BAIKIE, John Donald (1837-1891), partner with Neil Darrach in the early firm of Baikie & Darrach, Architects & Surveyors, at St. Thomas, Ontario (Richardson’s Directory of St. Thomas, 1879, 168). Baikie was born in 1837 and trained under F.F. Passmore as a land surveyor, and became officially registered on 9 April 1864. He lived and worked in St. Thomas, and in late 1878 he formed a partnership with a talented young architect Neil Darrach. Their best known work was the Gothic Revival design of the Centre Street Baptist Church, St. Thomas, built in 1879 and still standing today (as of 2018). Given that Baikie appears to have had no architectural training, this work may be attributed solely to Darrach. That same year, in 1879, their firm was credited with the design of a large three storey brick commercial block on Talbot Street, for an unnamed client, but it is almost certain that this block has survived, and can still be found on Talbot Street between John Street and St. George Street in St. Thomas, as one of a number of three storey blocks which remain standing today as part of the oldest and most distinctive portion of this historic main street in that town.
The partnership of Baikie & Darrach was dissolved in 1880, and Darrach opened his own office as a professional architect. Baikie later died in St. Thomas on 9 March 1891 (death notice St. Thomas Daily Times, 11 March 1891, 4). A biography and photographic portrait of Baikie was published in the Annual Report of the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors, 1935, 115-16.
BAIKIE & DARRACH
ST. THOMAS, ONT., Centre Street Baptist Church, Centre Street at Southwick Street, 1879 (St. Thomas Journal, 31 January 1879, t.c.; and 21 Oct. 1879; Golden Jubilee of the Opening of Centre Street Baptist Church, 1929, unpaginated)
ST. THOMAS, ONT., a large 3 storey brick commercial block on Talbot Street, for an unnamed client, 1879 (Daily Advertiser [London], 24 June 1879, 4, t.c.)