HAYES, Warren Howard (1847-1899), a leading architect in Minneapolis, Minn. who is credited with the design of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Fitzwilliam Street at Wesley Street, NANAIMO, B.C. in 1892-93 (Nanaimo Free Press, 2 April 1892, 1, descrip.; and 5 April 1892, 1, descrip.; Victoria Daily Times, 6 April 1892, 1, descrip.; and 13 Jan. 1894, 5, descrip.). The church was designed in a “Norman-Gothic” style by Hayes, and still stands today as of 2022. It was designated by Parks Canada as a National Historic Site on 7 October 2002.
Hayes was born in Prattsburgh, N.Y. on 22 August 1847 and he enrolled at Cornell University in 1868. After graduating, he opened an office as an architect in nearby Elmira, N.Y. He later moved to Minneapolis in 1881 and established a reputation for his designs of commercial, educational and ecclesiastical works in Minneapolis. His major works there include First Congregational Church (1886), Central Presbyterian Church (1889), and a decidedly Scandinavian design for Wesley United Methodist Church (1889-90). Hayes died in Minneapolis on 27 August 1899 (obituary Minneapolis Tribune, 29 Aug. 1899, 5; biog. in the National Cyclopedia of American Biography, vi, 1896, 120; biog. H. Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects, 1956, 274; D. Luxton, Building The West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 504; Alan K. Lathrop, Minnesota Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 2010, 96-97, illus.)