TENCH, Oliver Edgar (1859-1941) was active in the small town of Newmarket, Ont. for nearly forty years. Born in King Township on 19 April 1859 he came to prominence in 1893 when his plans for the new High School, Newmarket, Ont. were selected and approved by the provincial Ministry of Education. In 1909 he designed one of the first reinforced concrete industrial buildings erected in Ontario. This commission, for the Davis Tannery Co., was to lead to many other projects for that company, as was his work for the Newmarket Public School Board who employed him for more than two decades to design new buildings and to plan additions to existing schools. He resigned from the Ontario Association of Architects in 1932, and died in Newmarket on 14 October 1941 (obituary Globe & Mail (Toronto), 18 Oct. 1941, 5; inf. Ontario Assoc. of Architects)
O.E. TENCH (works in Newmarket)
NEWMARKET HIGH SCHOOL, Prospect Street at Pearson Street, 1893, to replace the original High School built in 1891 and burned in March 1893 (Newmarket Era, 14 July 1893, 3, descrip. & illus.)
DAVIS LEATHER CO., Davis Drive, a large tannery complex with a 3 storey block and wing, power house, and brick chimney, 1904; additions, 1920, 1922, 1925, 1927 (Newmarket Era, 8 April 1904, 2, t.c.; list of works in O.A.A. Membership Application, 1931)
PARK AVENUE, residence for Charles Clark, 1905 (inf. Newmarket L.A.C.A.C.)
QUEEN STREET, residence for the architect O.E. Tench, c. 1910 (inf. Newmarket L.A.C.A.C.)
OFFICE SPECIALITY FURNITURE MFR. CO., Timothy Street, factory, 1910-11 (C.R., xxiv, 28 Sept. 1910, 28, t.c.)
YORK COUNTY INDUSTRIAL HOME, major alterations and improvements, 1911 (Aurora Banner, 4 Aug. 1911, 3, t.c.)
KING GEORGE PUBLIC SCHOOL, Park Avenue, 1912-13 (inf. Newmarket L.A.C.A.C.)
O.E. TENCH, (works elsewhere)
KINGSTON, ONT., Davis Tannery Ltd., 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 5 May 1909, 23)
AURORA, ONT., J. Fleury & Sons, factory, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 4 Jan. 1911, 28, t.c.)
MOOSE JAW, SASK., electric power house, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 18 Jan. 1911, 35-6)