Hopkins, Edward Colis

HOPKINS, Edward Colis (1857-1941), son of the prominent Montreal architect John W. Hopkins, was born in Montreal on 21 January 1857 and trained under his father with whom he formed a partnership in 1877 (see list of works under J.W. & E.C. Hopkins). He worked in Boston from 1894 to 1896, and in Quebec City from 1896 to 1904 with George E. Tanguay. Shortly after the death of his father in 1905 Edward moved to Calgary where he became associated with William M. Dodd, a successful architect in that city. In February 1906 he left Calgary and moved to Edmonton to take up the position of Provincial Architect for Alberta on 1 March 1906. In May of that year he presented a conceptual plan for the new Provincial Legislative Buildings at Edmonton modelled after the British Columbia Parliament Building in Victoria (Edmonton Daily Bulletin, 5 May 1906, 1 & 2, descrip.). This design was deemed unsuitable, so he then developed a second scheme in January 1907, only to have his plans again set aside by the Alberta Minister of Public Works.

Hopkins resigned from his position as Provincial Architect in January 1907 and became a partner in the firm of Magoon, Hopkins & James. In 1908 their office was called Hopkins & James, and in 1909 Hopkins formed another partnership with Edmund Wright, but this was dissolved within a year and he commenced his own practice specializing in the design of large commercial and industrial warehouse buildings. His best known work is a large block called The Boardwalk, a brusque Romanesque Revival warehouse clad in brick and stone originally built for Ross Brothers Hardware Company. He was elected President of the Alberta Association of Architects in 1910 but few references to the activity of Hopkins can be found after 1920. He died in Edmonton on 18 August 1941 (obituary in the Edmonton Journal, 19 Aug 1941, 3; Edmonton Bulletin, 19 Aug. 1941, 16; biography and portrait in Edmonton Bulletin, 10th Anniversary Number, 1913, 133; Who's Who and Why in Canada, 1913, 358). A photographic portrait of the architect taken in 1897 can be found in the Notman Archive, McCord Museum, Montreal. No. 119739.

E.C. HOPKINS (works in Edmonton unless noted)

(with John Radford) MONTREAL, QUE., The Ice Palace, Dominion Square, erected January 1889 (Gazette [Montreal], 20 Nov. 1888, 3, descrip.; 29 Nov. 1888, 3; Montreal Star, 11 Dec. 1888, 6, illus.; Montreal Daily Star, 3 Jan. 1889, 1, descrip.)
EDMONTON, ALTA., proposal for a new design of the Provincial Legislative Building, 1906, but not built, and the commission later given to Allan M. Jeffers (Morning Albertan (Calgary), 7 May 1906, 1 and 8, descrip.)
CALGARY, ALTA., Provincial Normal School, 6th Street West at 5th Avenue, now the McDougall Centre, begun in 1906 by Hopkins; completed 1908 by Allan M. Jeffers (list of works in Edmonton Capital, Progress Number, 25 Sept. 1912)
ISOLATION HOSPITAL, Government Avenue opposite Edmiston Street, 1906 (Edmonton Bulletin, 5 June 1906, 1; and 18 July 1906, 5; Edmonton b.p. 928, 10 Sept. 1906)
JASPER AVENUE, at 5th Street, hotel for the Palace Apartment Co., 1908 (C.R., xxii, 1 July 1908, 24)

HOPKINS & WRIGHT (works in Edmonton unless noted)

JASPER BLOCK, Jasper Avenue at 105 Street, 1909 (City of Edmonton, Historical Walking Tours of Downtown Edmonton, 1988, 21, illus.)
CASTLE HOTEL, 2nd Street at Athabasca Avenue, major addition, 1909 (Edmonton Evening Journal, 23 Jan. 1909, 6, illus. & descrip.; C.R., xxiii, 24 March 1909, 23)
ELIZABETH STREET, at Howard Street, block for John Kelly, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 7 July 1909, 22)
CALGARY, ALTA., Bishop Pinkham Anglican College, 5th Avenue, Hillhurst, c. 1909 (Const., iii, Dec. 1909, 111, 113, 116, illus. & descrip.; Edmonton Capital, 7 Nov. 1910, 1, lawsuit between E.C. Hopkins and Edmund Wright over fees for this commission)

E.C. HOPKINS (works in Edmonton unless noted)

ROYAL GEORGE HOTEL, First Street, 1910 (list of works in Edmonton Capital, Progress Number, 25 Sept. 1912)
LETHBRIDGE, ALTA., St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Tenth Avenue South at Fourth Avenue, c. 1910 (list of works in Edmonton Capital, Progress Number, 25 Sept. 1912)
ROSS BROS. HARDWARE LTD., Jasper Avenue East, warehouse, now called The Boardwalk, c. 1910 (list of works in Edmonton Capital, Progress Number, 25 Sept. 1912)
FOLEY BROS., LARSON & CO., 104 Street at 103 Avenue, warehouse, c. 1910 (list of works in Edmonton Capital, Progress Number, 25 Sept. 1912)
ARCHIBALD CREIGHTON BUILDING, Jasper Avenue East, c. 1910 (list of works in Edmonton Capital, Progress Number, 25 Sept. 1912)
JASPER BLOCK, Jasper Avenue West, c. 1910 (list of works in Edmonton Capital, Progress Number, 25 Sept. 1912)
GREAT WEST SADDLERY, 104 Street at 101 Avenue, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 12 April 1911, 57; Edmonton, Historical Walking Tours of Downtown Edmonton, 1988, 31, illus.)
MASSEY HARRIS CO., Howard Street, office and warehouse, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 12 July 1911, 61)
JASPER AVENUE, at Namayo Avenue, a six storey hotel for George Brown, 1912 (Edmonton Daily Bulletin, 2 Feb. 1912, 4, descrip.)
EDMONTON GENERAL HOSPITAL, major addition of a new 3 storey wing, with roof garden, facing 11th Avenue, 1912-13 (Edmonton Daily Bulletin, 10 May 1913, 1, descrip.)
BALMORAL BLOCK, Jasper Avenue near 106 Street, 1913 (Edmonton b.p. 912, 1913)
JASPER AVENUE WEST, between 6th Street and 7th Street, commercial block for M. Runnalls and Dr. A.A. Nicholls, 1913 (Edmonton Daily Bulletin, 10 April 1913, 7)
McQUAID BLOCK, 1913 (Edmonton b.p. 2442, 1913)
ALLAN BLOCK, Namayo Avenue at Isabella Street, for The Western Apartments Ltd., 1913-14 (Edmonton Daily Bulletin, 6 April 1914, 6, illus. & descrip.)
DERWAS COURT APARTMENTS, 121 Street near Jasper Avenue, 1914 (Edmonton Journal, 24 Jan. 1914, 3, illus.)
CONDELL BLOCK, 108 Street near 101 Avenue, for Dr. W.H. Condell, 1914 (Edmonton Capital, 2 April 1914, 3, descrip.; Edmonton Daily Bulletin, 3 April 1914, 12, descrip.; Edmonton b.p. 241, 1914)
HULL BLOCK, 106 Avenue near 96 Street, 1914 (Edmonton b.p. 1046, 1914)

COMPETITIONS

MONTREAL, QUE., Outdoor Ice Palace, Dominion Square, 1888-89. While working in his father's office in 1888, E.C. Hopkins submitted his own design for the Winter Carnival Ice Palace, and he used the pseudonym "Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat" (Montreal Daily Star, 14 Nov. 1888, 1). The winner was Wright & Findlay of Montreal.