DONOVAN, James P. (1852 -1886), a native of Chicago, Ill., was the son of Patrick H. Donovan, a successful architect in St. Paul, Minnesota, and he likely obtained his training under his father. Both father and son moved to California in 1876, and James P. Donovan was later recorded in Portland, Oregon in 1879 as an architect and partner in the firm of Piper & Donovan (Portland City Directory, 1879, 57, advert.). By 1882 he had moved to Seattle, Wash. where he practised under his own name, and, for about three months, in partnership with Stephen J. Meany, as Donovan & Meany, Architects (see Jeffrey Ochsner, Shaping Seattle Architecture, 2014, 460). In 1884 he had relocated again, this time to Victoria, B.C. and was active there for at least two years before his promising career was cut short on 21 May 1886 when he died at the age thirty-four years (obit. Daily Colonist [Victoria], 21 May 1886, 3; Victoria Daily Times, 21 May 1886, 4; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 462, 498). He was later buried at Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria. A brief biography of James P. and his father was published in the Victoria Daily Times, 24 Sept. 1886, 4.
(works in British Columbia)
VICTORIA, B.C., hotel for an unnamed client, Government Street at Broughton Street, 1885 (Daily British Colonist [Victoria], 1 July 1885, 2, descrip.)
VICTORIA, B.C., Clarence Hotel, Yates Street at Douglas Street, 1885-86 (Daily British Colonist [Victoria], 4 Sept. 1886, 3, descrip.)
(works in Washington State)
SEATTLE, WASH., a large residence for Judge Thomas Mercer, near Lake Union, 1883 ( Daily Post-Intelligencer (Seattle), 22 April 1883, 2)
SEATTLE, WASH., a row of three commercial buildings for Edward L. Terry, "...near the Coppin property", 1883 (Daily Post-Intelligencer {Seattle], 22 April 1883, 2)
(with Stephen J. Meany) SEATTLE, WASH., North Public School, for District No. 1, 1883; demol. (Daily Post-Intelligencer [Seattle}, 11 July 1883, 2, descrip.; 15 July 1883, 2, descrip.)
(with Stephen J. Meany) SEATTLE, WASH., Grace Hospital, Union Street at 12th Street, 1883; demol. (Daily Post-Intelligencer [Seattle], 15 July 1883, 2, descrip.; 24 Aug. 1883, 2, descrip.;