Walsh, Edward | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

WALSH, Edward (1756-1832) was a Lieutenant and medical surgeon with the 49th Foot Regiment of the British Army from 1800 onward. Shortly after 1801 he was posted to Upper Canada and prepared several topographical sketches and watercolour drawings of views around Fort Erie, Niagara, York [now Toronto], and Montreal dating from 1803 to 1805. He may have had some previous training in architecture and building in England; in 1804 he prepared a design for a House of Assembly at YORK, UPPER CANADA, but his proposal was not built. An elevational study of his scheme, signed by Walsh, has survived, and is now held in the Picture Collection at the National Archives of Canada (NAC, Acc. C 70866). This formally composed two story Georgian design, rendered in watercolour and ink, is topped by an incongruous and awkward outline for a central dome, and the composition lacks the sense of refinement found in comparable designs for public buildings in England at this time (J.R. Robertson, Landmarks of Toronto, i, 1894, 354, illus.; J. R. Harper, Early Painters and Engravers in Canada, 1970, 321).