PURCELL, James (c. 1804- c. 1858), a stone cutter and masonry contractor from Cork, Ireland who was brought to St. John's, Newfoundland before 1841 by Roman Catholic Bishop Michael Fleming and commissioned to prepare a design for the new Catholic cathedral there. His scheme was not built, but his presence in the city was noted by prominent Anglicans such as Bishop Aubrey G. Spencer who approached Purcell to develop plans for a new Anglican cathedral in St. John's. Foundations were constructed, and extensive shipments of cut stone were brought to the site, only to have all of these works heavily damaged in the Great Fire in St. John's of 9 June 1846, and his design was then abandoned. In 1847 the Anglican Bishop hired another architect from London, England, George Gilbert Scott, to prepare a new design for a cathedral.
Despite losing this commission, Purcell remained in St. John's and was hired to design the new Colonial Building, a refined Neoclassical landmark constructed of stone imported from Ireland. This important government building, with its distinctive projecting portico lined with Ionic columns, still stands today, and now serves as the headquarters of the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland. Purcell would also receive commissions from the local Roman Catholic diocese, including a substantial addition to St. Bonaventure's College in St. John's (1857-58), No information on the activity of Purcell after 1858 has been found, and his name is absent from records in The Dictionary of Irish Architects [online]. He may be related to another St. John's architect John J. Purcell, active in that city in 1884-92. (biog. and works by Purcell in the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects, 1982, Vol. 3, 500; biography of Purcell in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, viii, 1985, 725-26).
ST. JOHN'S, NFLD., St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Cathedral, for Right Rev. Dr. Fleming, designed 1839-40, but not built (Cork Constitution [Cork, Ireland], 18 May 1843)
ST. JOHN'S, NFLD., Anglican Cathedral, construction began 1842, but site works and building materials heavily damaged by fire in June 1846, and the design by Purcell was abandoned and replaced by new design from George Gilbert Scott in 1847 (Times & Commercial Gazette [St. John's]. 28 June 1843, 3, descrip.; Royal Gazette [St. John's], 22 Aug. 1843). A perspective drawing of the design by Purcell is now held in the Anglican Cathedral Museum, and was reproduced in Philip Tocque, Wandering Thoughts or Solitary Hours, 1846, p. 346 (ff). A recent publication featuring this drawing can be found in the Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, xxxi, No. 1, Sept. 2006, 6-7, illus.
ST. JOHN'S, NFLD., Orphan Asylum School, for the Benevolent Irish Society,1842, with portico and observatory added in 1844 (Newfoundlander [St. John's], 24 Feb. 1842, 2)
QUIDI VIDI, NFLD., Christ Church [Anglican], 1842-43 (Times & General Commercial Gazette [St. John's], 9 Nov. 1842, 2)
ST. JOHN'S, NFLD., The House of Assembly, also called The Colonial Building, Military Road, 1847-50 (Newfoundlander [St. John's], 27 May 1847, 2, descrip.; Morning Courier [St. John's], 30 Jan. 1850, 2, descrip.; Royal Gazette [St. John's], 5 Feb. 1850, 3, descrip., Evening Telegram [St. John's], 13 Sept. 1905, 3, descrip.; The Story of the Colonial Building, 1972, 19-27, descrip.; Leslie Maitland, Neoclassical Architecture in Canada, 1984, 49, illus.; Hal Kalman, History of Canadian Architecture, 1994, 102-03, illus. & descrip.)
ST. JOHN'S, NFLD., Roman Catholic Convent for the Nuns of the Presentation Order, Cathedral Square, 1850-53 (Patriot & Terra Nova Herald [St. John's], 31 Aug. 1850, 3, where he was listed as 'Builder', working with Patrick Kough as the 'Directing Superintendent'; Philip Tocque, Newfoundland As It Was and Is, 1877, 80)
ST. JOHN'S, NFLD., St. Bonaventure's College, 1857-58 (list of works in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol 8, 1985, 725-26)