LONEY, Neil McIntyre (1875-1954) held the position of Chief Engineer with the American Can Co. during the period from 1906 until after 1920, but his responsibilities included the architectural design and supervision of major buildings for this corporation which had its head office in Lower Manhattan in New York City. In Canada, he was credited with the design of the first two stages of the American Can. Co. factory in Vancouver, B.C. in 1913 and 1916. Shortly after completion of this west coast facility which manufactured tin cans, he designed a substantial factory for the same company in Montreal, Quebec (1917-18), and both facilities are still standing as of 2020. He was undoubtedly linked to the architectural planning of several other factories for the American Can Co. located in Chicago, Baltimore, St. Louis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Portland, Oregon and elsewhere.
Born in Chicago on 12 May 1875, he studied engineering and architecture at Perdue University in Indiana, and then moved to Chicago to study at the Armour Institute of Technology (now called Illinois Inst. of Technology, Chicago). He then joined the Pennsylvania Rail Road Co. in 1896 where he was employed as a draftsman and designer of industrial shops, roundhouses, and power plants for that company. He rose through the ranks, becoming Assistant Engineer, but in 1906 he was offered a lucrative position with the American Co in New York (Fort Wayne Sentinel, 4 May 1906, 15), and then became the Resident Engineer and Architect with that corporation and held this position until after 1920. His successor at the company was Carl G. Preis, and Loney then moved to Detroit to become an executive with General Motors Ltd., and he retired after 1935. Loney died in St. Petersburg, Florida on 8 November 1954 (obituary St. Petersburg Times, 9 Nov. 1954, 18; biography in the Fort Wayne Sentinel [Fort Wayne, Indiana], 1 Sept. 1902, 7; 4 May 1906, 15; biog. Fort Wayne News, 7 Sept. 1906, 7).
VANCOUVER, B.C., American Can Co., Railway Street, large factory for the production of metal cans, Phase One, 1913, and Phase Two, 1916, and still standing in 2020, with later addition of 1925 by Carl G. Preis, staff architect with American Can Co.; still standing in 2020 (dwgs. at City of Vancouver Archives; inf. Donald Luxton, Vancouver)
MONTREAL, QUE., American Can Co., Pie IX Boulevard near Ontario Street East, 1917-18, with later additions of 1928 and 1939 by Carl G. Preis, staff architect with American Can. Co.; still standing in 2020 (C.R., xxxii, 17 April 1918, descrip.; City of Montreal, Architecture Industrielle, 1982, 198-201, illus.)