AMOS, Louis Auguste (1869-1948) was a talented architect and engineer of Montreal who distinguished himself as both a designer, local politician, and as a respected member of the Engineering Institute of Canada. Born in Montreal on 18 August 1869 he attended the Plateau Academy from 1879 until 1884 and the Montreal High School from 1884 to 1886. He was sent to Kingston, Ont. to attend the Royal Military College from which he graduated with honours in engineering, and received the Governor General's Silver Medal for his studies. He returned to Montreal and joined the staff of the civil engineering department of the Grand Trunk Railway in 1890, working directly under E.P. Hannaford for two years. He travelled in Europe and studied architecture there and in March 1893 formed a partnership with Alfred A. Cox in Montreal. For the next 18 years the firm of Cox & Amos became renowned for their distinctive designs for bank buildings in Quebec and Ontario, many for the Eastern Townships Bank, the Bank of British North America, and for the Quebec Bank (see list of works under Cox & Amos).
Cox moved to Vancouver in 1910 but the firm continued to list itself as Cox & Amos until 1912; at this point Louis Amos began to operate his own successful practise in Montreal until 1925 when he was joined by his son Pierre C. Amos. He successfully campaigned to become an alderman in Lachine in 1913 and was elected to the office of Mayor there in 1915 while continuing to operate his busy office which specialized in the design of brewery facilities for the National Breweries Ltd., the Dawes Brewing Co., the Dow Breweries and the Ekers Breweries of Montreal and Lachine. He was one of the founding members of the Province of Quebec Association of Architects in 1894, and became its president in 1934. He was elected as a Fellow of both the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 1935.
While it can be assumed that much of the design work from his early partnership with Alfred A. Cox could be attributed to Cox, it is evident that Amos was a capable designer in his own right as can be seen in the sophisticated Beaux Arts design he produced for the Knights of Columbus Hall on Mountain Street (1922-23), a finely proportioned essay in Montreal limestone. His most accomplished residential design is, without question, the spectacularly sited mansion for Aime Geoffrion (1930-31), a scheme executed in collaboration with his son Pierre C.. Amos. Louis Amos was seriously injured in an automobile accident in June 1935 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xii, Aug. 1935, 141), and had resigned from active practice by 1940. He died in Lachine on 20 August 1948 and the practise was continued by his son. His portrait can found in the Notman Collection, McCord Museum, Item 138886; (obituary in the Gazette [Montreal], 21 August 1948, 3; and 25 Aug. 1948, 19; obit. R.A.I.C. Journal, xxv, Oct. 1948, 394; inf. R.I.B.A., London).
L. A. AMOS (works in Montreal unless noted)
OUTREMONT, residence for Charles H. Branchard, Dunlop Avenue, 1913 (Montreal, Les Residences, 1987, 84-85, illus.)
WESTMOUNT, residence for J.L.A. Racine, The Boulevard, 1913 (C.R., xxvii, 10 Sept. 1913, 75)
OUTREMONT, City Hall, Dunlop Avenue, 1913 (Outremont b.p. 782, 7 May 1913)
PROVINCE OF QUEBEC OFFICES, Notre Dame Street East, between the Court House and St. Gabriel Street, rebuilding and major renovations to existing building, 1917 (Montreal Daily Star, 5 July 1917, 19, descrip.)
MOUNTAIN STREET, residence for Marie E.C. Boyer, 1917-18 (Montreal, Les Residences, 1987, 82-83, illus.)
POINTE-AU-PIC, QUE., 'Verte Feuille', the residence of Sir Lomer Gouin, 1918 (P. Dube, Deux cents ans de Villegiature dans Charlevoix, 1986, 185, illus.)
NATIONAL BREWERIES LTD., Peel Street at William Street, 1919; with additions 1924 ; garages 1929 (C.R., xxxiii, 13 Aug. 1919, 46; xxxviii, 18 June 1924, 57; Montreal, Architecture Industrielle, 1982, 110-13, illus.)
ST. ELIE-DE-CAXTON, QUE, Roman Catholic Church, 1921 (Le Prix Courant, liv, 4 Feb. 1921, 54)
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS CLUB HOUSE, Mountain Street, 1922-23 (C.R., xxxvi, 26 July 1922, 79, t.c.; xxxviii, 28 May 1924, 539-40, illus.)
(with Charles Saxe and Ernest Cormier) COURT HOUSE ANNEX, Notre Dame Street East, 1922-25 (Montreal Daily Star, 31 Jan. 1925, 26, illus. & descrip.; Const., xx, Oct. 1927, 312-18, 321-28, illus. & descrip.; Montreal, Les Edifices Publics, 1981, 180-83, illus.)
