WASHBURN, William (1808-1890), an architect and builder of Boston, Massachusetts prepared an impressive Renaissance Revival design for the Victoria Hotel, Germain Street at Duke Street, SAINT JOHN, N.B., 1870-71; burned 1877. Upon its completion in 1871 it was said to be 'the largest of its kind in the Dominion' (Saint John Daily Telegraph, 25 April 1870, 3, descrip.; 18 May 1870, 3, descrip.; 20 Dec. 1870, 1, descrip.; Dailly Morning News [Saint John], 22 July 1871, 3, descrip.; P. Hachey, The New Brunswick Landscape Print 1760-1880, 1980, 109, illus.). His presence in Saint John drew the attention of investors who commissioned him to design the Saint John Opera House, SAINT JOHN, N.B. located on the opposite corner from Washburn's hotel then under construction, at Germain Street near Horsfield Street. Begun in 1871 it was 'finished in a Corinthian style' and opened in May 1872 (Saint John Daily Telegraph, 19 Dec. 1870, 3, descrip.; 22 April 1872, 3; 8 May 1872, 1 & 2, descrip.). Like most major buildings in Saint John it too was destroyed in the major fire there on 20 June 1877.
Washburn developed a reputation as an expert in hotel design, and in Boston his works included the Tremont, American, and the Revere House Hotels, as well as the City Hall in Charlestown, Mass. In New York he designed the Fifth Avenue and Victoria Hotels. He died in Boston on 31 October 1890 (obituary in the Boston Transcript, 1 Nov. 1890, 9; obituary Morning Herald [Halifax], 3 Nov. 1890, 1; biography in H. Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects, 1956, 637).