852-54; burned February 1895 (Free Press [London], 8 July 1852, 3, t.c.). Hodgins was referred to as “the Toronto architect” who received £ 100. for drawing plans and superintending the work for this building, later renamed Richmond Street Methodist Church in London, Ont. (retrospective historical article in The London Free Press, 31 July 1895, 6, descrip.). The church opened on 16 July 1854.
DUNDAS, ONT., St. Paul’s Methodist Street, Cross Street, designed 1852, built 1854-55; burned 1931 (E.A.L. Clarke, Historical Souvenir of Local Methodism: 50th Anniversary of St. Paul's Church, Dundas, 1905, 14-15, illus.; The Centennial Story: St. Paul’s Sunday School 1832-1932, 1932, 12)
PERTH, ONT., public school, 1853 (Journal of Education for Upper Canada [Toronto], vi, June 1853, 96)
ST. CATHARINES, ONT., public school, 1853 (Journal of Education for Upper Canada [Toronto], vi, June 1853, 96)
HAMILTON, ONT., Primary Ward Schools, 1853 (Journal of Education for Upper Canada [Toronto], vi, June 1853, 96)
HAMILTON, ONT., Public Market Building, 1854, modelled on the public market building in London, Ontario; designed by Hodgins for a site in Hamilton in 1854, but not built (Daily Spectator [Hamilton], 11 May 1854, 2; inf. Stephen Otto, Toronto)
HAMILTON, ONT., Caretaker’s Lodge, at the City Cemetery, 1854 (Daily Spectator [Hamilton], 11 Jan. 1854, 3, col. 6)
HAMILTON, ONT., Burlington Heights Cemetery [now called Hamilton Cemetery], York Boulevard near Dundurn Street North, a Superintendent’s Residence, Gatehouse & Waiting Room, on Lots 10-11, 1854-55 (Hamilton Gazette, 19 Oct. 1854, 3, t.c.; dwgs. at McMaster University Library, Acc. RMC 107106; inf. Robert Hamilton, of Hamilton, Ont. )
STEINWEHR & HODGINS (works in Albany, N.Y.)
ALBANY, N.Y., New York State Armoury Building, 1858 (article from the Morning Times [Albany], and republished in The Globe [Toronto], 14 Jan. 1858, 2; Daily News [Kingston], 8 Feb. 1858, 2)
ALBANY, N.Y., First Church, North Pearl Street at Orange Street, 1858, addition of a portico and extensive remodelling of the interior of the church originally designed by Philip Hooker in 1797-99 (Diana S. Waite, Albany Architecture, 1993, 105, illus. & descrip.)
WILLIAM HODGINS (works in New York State)
ALBANY, N.Y., State Street Presbyterian Church, 1861-62 (Diane S. Waite, Albany Architecture, 1993, 127, illus. & descrip.)
TROY, N.Y., Second Presbyterian Church, Fifth Avenue, between Fulton Street and Grand Street, a new Session House for the church, completed December 1852, but church later designed by another architect in 1864-65 (Diane S. Waite, The Architecture of Downtown Troy: An Illustrated History, 2019, 87, descrip.)
TROY, N.Y., Rensellaer Polytechnical Institute, The Main Building, Wall Alley at the head of Broadway, 1862-64; burned 1904 (Diane S. Waite, The Architecture of Downtown Troy: An Illustrated History, 2019, 84-85, illus. & descrip.)
CORNELL, N.Y., Free Public Library, Tioga Street at Seneca Street, 1864-66; demol. 1961 (inf. Cornell University Archives; inf. Stephen Otto, Toronto)
COMPETITIONS
HAMILTON, ONT., Waterworks Buildings, 1854. Hodgins was one of six engineers and architects who submitted a design for the new city pumphouse and reservoirs. For his effort, he was awarded the Third Prize (Mark Osbaldeston, Unbuilt Hamilton, 2016, 57-59). The winner was the American engineer Samuel McElroy, but his proposal was never built.