WILKS, Thomas Raybould (1878-1951) was active in Sault Ste. Marie for forty years and can be credited with the design of dozens of schools in that city and in the surrounding Algoma Region. Born in Birmingham, Engl. on 27 July 1878 he graduated from West Bromwich Municipal School of Art and served a four year apprenticeship with Thomas H. Bridge and George Bowden in Birmingham. His parents had emigrated to Sault Ste. Marie before 1900 and at their suggestion Wilks arrived in the city in April 1901. He worked as draftsman for H. Russell Halton there (1901-03), then briefly with Darling & Pearson in Toronto before moving to Moncton in 1903 to take the position of Chief Draftsman for the Inter-Colonial Railway for seven years. He returned to Toronto to join the contracting firm of Mackenzie & Mann, then moved back to Sault Ste. Marie to open his own office in 1912. He maintained a successful practice in the city until after 1950 and died there on 17 September 1951 (biog. and port in Sault Star, 1 April 1913, 1; death notice, Sault Daily Star, 17 Feb. 1951; biog. and list of works in Sault Daily Star, 13 May 1930, 4; biog. & list of works in R. Hamilton, Prominent Men of Canada, 1931-32, 448).
Thomas R. WILKS (works in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.)
ALGOMA HOUSE OF REFUGE, c. 1914 (R. Hamilton, list of works)
MOVING PICTURE THEATRE, Queen Street, "...in the building adjoining the Cornwall Hotel", 1916 (Sault Star, 11 Oct. 1916, 7)
MOFFLY SUBDIVISION, public school, St. Mary's Avenue, designed 1916; built 1919, a commission won in a competition (Sault Star, 16 Dec. 1916, 6; 18 Jan. 1917, 8; 6 March 1919, 2, t.c.)
ALGOMA STEEL CO., Queen Street at Spring Street, shell steel cutting plant, meter & switch house, stores building, oil house and office building, c. 1917-19 (R. Hamilton, list of works; inf. Christopher Tossel, Sault Ste. Marie)
ROYAL VICTORIA HOSPITAL, Lansdowne Street at Trelawne Street, on Bruce Hill, 1919-20 (Sault Star, 6 Nov. 1919, 9, descrip.)
CODY PUBLIC SCHOOL, Wilson Street, 1919 (Sault Daily Star, 20 Jan. 1920, 4; dwgs. at Sault Ste. Marie Board of Education)
ST. PAUL'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Cathcart Street at Brown Street, 1920-21 (R. Hamilton, list of works)
DAVID KYLE PUBLIC SCHOOL, Douglas Street, major addition, 1920 (Sault Star, 11 March 1920, 2; C.R., xxxv, 17 Aug. 1921, 21, illus. in advert.)
McFADDEN PUBLIC SCHOOL, Albert Street West, large addition, 1920; with another major addition, 1928 (Sault Star, 29 Jan 1920, 2; C.R., xxxv, 17 Aug. 1921, 21, illus. In advert.; Sault Daily Star, 24 March 1928, 1)
TARENTORUS CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL, 1920 (Sault Star, 17 July 1920, 2, t.c.)
VICTORIA THEATRE BLOCK, major alterations, 1922 (Sault Star, 30 March 1922, 9, descrip.)
PLUMMER MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, Queen Street East, major addition, 1923, with plans for new extension, 1924 (Owen Sound Daily Sun-Times, 14 Dec. 1923, 8; Sault Star, 11 Dec. 1923, 3; C.R., xxxviii, 2 Jan.1924, 46)
ST. STEPHEN'S MISSION BUILDING, in the Bruce Hill area, addition and major alterations, 1926 (Sault Daily Star, 3 Nov. 1926, 5, descrip.)
WINDSOR HOTEL, Queen Street East, major addition, 1927 (C.R., xli, 16 Feb. 1927, 48)
MASONIC TEMPLE, Albert Street East at Elgin Street, 1928-29 (Sault Daily Star, 12 Oct. 1928, 2, descrip.; 19 Sept. 1929, 1 & 3, descrip.)
