SELLON, Horatio [or Horace] Broke (1838-1913) was active in Halifax, N.S. where he held the position of City Architect from 1868 until 1875. Born in Halifax on 4 August 1838, he was first noted as a “draughtsman”in that city in 1864 (Nova Scotia Directory, 1864-65) and may have trained under the supervision of Brenton deGruchy Marshall, who had held the post of City Architect from 1850 to 1868. When Marshall died in May 1868, Sellon was appointed as his successor (Acadian Recorder [Halifax], 5 June 1868, 2), and he provided designs for civic buildings such as fire engine houses and public market buildings, but his architectural activity there was not restricted to the City Office, and he was free to practise independently, and to enter architectural competitions under his own name.
In December 1872 Sellon was removed from the post of City Architect when Halifax Council voted to pass a resolution giving Edward H. Keating, the City Engineer, the functions formerly exercised by the City Architect (The Citizen [Halifax], 7 Dec. 1872, 3). Sellon then continued to practise in Halifax under his own name, and later in nearby Bedford, N.S. after 1881 where he was recorded variously as a hotel proprietor or real estate agent. He moved to Windsor, N.S. in 1902, and later died there on 8 May 1913 (obituary Daily Echo [Halifax], 10 May 1913, 2; obit. Morning Chronicle [Halifax], 10 May 1913, 9; obit. Hants Journal [Windsor], 14 May 1913, 2; biog. M. Rosinski, Architects of Nova Scotia: A Biographical Dictionary 1805-1950, 1994, 137-8; inf. Gary Shutlak, PANS).
(works in Halifax unless noted)
FIRE ENGINE HOUSE, Barrack Street, 1871 (Halifax Evening Reporter, 16 Nov. 1871, 2, descrip.)
MUMFORD'S NEW MARKET & HOTEL, Argyle Street, located south of the old Colonial Market building which will be demolished, and on the site of the Uniake property, 1872-73 (Halifax Evening Reporter, 7 March 1872, 2; 21 May 1873, 2, descrip.; The Citizen [Halifax], 21 May 1873, 3, descrip.)
NORTH END FIRE ENGINE HOUSE, 1872-73 (The Citizen [Halifax], 7 Dec. 1872, 3)
FIRE ENGINE HOUSE, Gerrish Street, 1873 (Halifax Evening Reporter, 22 May 1873, 2, descrip.)
HALIFAX ACADEMY OF MUSIC (with Thomas R. Jackson, New York City), 1873-76 (Halifax Daily Reporter, 23 April 1873, 3; Halifax Evening Reporter, 10 Jan. 1877, 2)
MASONIC TEMPLE, Barrington Street, plans accepted and approved, 1874, but project by Sellon was not built, and the design by David Stirling was later built on the site (Halifax Citizen, 25 Aug. 1874, 3, descrip.; Halifax Morning Chronicle, 1 Sept. 1875, 2)
BEDFORD, N.S., public school for School Section No. 37, Halifax West (Morning Chronicle [Halifax], 12 July 1881, 2, t.c.)
ST. PATRICK'S HALL, 1888 (Morning Herald [Halifax], 5 Sept. 1888, 2, t.c.)
DRESDEN ROW, residence for Mr. Goulding "...in the Queen Anne style", 1892 (Halifax Herald, 11 June 1892, 5, descrip.)
RAILWAY DRUG STORE, Lockman Street at North Street, a two storey commercial block for T.M. Power, 1897 (Evening Mail [Halifax], 1 Dec. 1897, 6, illus. & detailed descrip.)
ROCKINGHAM PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, on Bedford Basin, "....across the road from Five Mile House", 1898 (Evening Mail [Halifax], 11 July 1898, 3, descrip.)
COMPETITIONS
HALIFAX, N.S., Poplar Grove Church, Queen Street at Tobin Street, 1870. Sellon was one of three architects from Halifax who submitted plans for this new church, but it is unclear if any of these designs was accepted, and no decision was made (Halifax Evening Reporter, 10 May 1870, 2)
HALIFAX, N.S. Exhibition Hall, for the Halifax Exhibition Grounds, 1897. Three architects from Halifax submitted designs, but the scheme by Sellon was passed over, and Elliot & Hopson were declared the winners (Morning Chronicle [Halifax], 1 April 1897, 3)