HEPBURN, Thomas James (1861-1932) of Stratford, Ontario was the successor to his father Alexander Hepburn, a prolific architect in that town during the late 19th C. Born in Stratford on 14 October 1861, he was educated at public schools and the high school in Stratford. Thomas J. trained under his father and later worked as an assistant in his father’s office from 1880 until 1897 when he opened his own office on Market Street. He was among the very first architects from western Ontario to join the new Ontario Association of Architects in March, 1891, while still employed in his father’s office. His best known works there include the substantial Romanesque Revival headquarters building for the Perth Mutual Fire Insurance Co. (1897; demol.), and the Perth County Registry Office (1910), a late example of the elaborate High Victorian style of architecture which he employed to reflect the appearance of the adjacent Perth County Court House (built 1885-87, and designed by George F. Durand of London, Ont.). He remained active until 1929, but no references to his work after this date have been found.
Hepburn died in Stratford on 3 November 1932 (obituary Stratford Beacon-Herald, 4 Nov. 1932, 1; inf. Ontario Association of Architects, Toronto). The Stratford-Perth Archives in Stratford holds a small collection of original architectural drawings prepared by T.J. Hepburn during the period from c. 1900 to 1930.
(works in Stratford)
unnamed street, a cordage factory of an unnamed client, 1897 (C.R., viii, 8 July 1897, 3)
PERTH MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE CO., Ontario Street at Waterloo Street, office building, 1897; demol. (C.R., viii, 3 June 1897, 2)
KNOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Ontario Street at Waterloo Street, 1898, major addition and alterations to the church originally designed by his father Alexander Hepburn in 1872; church burned May 1913, and later rebuilt by Lindsay, Brydon & Greig of Toronto (C.R., ix, 23 March 1898, 1, t.c.; A.W. Fisher, Knox Church, Stratford Ontario: A History 1844-1931, 36, illus.)
STRATFORD HOTEL, Huron Street, alterations to the old hotel building to create an egg processing plant, for James P. Magill, 1899 (Evening Record [Windsor], 25 Feb. 1899, 3, descrip.; C.R., x, 1 March 1899, 2)
ST. ANDREW’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, St. Andrew Street at Birmingham Street, extensive repairs and alterations, 1899 (C.R., x, 9 Aug. 1899, 2, t.c.)
WHYTE PACKING CO. LTD., Linton Street, meat packing house and cold storage building, 1899 (C.R., x, 20 Sept. 1899, 1, t.c.)
EVANGELICAL CHURCH, 1900 (C.R., xi, 6 June 1900, 1; 4 July 1900, 2)
STRATFORD COLLEGIATE INST., addition of a new Manual Training Building, St. Andrew Street, 1901 ( C.R., xii, 24 April 1901, 3)
CARNEGIE LIBRARY, St. Andrew Street, 1903 (Stratford: Library Services Since 1846, pub. 1975, 12, 14, illus., 15)
VICTORIA LAKE CO., a large brick boat house, 1903 (C.R., xiv, 1 July 1903, 2)
STRATFORD RINK & CURLING CLUB, Water Street at Waterloo Street, 1906 (Beacon-Herald [Stratford], 30 May 1906; C.R., xvii, 6 June 1906, 7)
ANCHOR WIRE FENCE CO., Albert Street, factory, 1907 (C.R., xviii, 10 April 1907, 6)
AVON HOSIERY CO., Erie Street, addition of a second storey to the factory, 1907 (C.R., xviii, 10 April 1907, 6)
PERTH COUNTY REGISTRY OFFICE, St. Andrew Street, 1910 (mounted heritage plaque inside the lobby; inf. Betty Jo Belton, Stratford-Perth Archives)
HAMLET WARD SCHOOL, Gore Street West, a large two storey addition, 1921 (dwgs. at Stratford-Perth Archives, Stratford)
HYDRO ELECTRIC SUB-STATION, 1929 (dwgs. at Stratford-Perth Archives, Stratford)
(works elsewhere)
GORE OF DOWNIE TOWNSHIP, ONT., residence for William Hyslop, 1899 (C.R., x, 17 May 1899, 6)
MITCHELL, ONT., reconstruction of the Town Hall, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 27 July 1910, 24)