ARMES, Joshua Alexander (1868-1926) was active in Hamilton, Ont. and specialised in the design of schools, private residences and commercial hotel buildings, of which the latter is best represented by his plain and serviceable Beaux-Arts design for the Cecil Hotel, James Street North (1913). He first moved to the Hamilton area after 1890 and worked as a builder and contractor, and many of his early commissions recorded in local newspapers from 1898 to 1901 confirm that he not only built, but may have designed, several brick houses for various clients, and some of these residential buildings are still standing today in 2022. Commencing in 1910, he began to style himself as an architect. From 1911 to 1917 he operated a business called The Hamilton Architectural Co., and later formed a partnership with William H. Hunkin in 1924-25. Armes died in Hamilton on 2 April 1926 (obituary in Daily Spectator [Hamilton], 3 April 1926, 14, and p. 23; inf. Robert Hamilton)
HAMILTON
HESS STREET SOUTH, near Cannon Street, residence for J.T. Johnson, 1898; demol. (Evening Times [Hamilton], 22 Aug. 1898, 8; inf. Robert Hamilton)
FERRIE STREET EAST, at Catharine Street, residence for Joseph M. Phillips, 1900; demol. (Evening Times [Hamilton], 5 Oct 1900, 8,; inf. Robert Hamilton)
CATHERINE STREET NORTH, between Simcoe Street East and Ferrie Street East, residence for Charles Marriott, at No. 403 Catherine St. North, 1900; still standing in 2022 (Evening Times [Hamilton], 11 Oct. 1900, 8; inf. Robert Hamilton)
STUART STREET EAST, between John Street North and Hughson Street North, a row of three houses for Bernard Shreeve, at 48-52 Stuart Street, 1901; demol. (Evening Times [Hamilton], 13 April 1901, 8; inf. Robert Hamilton)
REGINALD STREET, two detached houses for George Brant, 1901, at No. 19 and No. 27 Reginald St., opposite Alexander Street, still standing in 2023 (Evening Times [Hamilton], 15 Aug. 1901, 8; inf. Robert Hamilton)
CATHARINE STREET NORTH, a pair of semi-detached houses at 229-231 Catharine Street North, including a residence for the architect J.A. Armes, 1901; still standing in 2022 (Evening Times [Hamilton], 13 April 1901, 8; inf. Robert Hamilton)
FAIRMOUNT AVENUE, residence for William J. Aitchison, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 26 April 1911, 61)
CLUB HOUSE, near Ancaster, perhaps for the Golf & Country Club, 1912 (C.R., xxvi, 20 March 1912, 66)
CECIL HOTEL, King William Street at Catharine Street North, 1912 (C.R., xxvi, 17 April 1912, 50, illus. & descrip.)
SPRINGER AVENUE, seven houses for Arthur O'Heir, 1913 (C.R., xxvii, 30 April 1913, 182, t.c.)
MAIN STREET EAST, residence for Dr. Thomas S. Orr, 1916 (C.R., xxx, 15 March 1916, 54)
HILLCREST PUBLIC SCHOOL, Barton Street East at Eastwood Avenue, 1920 (inf. Hamilton Public School Board)
ELSEWHERE
BARTON TOWNSHIP, a public school for S.S. No. 4, 1897 (Evening Times [Hamilton], 30 March 1897, 8; inf. Robert Hamilton)
COPETOWN, ONT., Public school for Union School Section No. 12-20, Ancaster & Beverley, 1915 (Brantford Daily Expositor, 16 June 1915, 3, t.c.)
WATERDOWN, ONT., Public School, 1919 (C.R., xxxiii, 26 March 1919, 45; Spectator [Hamilton], 9 April 1919, 1, descrip., and 29 Jan. 1921, 3)
BINBROOK TOWNSHIP, ONT., Memorial Hall, 1920 (Spectator [Hamilton], 25 March 1920, 23, descrip., and 14 Dec. 1920, 8, descrip.)
BURLINGTON, ONT., High School, 1921-22 (C.R., xxxv, 12 Jan. 1921, 56, Spectator [Hamilton], 19 Aug. 1922, 19, descrip.)
MOUNT HAMILTON, ONT., School for S.S. No. 3, 1922 (C.R., xxxvi, 28 June 1922, 92, t.c.)