TATE, Charles Maitland (1813-1896) of Montreal, Que. was one of seven architects from Montreal and Toronto who submitted an entry in the competition for the headquarters of the Bank of Montreal in 1845 (Gazette [Montreal], 12 Aug. 1845, 2, list of competitors; M. Denison, Canada's First Bank, 1967, ii, 20-1). The scheme by Tate was not among the two finalists and the commission was awarded to John Wells. By early 1847 he had formed a partnership with George Horatio Smith as 'Civil Engineers and Architects' (Montreal Transcript, 15 May 1847, 2, advert.). They succeeded in winning a major competition for St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Montreal in 1847; the church was destroyed in a fire in 1869 but an engraved perspective view of their design inscribed 'Tate & Smith Architects' survives and can be found in the Picture Collection of the National Archives of Canada (C 105448).
Tate was born in Richmond, Yorkshire, England in 1813 and obtained his education and training in that country. He emigrated to Canada after 1840 and settled in Montreal where he practised as an architect and civil engineer. After 1849 Tate practiced under his own name as a civil engineer; he took particular interest in the health and welfare of the citizens of Montreal and in 1855 proposed an elaborate plan to establish public baths and wash houses in the city (Montreal Transcript, 13 March 1855, 2). One of the pupils in his Montreal office was Adolphe Levesque. By 1860 he had relocated to Quebec City where he continued to list himself as an architect while also holding the position of Engineer to the Harbour Commissioners (Quebec Directory for 1860-61, 338). He formed a partnership with J.P.M. Lecourt in 1863 and assisted him with the design for the monumental St. John's Gate that formed part of the fortified walls of the old city of Quebec. He appears to have left Canada in 1866 or 1867 and returned to England, settling in London where his name appears in Census records in 1881 as a civil engineer. He died there in January 1896 and was buried in Camden, London on 1 February 1896.
TATE & SMITH
MONTREAL, QUE., St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Beaver Hall Hill, designed 1847; built 1848-51; burned 1869 (Montreal Transcript, 30 March 1848, 2, t.c.; The Presbyterian [Montreal], March 1848, 34, descrip.)
MONTREAL, QUE., residence for J. Leeming, Sherbrooke Street, 1847 (ANQM, T.J. Pelton, Notary, 19 July 1847, No. 2695)
LONGUE POINTE, QUE., major additions to residence for Hugh Taylor, 1848 (Gazette [Montreal], 28 Jan. 1848, 2, t.c.)
C.M. TATE
MONTREAL, QUE., The Ballroom Building at the Crystal Palace, 1860. He was "Mr. Tatt [sic], the architect" who was credited for "...the planning and superintending the erection of the building at the Crystal Palace" (Weekly Spectator [Hamilton], 5 July 1860, 2, detailed architectural descrip.). This circular building was to be 215 ft. in diameter, covering 32,000 sq. feet. and topped with a lantern and a dome.
TATE & LECOURT
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., St. John's Gate, St. John Street, 1863-67; demol. 1898 (Le Journal de Quebec [Quebec City], 21 Oct. 1865, 2; 14 Nov. 1865, 2; 18 Nov. 1865, 2; L. Noppen et al, Quebec-trois siecles l'architecture, 1979, 88, 142, illus.; dwgs. NAC, NMC H1/350, Quebec 1864)
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., Volunteer Drill Shed, 1864 (dwgs. Univ. of Western Ontario, D.B. Weldon Library, Moore Coll., within the file for the Wolseley Barracks, London)