EVELELIGH, Sydney Morgan (1870-1947) was born in Bedford, Engl. on 24 September 1870, the son of Robert Eveleigh, a textile and lace manufacturer. He was educated at public school there, and took private courses in architecture in Bedford under the tutelage of Rev. F.C. Boultbee, a cousin of members of the well-known Boultbee family in Vancouver. This provided Eveleigh with an introduction to the professional community in British Columbia, and after emigrating to Canada in May 1888 he immediately joined the Vancouver office of Noble S. Hoffar and assisted him with the design and construction of some of the major commercial blocks on Cordova Street. In 1893 he served as Clerk of Works to Hoffar on his important commission for the Vancouver Court House (Vancouver Daily World, 16 Nov. 1893, 3, descrip.) In 1895 Eveleigh took a position in the office of William T. Dalton, and in 1902 was made a full partner (see list of works under Dalton & Eveleigh). In early 1900 he was one of 5 architects who organized the new Vancouver Arts & Crafts Association, intended to promote the progressive Arts & Crafts movement in architecture and design. The other architects who joined him were E.A. Whitehead, Arnott Woodroofe, Robert M. Fripp, and J.W. Mallory (The Province [Vancouver], 26 April 1900, 9).
Within a decade the firm of Dalton & Eveleigh had become one of the most successful architectural offices in the city, with a large and varied patronage from leading commercial and institutional clients. Their collaboration lasted until 1922 when Dalton retired; Eveleigh was elected President of the Architectural Inst. of British Columbia in 1923-24, and continued to practice until after 1936. A serious illness in 1939-40 necessitated his retirement from the profession (R.A.I.C. Journal, xvii, Dec. 1940, 12) and he died in Vancouver on 29 November 1947 (obit. Province [Vancouver], 1 Dec. 1947, 2; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxv, Feb. 1948, 65; biog. and port. E.O.S. Scholefield, History of British Columbia, 1913, 908-11; inf. Architectural Inst. of British Columbia; D. Luxton, Building The West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003,172-77). Eveleigh Street in Vancouver was named after him in recognition of his civic activities.
STANLEY PARK, wood gateway arch for Lord Stanley at the entrance to the park, 1888 (C. David Lai, Arches in British Columbia, 1982, 29, plate 18, illus.)
ALERT BAY, B.C., public hospital, 1924 (Vancouver Daily World, 6 March 1924, 3, descrip.)
ALERT BAY, B.C., a chapel for the Columbia Coast Mission, 1924 (Vancouver Daily World, 6 March 1924, 3)
GEORGIAN CLUB, Seymour Street, club house with retail stores, 1929 (C.R., xliii, 23 Oct. 1929, 54; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
PACIFIC NATIONAL EXHIBITION, the Hastings Park Clubhouse, 1936 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)