WILBY, Ernest (1869-1957) was an exceptionally talented designer who worked for various architects in Toronto, Ont., London, England, New York City, and in Detroit, Mich. Born in Yorkshire, England he graduated from Wesley College, Harrogate, England in 1885 and came to Canada in 1887. In Toronto he joined the firm of Langley & Burke and remained with them until 1890 when he entered the office of Knox, Elliot & Jarvis to work as a draftsman. In late 1890 he was employed with Darling & Curry but in March of 1891 he had returned to England to work with Thomas E. Collcutt, an important Edwardian architect (C.A.B., iv, Dec. 1891, 108). By the middle of 1893 he was again active in Toronto (C.A.B., vi, Aug. 1893, 89) but his only recorded work here is a stylish and imaginative design for St. John's Anglican Church in Weston, West Toronto, 1894. By 1895 he had moved to Buffalo, N.Y. to form a partnership with Carlton Strong, and the firm of Strong & Wilby remained active until 1897 when Wilby moved to New York to work in the office of Turner & Kilian. He left that city in February 1902 and moved to Detroit, Michigan.
It was there that Wilby met Albert Kahn, the architect of several innovative industrial landmarks, and their association led to a successful collaboration on many buildings in the Detroit and Windsor area. In Kahn's office Wilby served as chief designer from 1903 until 1918 and supervised the construction of the immense Ford Motor Plant at Highland Park (1910) as well as the Hill Auditorium at Ann Arbor (1913). He later joined the faculty of the School of Architecture at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1922 where he remained on the faculty until 1943. He took up residency on Ouellette Avenue in Windsor in 1930 and died there on 11 December 1957 (obituary and port. Windsor Daily Star, 11 Dec. 1957, 5; Detroit Free Press, 12 Dec. 1957, 12; New York Times [New York], 13 Dec. 1957, 27; Globe & Mail [Toronto], 12 Dec. 1957, 42; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxxv, April 1958, 152; biography in University of Michigan - An Encyclopedic Survey, 1953, iii, 1303; biog. Who Was Who in America 1951-1960, 916). A photographic portrait of Wilby was published in the Daily Commercial News [Toronto], 20 Oct. 1936, 1.
WESTON, ONT., St. John's Anglican Church, Weston Road near Church Street, 1894 (Weston Times, 19 April 1894, 3, t.c.)
(with Carlton Strong) BUFFALO, N.Y., residence for an unidentified client, 1897 (C.A.B., x, March 1897, illus.)
(with Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson and Albert Kahn) WALKERVILLE, ONT., St. Mary's Anglican Church, Devonshire Road at Niagara Street, 1903 (St. Mary's Church Walkerville-50th Anniversary 1904-1954, 39)
(with Albert Kahn) HALIFAX, N.S., Canadian Bank of Commerce, George Street at Granville Street, 1906 (dwgs. at PANS, Dumaresq Coll.)
(with Albert Kahn) DETROIT, MICH., residence for John S. Newberry, Lake Shore Road, 1911 (W.H. Ferry, The Buildings of Detroit, 1968, 302, plate 333, illus.)
WINDSOR, ONT., residence for the architect, Ouellette Avenue near Hanna Street West, 1930; demol. 2011 (historical article in the Windsor Star, 9 March 2011, A 3, illus. & descrip.)
(with Leonard W. Meanwell) WINDSOR, ONT., St. Paul's Memorial Anglican Church, Pelissier Street near Hanna Street, 1942, but plans were later shelved (Windsor Daily Star, 2 Oct. 1942, 5, descrip.; 7 Oct. 1942, 5, illus. & descrip.)
COMPETITIONS
Design for a Town House Costing $2,500, 1888 (C.A.B., i, May, 1888, 3; June 1888, 5 and 7, illus. & descrip.). The design by Wilby was submitted under the pseudonym "Nevis", and he received Second Prize for his effort. The winner was J.C.B. Horwood of Toronto.
East Entrance of a University College, a measured drawings competition, 1889 (C.A.B., ii, Sept. 1889, 102, illus.)
An Outside Porch, 1890, First Prize drawing signed 'Mi Yodea' (C.A.B., iii, Jan. 1890, illus.)
An Entrance to a Residence, 1890, First Prize (C.A.B., iii, March 1890, illus.)
A Summer Cottage, 1890, First Prize in the Toronto Architectural Sketch Club competition (C.A.B., iii, May 1890, 53)
Design for a Suburban Railway Station, 1890 (Inland Architect [Chicago], xv, May 1890, illus.; C.A.B., iii, March 1890, 28)
A Cottage by the Sea, 1890, Second Prize (C.A.B., iii, Dec. 1890, illus.)
An Architects' House, 1891, Second Prize (C.A.B., iv, Feb. 1891, 23, 25, illus., with critique by the jury)
A Canadian Summer Cottage, 1891 (C.A.B., xvi, Jan. 1903, illus.)
A Service Pantry, 1893, signed 'Spero Meliora' (C.A.B., vi, Aug. 1893, illus.)