Tomkins, W. Graeme

TOMKINS, W. Graeme (fl. 1855-60) was in partnership with David Murray in Hamilton in 1855 (Hamilton Gazette, 20 Aug. 1855, 3, advert.). By 1857 he had moved to St. Marys, Ont. where he lived and worked until April 1860 (St. Marys Weekly Argus, 30 April 1857, 1, advert.). It was there that he designed a stone mansion for William V. Hutton, Queen Street at Water Street, ST. MARYS, ONT., 1858, a claim vigourously denied by Charles G. Tucker, a local builder who insisted that he alone should be credited for the plans (Stratford Beacon, 19 Nov. 1858, 2). That same year Tomkins drew 'a very neat plan' for a non-denominational cemetery in St. Marys, but it is unclear if the proposal was developed and built (St. Marys Weekly Argus, 25 Nov. 1858, 2). In 1859 he designed a belfry and oriel window for St James Anglican Church, ST. MARYS, ONT. and may have planned the church itself which had opened just one year before (Semi-Weekly Spectator [Hamilton], 23 March 1859, 2). In 1862 his 'Plan of a small cottage.... Designed and Drawn by W. Graeme Tomkins, Architect, St. Marys, C.W.' was published in the American book entitled Ventilation and Warming of Buildings, written by the Cobourg, Ont. engineer Henry Ruttan (see plate xxxiv). This early domestic prototype bears a close resemblance to a house for Mr. Crosthwaite and still standing at No. 157 Queen Street West in St. Marys (inf. Larry Pfaff, Toronto)