THOMSON, John Arnold (1876-1949) was born at Ayr, Ont. on 2 March 1869 and educated there and in Galt, Ont. He served an apprenticeship in Ottawa with Hewittt & MacLaren (in 1896-1900) then moved to London, Ont. where he worked under H.C. McBride (in 1901-04). In May 1904 he moved back to Ottawa to join his former employer David A. Hewitt in the drafting office of the Dept. of Public Works, where both worked under the direct supervision of David Ewart. During his spare time he prepared an entry in the competition for the Departmental & Justice Buildings in 1907, but the chief juror Edmund Burke placed Thomson in 25th place, criticizing his submission as '....altogether too common and factory-like' and '....not sufficiently monumental in character' (OA, Horwood Coll., Miscell. papers). Thomson remained with the Department until 1921, then moved to Belleville where he worked in partnership with William J. Johnson from 1924 to 1929. He then opened his own office in that town and remained active there. In 1932 both he and John C. Newlands of Kingston, Ont. announced an affiliation or partnership, with dual offices in both Kingston and Belleville (Kingston Whig-Standard, 3 Feb. 1932, 3, advert.). It is unclear how long this collaboration existed, and Thomson continued to work under his own name until the time of his death in Toronto on 12 March 1949 (obituary The Intelligencer [Belleville], 12 March 1949; Telegram [Toronto], 14 March 1949, 26; biog. and port. in the National Reference Book, iii, 1929-30, 426-7; biog. and list of works in R. Hamilton, Prominent Men of Canada, 1931-32, 425; inf. Ontario Assoc. of Architects)
THOMSON & JOHNSON
TRENTON, ONT., St. Peter's Roman Catholic Academy, 1925 (Const., xviii, Sept. 1925, 297)
BELLEVILLE, ONT., Collegiate & Vocational School, John Street at Church Street, 1927-28 (C.R., xli, 15 June 1927, 52, t.c.; dwgs. at NAC, NMC 81203/19, Power Coll.)
BELLEVILLE, ONT., Nurse's Home, Dundas Street, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 11 Jan. 1928, 50)
IVANHOE, ONT., United Church, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 25 Jan. 1928, 61)
OSHAWA, ONT., City Hall, Bagot Street at Metcalfe Street, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 26 Sept. 1928, 66)
KINGSTON, ONT., Plaza Hotel, Montreal Street at Queen Street, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 3 Oct. 1928, 60, t.c.)
LINDSAY, ONT., distillery plant for the Canadian Industrial Alcohol Co., 1929 (C.R., xliii, 24 April 1929, 66)
PICTON, ONT., major addition to Prince Edward County Hospital, 1929 (Canadian Hotel Review, vii, March 1929, 39)
LINDSAY, ONT., maternity wing for Ross Memorial Hospital, 1930-31 (Canadian Hotel Review, viii, Oct. 1930, 33)
NORTH PORT, ONT., country estate for P.H. Wills, facing the Bay of Quinte, 1936-37 (C.H.G., xiv, Nov. 1937, 28-9, illus.)