HOLLAND, William J (1848-1899), an architect active in several towns in Ontario, either under his own name, or in the following partnerships:
Kennedy, McVittie & Holland, of Barrie, Collingwood & Toronto, Ont., August 1881 to 1883
Kennedy, Gaviller & Holland, of Barrie, Collingwood, Toronto and Owen Sound, Ont., Dec. 1883 to July 1885
Kennedy & Holland, of Barrie & Toronto, July 1885 to January 1890
W.J. Holland, of Toronto & Collingwood, Feb. 1890 to March 1899
The Holland family can be found in Toronto directories in the late 1850's; William Holland Sr. was a carpenter, and his son William J. Holland followed him into that trade. In August 1881 he entered into a partnership with Thomas Kennedy of Barrie, Ont., a talented architect and designer, and with the surveyor Archibald McVittie, and they operated branch offices in Barrie, Toronto and Collingwood. Holland appears to have lived and worked in Collingwood from 1882 to 1886, overseeing many of their commissions in Simcoe County. He returned to Toronto in early 1886 to take charge of the new office of Kennedy & Holland. When that partnership was dissolved in early 1890, Holland remained in Toronto to work under his own name, and after 1897 he appears to have again taken up residence in Collingwood. Holland died in Collingwood from tuberculosis on 23 March 1899 (obituary Barrie Examiner, 6 April 1899, 1; obit. C.A.B., xii, June 1899, 115; inf. Canada, 1861 Census - Toronto)
(works in Ontario)
COLLINGWOOD, ONT., brick cottage for Capt. Collins, Third Street at Beech Street, 1885 (Collingwood Enterprise-Messenger, 15 Oct. 1885, 3)
TORONTO, ONT., Roman Catholic Separate School, Bathurst Street at Adelaide Street West, facing McDonnell Square, 1889 (Globe [Toronto], 30 July 1889, 3, t.c.)
TORONTO, ONT., a row of three attached 2-storey dwellings at 397-399 Front Street East, near Parliament Street, including the eastern shopfront for Mrs. R. Flint, 1893 (Toronto b.p. 1378, 30 June 1893)
COLLINGWOOD, ONT., extensive remodeling of large residence for T. Long, First Street at Maple Street, 1897 (Collingwood Enterprise-Messenger, 25 Nov. 1897, 1, descrip.)
COLLINGWOOD, ONT. commercial block of stores for T. Long & Bros., c. 1897 (C.A.B., xii, June 1899, 115, list of works in obituary)
COLLINGWOOD, ONT., a large 3 storey brick stable building for the Arlington Hotel, 1898 (Collingwood Enterprise-Messenger, 19 May 1898, 1, descrip.)
FEVESHAM, ONT., brick school house, 1899 (Flesherton Advance, 2 March 1899, 3, t.c.)
COLLINGWOOD, ONT., residence for Mrs. Darroch, 1899 (Barrie Examiner, 6 April 1899, 1, list of works in obituary)
COMPETITIONS
TORONTO, ONT., Parliament Buildings for Ontario, 1880. Holland was one of 16 architects who prepared a design in October 1880 in the first stage competition for this important commission. His plans, submitted under the pseudonym “Metus”, were one of 6 designs selected by the jury to advance to the second stage, but he was not a finalist (Fern Bayer, A Critical Summary of Archival Material Relating to the History of the Parliament Building, Toronto, MSS, Ministry of Government Services, 1978, 10-11). The designs by the three finalists were later shelved and Richard Waite of Buffalo, N.Y. was selected as the architect.