LANGLEY, Edward [Senior] (1829-1897), was the older brother of Henry Langley, a talented and prolific architect in Toronto, Ont. Edward was born in Ireland in 1829 and arrived in Canada with his family after 1835. He was educated and trained in Toronto, and likely learned much about the building trades from his younger brother Henry who pursued a career as a professional architect and partner in the firm of Gundry & Langley from 1862 onward. When Gundry died in 1869, Henry L. decided to continue to practise under his own name, and in March 1870 he invited his older brother Edward to join him. In an advertisement published in The Daily Leader [Toronto], 30 March 1870, p 2, col. 7, Henry stated that “....he has engaged the assistance of his brother Edward Langley, who has had over 20 years experience as a practical builder, and will devote his entire attention to the superintendence of the work”. This clearly sets out the foundation of their future practise, where Henry would control the style and design of their architectural commissions, and Edward would take on a supervisory role as clerk-of-works and site superintendent.
In 1873 Henry L. formalized this arrangement by inviting his brother Edward L. and another young architect Edmund Burke to establish the new partnership of Langley, Langley & Burke, Architects. Over the next ten years, their firm was remarkably successful, and produced over 100 designs for ecclesiastical, commercial, industrial and residential projects throughout Ontario and as far away as New Brunswick. Their collaboration ended in 1883 when Edward moved to Los Angeles, Calif. for health reasons, and he later died there on 7 August 1897 (death notice Los Angeles Evening Express, 11 August 1897, 8; obituary Mail & Empire [Toronto], 17 Aug. 1897, p. 5 and p. 6). His son was Edward Langley {Junior] (1874-1935), who later became a successful architect in Scranton, Pennsylvania.