TRY, John (1780-1855), an early and important architect, master builder and property developer active in Montreal, Que. from 1807 until after 1840. He was born in England in 1780 and baptised at St. Mary, Lambeth, Co. Surrey on 21 August 1780. At the young age of 14 years he was placed as an apprentice with James Porter, a carpenter in St. Mary, Lambeth, and learned the building trades under him. By 1803, he had emigrated to the United States and was living in Portland, Maine where his first and second daughters were born. He later arrived in Montreal, Quebec in 1807, and within a few years he had obtained commissions to construct (and to design) a number of ecclesiastical and residential projects including the Palladian style residence for David Ross (1813-15), and the “Grecian-Doric” design for St. James Wesleyan Methodist Church, 1820-21 (Newton Bosworth, Hochelaga Depicta, 1839, 111-12, illus. & descrip, but lacking attribution).
Try appears to have left Montreal after 1833 or 1834 and returned to England, but in 1837 he was described in the Montreal newspapers as being “a citizen of London, England” and “formerly of this city” when he sailed back to Montreal by packet boat from England (Montreal Transcript, 23 Sept. 1837, 2). He continued to live and work there for the next 15 years, and during his career he was among the most active citizens. holding influential posts as Director and Commissioner of the Montreal General Hospital (1821), Director of the Montreal Library (1829), Director of the Bank of Montreal (1828-33), as President of the House of Industry (1830-31), Director of the Montreal Savings Bank (1831), Chairman of the Montreal Harbour Commission (1840-53), and many other public offices for civic and charitable organizations in the rapidly growing city.
Try died in Saco, Maine, U.S.A., a village near Portland, Maine on 14 August 1855 aged 75, and was later buried at Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal, Section C, Lot 237 (death notice Gazette [Montreal], 16 Aug. 1855, 2; death notice The Pilot [Montreal], 17 Aug. 1855, 3; death notice Montreal Witness, 22 Aug. 1855, 306). A lengthy essay prepared by A.J.H. Richardson and Stephen A. Otto, entitled “John Try: A Master Carpenter, Builder and Architect in Old Montreal“ was published in the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada Bulletin, xxii, June 1997, pp. 32-39, illus.
(works in Montreal unless noted)
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, Notre Dame Street, interior finishing and decoration, 1812-14 (ANQM, Henry Griffin, notary, 3 Dec. 1812, No. 77; Montreal Herald, 15 Oct. 1814, 3; Newton Bosworth, Hochelaga Depicta, 1839, 104, descrip.)
STE. THERESE DE BLAINVILLE, QUE., residence for Thomas Porteous, 1813-14 (Quebec Gazette [Quebec City], 16 March 1820, descrip. in advertisement for a sale of the property)
ST. GABRIEL STREET, CHAMPS DE MARS, a large residence for David Ross, 1813-15; demol. c. 1963 (Pierre Mayrand & John Bland, Three Centuries of Architecture in Canada, 1971, 87, 89, illus., with letter from David Ross dated 31 Aug. 1814; C.A.B., xviii, July 1905, illus., but lacking attribution)
MANSION HOUSE HOTEL, STE. MARIE SUBURB, conversion of the former residence of Sir John Johnson, with additions, for John Molson Sr., to create the new Mansion House Hotel & Montreal Assembly Room, 1815-17; burned March 1821 (Gazette [Montreal], 9 Dec. 1818, 3, descrip.; ANQM, Thomas Barron, notary, 13 Dec. 1815, No. 2754)
ST. JAMES WESLEYAN METHODIST CHURCH, St. James Street, 1820-21 (Canadian Courant [Montreal], 12 July 1820, 2, descrip.; Gazette [Montreal], Illustrated Supplement, 25 Dec. 1865, 15; G. E. Jaques, Chronicles of St. James Methodist Church, Montreal, 1888, 23)
ST. PAUL STREET, reconstruction of a warehouse for Charles Hunter, 1823-24 (Quebec Gazette [Quebec City], 27 March 1823)
MASONIC HALL & HOTEL for John Molson Sr. and John Redpath “…on the site of the old Mansion House Hotel”, St. Paul Street at Bonsecours Street, 1824; and later renamed The British American Hotel in 1831; burned April 1833 (Canadian Courant [Montreal], 31 Jan. 1824, 2, descrip.; 24 April 1824, 2; Niagara Gleaner [Niagara Falls, Ont.], 8 May 1824, 3, descrip.; ANQM, Henry Griffin, notary, 19 Feb. 1824; No. 5071)
COMMUNE STREET, Pointe a Callieres, a stone warehouse for John Try, c. 1826 (Gazette [Montreal], 8 March 1830, advert. for Warehouse to Let, “presently occupied by D.W. Eager“)
COMMUNE STREET, east of St. Pierre Street, two large stone warehouse buildings at 295-99 Commune Street, and 305-07 Commune Street, 1831-32 (Canadian Courant [Montreal], 13 July 1831, 2, descrip.; 24 Oct. 1832, 2). An early photograph of these warehouse buildings appears on pages 6-7 of the publication from the City of Montreal entitled Architecture Industrielle, 1982, but the buildings are incorrectly dated as “1846-57” [sic].
ST. PAUL STREET, at Bonsecours Street, a three storey house for William Lauder, 1831 (ANQM, Hentry Griffin, notary, 20 Oct. 1831, No. 9535)
BONSECOURS STREET, at St. Paul Street, a three storey house for William Rutherford and William Patterson, 1832 (ANQM, Henry Griffin, notary, 28 Jan. 1832, No. 9681)