MacKenzie, Alexander

MacKENZIE, Alexander (1822-1892) of Sarnia, Ont. is best known as a politician and Prime Minister of Canada from 1873 until 1878. However, his early career in Lambton County in south-western Ontario was devoted to his work as a proficient stone mason and building contractor, and he appears to have been both the designer as well as the builder of several institutional and ecclesiastical landmarks in that region. Born in Scotland on 28 January 1822, he was the son of a local carpenter, also named Alexander Mackenzie, and he apprenticed there as a stone mason from 1838 until 1842. He emigrated to Canada West (now Ontario) in 1842 and settled in Sarnia, and became a successful builder and contractor, receiving major commissions for local works in the area as well as for government projects in Kingston, St. Catharines and in Montreal.

In 1862, Mackenzie was called to testify to the Commission of Inquiry at Ottawa in connection with cost overruns on the new Parliament Building in Ottawa. In his testimony, he stated that he was “ ..a superintendent, contractor and architect on various buildings”, and that he “...furnished the plans and specifications for the County buildings ” ....at Essex County and in Lambton County (Canada, Sessional Papers, 1863, No. 3, testimony of Alexander MacKenzie). His comments confirm that he aspired to be, and held himself out to be, both an architect as well as a contractor, and he provided these services for a variety of buildings in western Ontario. His designs were plain and unpretentious, in the tradition of the Scottish vernacular style which he was so familiar with from his early training. His largest and most important commission was that of the Lambton County Court House (1852), an austere three-storey rubble stone masonry block later altered with a fourth floor addition and roof lantern, and with a new entrance portico. His name is also linked with the design of a rare board & batten-clad church located in Plympton Township (1869).

Mackenzie later died in Toronto on 17 April 1892 and was buried in Sarnia (obituary Evening Journal [Ottawa], 18 April 1892, p. 2, editorial; p. 4, obituary article; biog. Dictionary of Canadian Biography, xii, 1891-1900, p. 647-59)

SARNIA, ONT., St. Paul's Anglican Church, London Road, 1848; altered 1857; demol. 1889 (inf. from All Saints Anglican Church, Sarnia)
SARNIA, ONT., Lambton County Court House & Jail, Christina Street North at Durand Street, 1852; damaged by fire in 1912; demol. c. 1960 (inf. John Rochon, Sarnia)
SARNIA, ONT., Bank of Upper Canada, 1852; replaced by a new bank building in 1857 designed by Cumberland & Storm of Toronto)
SARNIA, ONT., Central School, c. 1854 (list of works in Canada, Sessional Papers, 1863, No. 3, testimony by Alexander Mackenzie)
SARNIA, ONT., residence for John Mackenzie (brother of Alexander Mackenzie), Christina Street North, near Maria Street, c. 1861; still standing in 2020 (inf. Ontario Heritage Foundation, heritage designation)
SARNIA, ONT., residence for James Rogers, London Road at Brock Street North, and later called the Saddy House, after Mayor Marceil Saddy, 1867; still standing in 2020 (inf. Sarnia Historical Society)
PLYMPTON TOWNSHIP, LAMBTON COUNTY, Smith's Presbyterian Church, in the McKay Settlement, 1869; church closed in 1965; demol. c. 1994 (inf. Ian Mason, Sarnia)