ELLINGWOOD, Francis Lawrence (1866-1929), architect of New York City and a partner with Sidney V. Stratton during the period of 1890-1892, as Stratton & Ellingwood. Their firm was involved in the design and construction of the lavish mansion for Simeon H. Janes, located on Avenue Road at Edmund Avenue, TORONTO, ONT. Construction of this landmark began in late 1889 and was initially credited to Arthur Page Brown of New York, but when Brown left New York and moved to San Francisco in early 1890, the completion of the mansion was entrusted to Francis L. Ellingwood. According to a historical article published in the Toronto Sunday Star, 25 May 1912, 23, it was ’... Mr. Ellingwood who devoted practically all of his time to its supervision ’, and it took nearly a full year to complete the mansion. The landmark stood until 1936 when it was demolished, but the extensive stone walls lining the property on the east and south side of the Avenue Road Hill are still standing in 2023. The mansion is illustrated and described in William Dendy, Lost Toronto, 1978, 182-84.
Ellingwood was born in Eastport, Maine on 6 August 1866, but no information has been found on his education and training. He and Stratton formed a partnership in New York in 1890, but this ended in 1892 and Ellingwood formed another partnership with Wainwright Parrish in 1893. He then joined the office of Ernest Flagg, assisting him with design and construction of St. Luke’s Hospital, New York (1896), and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. (1897). Ellingwood worked under his own name until 1905 when he joined McKim, Mead & White, the leading American architectural firm, and he was handed the responsibility of overseeing the preparation of drawings for the immense Pennsylvania Railway Station, New York City (built 1902-1911; demol. 1963-65). In November 1910 he moved to Canada and joined the Design and Construction Dept. of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and May 1911 he was appointed Superintendent of Building Construction at the CPR. In this new role, he worked on major projects for the railway in Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and elsewhere in Canada. In July 1914 he was succeeded by D.H. Mapes. Ellingwood then returned to New York City, and later died there on 4 April 1929 (biog. in Canadian Railway & Marine World (Montreal), xiv, Aug. 1911; biog. and photographic portrait in The Contract Record & Engineering Review (Toronto), xxvi, 21 Feb. 1912, 58; inf. James Ward, Architects in New York City 1900-1940, pub. 1989, 22).
ELLINGWOOD & PARRISH (works in Canada)
TORONTO, ONT., a large 7 storey hotel and office building, King Street East at Victoria Street, designed 1893, but not built (American Architect & Building News (New York), xli, 5 Aug. 1893, text p. 92, and double-page plate with perspective and plans). The proposal was replaced in 1901 by a design for the King Edward Hotel, designed by E.J. Lennox
F.L. ELLINGWOOD (works in Canada)
CALGARY, ALTA., a large hotel for the Canadian Pacific Railway, 1912 (C.R., xxvi, 7 Feb. 1912, 66)
MONTREAL, QUE., an Annex to the Windsor Railway Station for the C.P.R., 1912 (C.R., xxvi, 13 March 1912, 66)
EDMONTON, ALTA., C.P.R. Railway Station, Jasper Avenue at Ninth Street, 1913 (Canadian Railway & Marine World (Montreal), xvi, April 1913, 159, detailed architectural descrip.)