SAULT STE. MARIE TECHNICAL & COMMERCIAL HIGH SCHOOL, Wellington Street East, major addition, 1928-29 (Sault Daily Star, 5 Dec. 1928, 12; C.R., xliii, 10 April 1929, 61)
FARQUHAR AVENUE, large residence for E.W. Shell, c. 1928 (Sault Daily Star, 13 May 1930, 4, biography of T.R. Wilks, with list of works)
SAULT STE MARIE CLUB, Bay Street, major addition for badminton courts and locker rooms, 1929 (Sault Daily Star, 9 Dec. 1929, 2, descrip.)
RYDAL BANK, conversion of the W.R. Smyth residence into a sanatarium or rest home for convalescents, for J.A. McAthur, 1930 (Sault Daily Star, 4 April 1930, 1)
QUEEN STREET, a new auto storage garage and gas station, on the site of the old Queen's Hotel, for Albert R. Wood, 1930 (Sault Daily Star, 27 Sept. 1930, 4, descrip.)
SOO JOBBING CO., Queen Street East, new drygoods store, to the east of their present building, for Saul Friedman, 1931 (Sault Daily Star, 20 March 1931, 2; and 31 March 1931, 3, descrip.)
CANADIAN DEPARTMENT STORE (operated by T. Eaton Co. of Toronto), Queen Street at March Street, 1931 (Sault Daily Star, 11 April 1931, 1, descrip.)
CENTRAL HOTEL, Queen Street East, new facade and alterations, 1934; major addition, 1938 (Sault Daily Star, 11 Aug. 1934, 2; C.R., li, 4 Jan. 1938, 29)
THE SPORTS CENTRE HALL, Queen Street East at Bruce Street, for M.R. Smale, 1948 (Sault Daily Star, 13 May 1948, 8-9, illus.)
TARENTOROUS, No. 3 District School, 1950 (Sault Daily Star, 26 Oct. 1950, 17)
Thomas R. WILKS (works elsewhere)
STEELTON, ONT., commercial block for James Lyons, John Street, 1912 (Sault Star, 1 April 1913, 1)
STEELTON, ONT., Dominion Public Building, St. George Avenue at John Street, 1913-14 (Canada, Sessional Papers, li, 1916, Report No. 19, 76-7, descrip.)
ESPANOLA, ONT., Anglican Church, c. 1914 (R. Hamilton, list of works)
BRUCE MINES, ONT., public school, 1916 (Sault Star, 31 July 1916, 2, t.c.; R. Hamilton, list of works)
KORAH TOWNSHIP, public school for S.S. No. 5, 1917 (Sault Star, 23 Jan. 1917, 2, t.c.)
GORE BAY, ONT., high school, c. 1920 (R. Hamilton, list of works)
ESPANOLA, ONT., high school, c. 1920 (R. Hamilton, list of works)
THESSALON, ONT., high school, 1923-24 (Sault Star, 1 Feb. 1924, 5; R. Hamilton, list of works)
HEARST, ONT., a residence for staff of the Provincial Dept. of Lands & Forests, 1924 (Sault Daily Star, 16 Oct. 1924, 11, t.c.)
ST. JOSEPH'S ISLAND, ONT., Emmanuel Anglican Church, at Richards Landing, 1926 (Sault Daily Star, 8 June 1926, 9, t.c.; 19 June 1926, 1, descrip.)
SAULT STE. MARIE, MICHIGAN, USA, new Ferry Docks, with Customs and Immigration offices, Water Street, 1928 (Sault Daily Star, 14 March 1928, 3, descrip.)
BLIND RIVER, ONT., Continuation School [or High School], 1928 (Sault Daily Star, 17 March 1928, 13, t.c.; R. Hamilton, list of works)
BLIND RIVER, ONT., General Hospital, 1931 (Sault Daily Star, 30 April 1931, 2)
FORT WILLIAM, ONT., Kakabeka Falls Brewing Co., major addition to factory for soft drink production, for the Soo Falls Brewing Co., 1932 (Sault Daily Star, 17 March 1932, 2, descrip.)
KORAH TOWNSHIP, Prince of Wales Public School, 1949-50 (Sault Daily Star, 2 March 1949, 5; and 22 March 1950, 5; C.R., lxii, May 1949, 158, t.c.)
COMPETITIONS
SAULT STE. MARIE, ONT., a new ten room school, on the site of the existing Central School, 1912 (Sault Star, 23 May 1912, 2). Wilks was one of five local firms who submitted designs for this project, but it is unclear who the winner was.