HORNER, Herbert (1880-1954) of Toronto, Ont. was born there on 22 June 1880 and attended classes at the Toronto Technical School. Much of his architectural training was obtained with the firm of Darling & Pearson; he joined their office in 1900 as a draftsman and supervised many of their major commissions for Toronto General Hospital and for the University of Toronto. In 1907-10 he was the firm's representative in Winnipeg, Man. and Regina, Sask., overseeing work on commercial and institutional projects designed in the Toronto office. From 1911 to 1915 he was employed as an appraiser for the Commission of Inquiry into the Canadian Northern Railway, then joined the Royal Air Force in 1916 where he had charge of design for all RAF buildings in Canada. In October 1919 he formed a partnership with Andrew Sharp, another staff member of Darling & Pearson (see list of works under Sharp & Horner), but their firm was dissolved in late 1923 when Sharp moved to California. Horner then opened his own office in Toronto and among the few works he completed was a notable Beaux-Arts design for the National Life Assurance Headquarters on University Avenue. Classically inspired and impeccably detailed, it featured an octagonal rotunda and sweeping arched entrance that made it one of the most imposing landmarks on the Avenue until its destruction in 1960. Horner died in Toronto on 25 June 1954 (death notice Globe & Mail [Toronto], 26 June 1954, 25; inf. Ontario Assoc. of Architects; Dr. C.M. Horner, Cobourg, Ont.). A photographic portrait of the architect was published in the Toronto Daily Star, 9 Aug. 1929, p. 6.
WATERLOO, ONT., Mutual Life Insurance Co., major 2 storey addition to office building, 1919 (News Record [Kitchener], 2 Sept. 1919, 8, t.c.; and 9 Oct. 1919, 2, descrip.)
TORONTO, ONT., residence for Herbert Horner, architect, Inglewood Drive near Welland Avenue, 1923 (inf. Dr. Charlotte M. Horner, Toronto)
TORONTO, ONT., Branksome Hall, Mount Pleasant Road at Elm Avenue, major addition to Girl's School, 1923-24; with another major addition, 1929 (Toronto b.p. 67461, 8 Dec. 1923; Const., xviii, Jan. 1925, 24-6, illus. & descrip.;Toronto Daily Star, 12 April 1929, 22, descrip.)
ORILLIA, ONT., Soldier's Memorial Hospital, addition of a new Nurses' Residence, 1926 (Daily Sun-Times [Owen Sound], 27 March 1926, 6, descrip.)
TORONTO, ONT., Imperial Bank, Eglinton Avenue East at Mount Pleasant Road, 1928 (Toronto Daily Star, 18 May 1928, 8, descrip.; Toronto b.p. B344, 27 July 1928)
TORONTO, ONT., National Life Assurance Co., University Avenue at Elm Street, office building, 1928-29; demol. c. 1960 (Toronto Daily Star, 21 Jan. 1928, 33, illus. & descrip., and 23 Nov. 1928, 8, illus. & descrip.; Globe [Toronto], 27 Nov. 1928, 16, illus.; C.R., xlii, 5 Dec. 1928, 1260, illus. & descrip.; and xliii, 6 Nov. 1929, 1303-05, illus. & descrip.; Const., xxii, Oct. 1929, 317-18, 327-8, illus. & descrip.)
TORONTO, ONT., New Method Laundry Co., College Street at Shaw Street, 1929 (Toronto Daily Star, 12 March 1929, 2, illus. & descrip.; Toronto b.p. B5712, 2 April 1929; C.R., xlvi, 20 Jan. 1932, 49, illus. in advert.)
HAMPTON, N.B., Bank of Nova Scotia, 1930 (dwgs. at Bank of Nova Scotia Archives, Toronto)
CALEDONIA, N.S., Bank of Nova Scotia, 1931 (dwgs. at Bank of Nova Scotia Archives, Toronto)