SOMERVILLE, Mr. (active c. 1895-1914) was one of a number of staff architects working in the Montreal head office of the Grand Trunk Railway, and in 1903 he was credited in local newspapers with the preparation of plans for the distinctive Romanesque Revival design for the GTR Station at Brantford, Ont (1903-04; still standing in 2022). This landmark was one of several station plans he created for towns in southern Ontario along the GTR line, and each was a unique configuration for the various locations. These invariably included a tall clock tower, situated in the centre of, or at one end of each station (such as the GTR Station at Guelph), and a sweeping curved conical roof that may have been inspired by the Shingle Style railway stations of New England. Many of those American landmarks were designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, and it is likely that Somerville drew inspiration for his Canadian station designs from these American precedents.
Given that the GTR lines extended throughout southwestern Ontario and into Michigan, it is likely (and indeed highly probable) that Somerville was also the architect of several GTR passenger stations which still stand today along the GTR lines in Ontario that were later purchased by the C.N.R. Railway Co. in 1923, as well as GTR Stations now owned by the Michigan Central Railway Co. in Michigan State.
BERLIN, ONT. [now KITCHENER], Grand Trunk Railway Station, Weber Street West near Victoria Street, 1897; clock tower removed 1966; station still standing in 2022 (Parks Canada, Canada’s Historic Sites, designated on 15 Feb. 1994)
BRANTFORD, ONT., Grand Trunk Railway Station, near Market Street, 1903-04; still standing in 2022 (Brantford Expositor, 19 May 1903, 1, descrip.)
UXBRIDGE, ONT., Grand Trunk Railway Station, Railway Street at King Street West, 1904; still standing in 2022
GUELPH, ONT., Grand Trunk Railway Station, Carden Street at Wyndham Street South, 1911; still standing in 2022