McLEAN, Joseph G. (fl. 1898-1900) began his career in Detroit, Mich. after 1890. By 1898, however, he was noted in the Detroit Free Press as an architect who was “....formerly of this city, and is now located at St. Joseph [near Grand Bend], Huron County, Ontario, where he has orders for work of considerable importance”. These projects included a sprawling 3 storey brick hotel in St. Joseph, Ontario which “...will occupy an eligible site, commanding a fine view of Lake Huron, and costing $75,000 (Detroit Free Press, 25 Sept. 1898, 9, descrip.). The owner of this complex was N.M. Contain [or Cantin?].
He was also described as the architect preparing plans the extensive remodeling and alterations to the Rankin House Hotel, Chatham, Ontario for W.R. Peck (Detroit Free Press, 25 Sept. 1898, 9, descrip.). By 1900, the Detroit Free Press stated that Joseph G. McLean, architect “late of Detroit” was now permanently located at St. Joseph, Ontario, and that he was preparing plans for six private residences “of stone and brick” for N.M. Cantin (Detroit Free Press, 10 June 1900, Section Three, p. 10). No biographical information on this architect has been located.
WALKERVILLE, ONT., passenger car barns for the Windsor, Walkerville and Sandwich Railway Company, 1891 (Detroit Free Press, 7 April 1891, 8)