Rae, William | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

RAE, William (1867-1957), partner in the firm of Symons & Rae, was a native of Toronto, Ont. Born there on 24 December 1867 he attended Upper Canada College and graduated from the School of Architecture at Cornell University at Ithaca, N.Y. in 1889. He returned to Toronto in 1890 and worked at first as a draftsman with the firm of Strickland & Symons, then as a full partner in 1897-98 (see list of works under Strickland, Symons & Rae). In 1898 Rae and William L. Symons started their own firm, devoting much of their practice to domestic work in the Rosedale and Annex neighbourhoods of Toronto (see list of works under Symons & Rae). The partnership was dissolved in 1915 and Rae continued to practice alone, concentrating on work for the Anglican Diocese of Toronto. His best known project from this period was the Chapel for the Cowley Fathers at Bracebridge, Ont. In 1936 he joined the Royal Ontario Museum as a draftsman and exhibit label designer. Rae died in Toronto on 9 May 1957 (death notice Globe & Mail (Toronto), 9 May 1957, 37; obit. R.A.I.C. Journal, xxxiv, July 1957, 278)

TORONTO, ONT., St. Cuthbert's Anglican Church, Bayview Avenue near Merton Street, 1921-22 (History of St. Cuthbert's Parish Leaside, Ont. 1890-1940, 20)
TORONTO, ONT., St. Anne's Anglican Church, Gladstone Avenue, alterations and interior decoration of the church, 1923-25, still standing in 2022; church burned in June 2024 (Toronto Daily Star, 19 Jan. 1924, 20, illus. & detailed architectural descrip.; and 10 June 2024, 1 and 4, illus.; Globe & Mail [Toronto], 10 June 2024, 1 and 8-9, illus.; Eric Arthur, Toronto No Mean City, 1964, 231, illus.; W. Dendy & W. Kilbourn, Toronto Observed, 1986, 187-9, illus. & descrip.)
SCHOMBERG, ONT., St. Mary Magdalene Anglican Church, Church Street at Castlewood Avenue, 1925, still standing in 2024 (Anglican Parish of Lloydtown Ont Centenary 1843-1943)
TORONTO, ONT., rood screen and chancel for St. Mary Magdalene Anglican Church, Ulster Street, c. 1925 (R.A.I.C. Journal, iv, Feb. 1927, 71, illus.)
TORONTO, ONT., Beaches Presbyterian Church, Queen Street East at Glen Manor Road, addition of a new parish hall, 1926 (dwgs. at City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 200, Series 410, File 2583)
OSHAWA, ONT., Bishop Bethune College, chapel for the college, 1927 (R.A.I.C. Journal, iv, May 1927, 169, 177, illus.)
(with Alex Scott Carter ) TORONTO, ONT., St. Thomas Anglican Church, Huron Street, new Lady Chapel, 1927, still standing in 2024 (R.A.I.C. Journal, v, March 1928, 87-8, illus.; Household of God: Parish History of St. Thomas' Anglican Church Toronto, 1993, 131-2, 171-3, illus. & descrip.)