McLAREN, Thomas (1879-1967), active in Montreal, Que. in partnership with Frank Peden from 1906 to 1917 (see list of works under Peded & McLaren). Born in Perth, Scotland on 22 July 1879, he trained in Perth under the well-known architect George P.K. Young from 1894 to 1898, then moved to Glasgow to study at the famous Glasgow School of Art from 1899 to 1901. It was there that he met another young Scotsman, Andrew Sharp, and both collaborated on preparing an elaborate Edwardian design for a “Gateway to a Public Park”, submitted in the 1900 Tite Prize Competition, sponsored by the R.I.B.A. The double page plate of their design was published in Canadian Architect & Builder, xv, April 1902, illus. McLaren became an Associate of the Royal Inst. of British Architects in February 1903, and retired in 1935.
McLaren arrived in Canada in 1902 and joined the office of Sir Andrew Thomas Taylor, a leading architect in Montreal, and he remained with Taylor until 1904. When Taylor left Canada in 1904, McLaren joined the newly formed Architecture Department of the Bank of Montreal, and there met Frank Peden, one of more than a dozen young architects working in these bank offices. Both he and Frank Peden then left and formed a new partnership in 1906, and they produced over 20 impressive Edwardian designs for branches of the Bank of Montreal in all ten provinces from British Columbia to Newfoundland. McLaren joined the Province of Quebec Assoc. of Architects on 12 February 1907. Their partnership was dissolved in December 1916 and Peden opened an office under his own name, and remained active until 1940. He later became a building inspector for the Town of Montreal West. He died in Montreal on 11 April 1967 (obituary Gazette [Montreal], 20 April 1967, 45; obit. Montreal Daily Star, 19 April 1967; biog. in Who's Who & Why in Canada, 1912, 343; biog. A.J. Newlands, Prominent People of the Province of Quebec, 1923-24; biog. Col. William Wood, The Storied Province of Quebec, 1931, Vol. 3, 171; inf. Mr. Alex H. McLaren, Montreal West)
(works in Montreal)
BALLANTYNE AVENUE NORTH, a pair of attached houses for Rickson A. Outhet, Landscape Architect, 1920-21 (C.R., xxxiv, 17 Nov. 1920, 52, t.c.; and 8 Dec. 1920, 57)
MONTREAL WEST, pair of semi-detached houses on Percival Avenue, 1921 (C.R., xxxvi, 22 Feb. 1922, 182, illus. and detailed architectural descrip.)
MONTREAL, a two storey detached house for an unnamed owner, 1922 (C.R., xxxvi, 22 Nov. 1922, 1127, illus. & descrip.)
WESTMINSTER STREET, at Sherbrooke Street West, apartment block for Saul Bierbrier, 1928 (C.R. Xlii, 12 Sept. 1928, 55)
CLIFFSIDE BADMINTON CLUB, Cote des Neiges Road near Decelles Avenue, 1928-29 (C.R., xlii, 21 Nov. 1928, 51)
LACHINE, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, St. Joseph Boulevard, a new parish hall adjacent to the church, 1928 (Montreal, Les Eglises, 1981, 158-61, illus.)
MONTREAL WEST, residence on Brock Avenue for an unnamed client, 1939 (Montreal Daily Star, 3 March 1939, 32)
COMPETITIONS
HAMILTON, ONT., The North West Entrance, 1927-28. McLaren was one of 12 architects who submitted an entry in this major competition (R.A.I.C. Journal, v, April 1928, 131). He was not among the finalists, and the competition was won by Earle L. Sheppard of Toronto, but his winning design was never built, and the commission was later handed to John M. Lyle of Toronto.