AUSTIN, Merwin (1813-1890) was a successful architect in Rochester, N.Y. from 1845 until 1869 who executed several important works in Port Hope, Ont., a popular summer destination for visiting Americans who lived directly across Lake Ontario. Born in Hamden, Connecticut, he joined his older brother Henry Austin (1804-91), the eminent architect of New Haven, Conn., when the latter opened an office there in 1837. Merwin Austin moved to Rochester at age 31, and by 1850 had established a local reputation there with his Greek Revival design for the Monroe County Court House, Rochester, 1850 (S. Maruoka, 'The Architecture of Andrew J. Warner in Rochester', in Rochester Historical Society Publications, xxv, 1972, 9-10). This work bears distinct similarities to the design he prepared for the Town Hall in Port Hope, Ontario in 1851. This Ontario landmark was heavily damaged by fire after 1890, and rebuilt with a higher but less attractive cupola. Austin also designed several other landmarks in Port Hope which still stand today, including The Porter Block (1850-51), The Smith Block (1850-51), and the St. Lawrence Hotel, (1853-54).
In Rochester, N.Y. he designed the Spiritualist Church, Plymouth Street (1853), and in that year formed a partnership with his nephew and apprentice Andrew J. Warner who later became a successful architect in that city (C. Schmidt, Chronicle of Architecture and Architects in Rochester, 1939, 3-4). Austin maintained his own office in Rochester until 1869, and may have moved to Connecticut after this time; he died in the Almshouse at New Haven on 22 April 1890 and was buried in the potter's field in New Haven Cemetery (death notice Rochester Union and Advertiser, 25 April 1890, 5; inf. from John Kirby Jr.)
(works in Port Hope)
TOWN HALL, Queen Street, 1851; burned 1890, and later rebuilt ((Watchman [Port Hope], 22 Aug. 1851, 2; British Colonist [Toronto], 16 Sept 1851, 3; Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, 80 for 80: Celebrating 80 Years of the A.C.O., 2013, 16-17, illus. & descrip.)
PORTER BLOCK, Walton Street, for Archibald Porter, 1850-51 (Watchman [Port Hope], 22 Aug. 1851, 2)
SMITH BLOCK, Walton Street, for Elias P. Smith, 1850-51; burned 1980; facade later restored (Watchman [Port Hope], 22 Aug. 1851, 2; Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, 80 for 80: Celebrating 80 Years of the A.C.O., 2013, 118-19, illus. & descrip.)
ST. LAWRENCE HOTEL, Walton Street, for Hiram Gillett, 1853-54 (Port Hope Guide, 30 July 1853, 2, descrip.)