(with J.O. Marchand) INSTITUT PEDAGOGIQUE, Westmount Avenue at Claremont Avenue, Westmount, 1925 (Montreal, Les Couvents, 1984, 200-03, illus.)
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., National Breweries Ltd., warehouse, St. Vallier Street at Vallieres Street, 1927 (Quebec City b.p. 1250, 25 June 1927)
(with Charles A. Mitchell) MAYOR BUILDING, St. Alexander Street at Mayor Street, 1927-28 (Const., xxi, June 1928, 207-08, 211, illus. & descrip.)
S.P.C.A ANIMAL SHELTER, St. James Street at Richmond Street, 1928; demol. (Montreal Daily Star, 4 Feb. 1927, 8; Gazette [Montreal], 15 March 1928, 4; inf. Scott Edwards)
PANET STREET, at Lalonde Avenue, warehouse for A. Raymond, 1928-29 (C.R., xlii, 29 Aug. 1928, 53; xliii, 12 June 1929, 116)
L.A. & P. C. AMOS (works in Montreal unless noted)
(with Stevens & Lee) NOTRE DAME HOSPITAL, Sherbrooke Street East at Maisonneuve Street, addition, 1930; Nurses Home, 1931; Power House and Laundry Building, 1931 (C.R., xliv, 9 April 1930, 68; xlv, 14 Jan 1931, 52; Const., xxvi, Jan. 1933, 8-11, illus. & descrip.)
PEEL STREET, Quebec Liquor Commission, Store No. 1, 1930 (Province of Quebec Association of Architects, application form for P.C. Amos, 2 June 1939)
WESTMOUNT, residence for Aime Geoffrion, Upper Belmont Avenue, 1930-31 (C.H.G., xv, Nov. 1938, 10, illus.; Montreal, Les Residences, 1987, 272-75, illus.; H. Kalman, History of Canadian Architecture, 1994, 748, illus. & descrip.)
CANADIAN BANK OF COMMERCE, Ste. Catherine Street West, at Crescent Street, 1931 (inf. R. Lemire, Montreal)
SOEURS DE l'ESPERANCE, Nurses Home, Sherbrooke Street East at St. Andre Street, 1932 (C.R., xlvi, 4 May 1932, 47)
TROIS RIVIERES, QUE., office and warehouse for National Breweries Ltd., Royal Boulevard at St. Olivier Boulevard, 1934 (C.R., xlviii, 15 Aug. 1934, 32)
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., warehouse for Boswell's Brewery Ltd., St. Nicholas Street at St. Vallier Street, 1935 (Building in Canada, xv, Oct. 1935, 10)
WESTMOUNT, addition for residence of L.C. Thomson, St. Sulpice Road, 1937 (Province of Quebec Association of Architects, application form for P.C. Amos, 2 June 1939)
DAWES BREWERY, St. Maurice Street, experimental plant, 1937 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xv, March 1938, 64, illus.)
CARTIERVILLE, QUE., major addition to aircraft plant for Noorduyn Aviation Ltd., Laurentian Boulevard, North Montreal, 1941-43 (C.R., liv, 5 March 1941, 35-36; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiii, Feb. 1946, 40, illus.)
TORONTO GENERAL TRUSTS CORP., Notre Dame Street West, office building, 1947-48 (C.R., lx, Nov. 1947, 143)
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., major additions to Boswell's Brewery Ltd., St. Nicholas Street, 1947 (Financial Post [Toronto], 17 May 1945, 10)
(with C.D. Goodman) FORD HOTEL, Peel Street at Dorchester Street West, 1945, but later renamed The Laurentian Hotel [see entry below], 1945 (Montreal Daily Star, 3 Dec. 1945, 4, illus. with architect's perspective; and 8 Dec. 1945, 3)
(with C.D. Goodman) LAURENTIAN HOTEL, Peel Street at Dorchester Street West, 1947-48; demol. (Gazette [Montreal], 22 March 1948, 26-34, illus. & detailed descrip.; Canadian Hotel Review, xxvi, 15 April 1948, 22-24, 30, illus.; Architecture Batiment Construction, iii, May 1948, 26-34, illus.)
COMPETITIONS
KINGSTON, ONT., Memorial Archway, at Royal Military College, 1920. Amos was one of 7 architects invited to prepare a design for this large outdoor arch, and his design was a early favourite of the selection committee (Daily Standard [Kingston], 13 Dec. 1920, 7). The eventual winner was John Lyle of Toronto (inf. Sarah Toomey, Chief Librarian, Massey Library, Royal Military College, Kingston)