HOOLE, Elijah (1838 -1912) of London, England designed two of the principal ecclesiastical works in Newfoundland. In 1872 he was commissioned to prepare plans for the George Street Wesleyan Methodist Church, George Street at Buchanan Street, ST. JOHN'S, NFLD. 1872-73; with addition of transepts and galleries 1907; altered 1960 (G. Story, George Street United Church 1873-1973, 4-5, illus.). Copies of the plans by Hoole have survived and are now held in the church archives in St. John's. In 1894 he designed the Gower Street Methodist Church, Gower Street, ST. JOHN'S, NFLD., 1894-96 (Evening Telegram [St. John's], 5 Oct. 1896, 4, illus. & descrip.). This distinctive Romanesque Revival landmark, executed in elaborate patterned brickwork, may be considered one of the key buildings of the late Victorian movement in Canada.
Hoole was a pupil of James Simpson of Leeds, a leading designer of non-conformist chapels in England. Hoole's other works include the Wesleyan Chapel and School at Belize, Honduras (Building News [London], xiii, 9 March 1866, 155, illus. & descrip.) as well as a College at Lausanne, Switzerland, and chapels at Sunbury, Moulsey, Haverstock Hill, Richmond and Greenwich, England. He died in London on 27 March 1912 (biography in The Architects', Engineers' and Building Trades Directory [London], 1868, 119; R.I.B.A., Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, i, 943; obituary in The Builder [London], cii, 26 April 1912, 499). A photographic portrait of Hoole, accompanied by a list of his works, appears in an obituary article in The Building News [London], cii, 12 April 1912, 517. His son was the architect G. Bernard Hoole.