Churchill, William Henry | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

CHURCHILL, William Henry (1854-1934), was the Superintendent of the Public Works Department for the Province of Newfoundland and in this capacity he designed court houses and public buildings in several Newfoundland communities. He was the son of Samuel Churchill and was educated at Topsail and Saint John's, Nfld. Shortly after his marriage to Susannah Hiscock of Lance Cove in 1882 he joined the provincial Department of Public Works as a foreman under John T. Nevill who was then Inspector of Lighthouses and Government Architect. By 1890 he had risen to the position of 'Master Mechanic for Public Buildings' and eight years later he was appointed Superintendent of Public Works (R. Polk, Directory of St. John's, Harbour Grace and Carbonear, Nfld., 1890, 75; Blue Book of Newfoundland, 1900, 4a). His designs for unpretentious wood frame courthouses were based on a standard plan and elevation which was often repeated in several towns. The design of the Court House in Placentia (1900) is a replica of that in Greenspond; both employ a mansard roof and tower in a plain Second Empire style, although the use of these stylistic devices on a civic building elsewhere in Canada has passed out of fashion nearly twenty years before. Similarly, his design for the Postal Telegraph Building at Harbour Grace (1913) bears a close resemblance to the Public Building at Bay Roberts, where both asymetrical compositions employ a corner tower and have some affinity with post office designs introduced in Canada more than a decade before by David Ewart, Chief Architect of the the federal Department of Public Works. Churchill remained in his post until his retirement in August 1930 when he was succeeded by Samuel A. Churchill. He died in St. John's on 18 July 1934 (obituary in the Evening Telegram [St. John's], 19 July 1934, 4; biography in Who's Who in and from Newfoundland, 1927, 107)

BONAVISTA, NFLD., Court House, 1897-98 (dwgs. at Nfld. Dept. of Public Works; M. Carter, Early Canadian Court Houses, 1983, 28, 201, illus.)
GREENSPOND, NFLD., Court House, 1900-01 (dwgs. at Nfld. Dept of Public Works; M. Carter, Early Canadian Court Houses, 1983, 31, 201, illus.)
PLACENTIA, NFLD., Court House and General Building, 1902 (dwgs. at Nfld. Dept. of Public Works; M. Carter, Early Canadian Court Houses, 1983, 29, 201, illus.)
ST. GEORGE'S, BAY ST. GEORGE, NFLD., Court House, 1903 (dwgs. at Nfld. Dept. of Public Works)
TRINITY, NFLD., Court House and General Building, 1903 (M. Carter, Early Canadian Court Houses, 1983, 30, 202, illus.)
BURRIN, NFLD., Court House, c. 1905 (M. Carter, Early Canadian Court Houses, 1983, 32, 201, illus.)
HARBOUR GRACE, NFLD., Public Building & Fire Hall, Bannerman Street near Water Street, 1909 (Harbour Grace Standard, 6 Nov. 1909, 2, illus. & descrip.)
BAY ROBERTS, NFLD., Public Building, 1913 (dwgs. at Nfld. Dept of Public Works)
HARBOUR GRACE, NFLD., Postal Telegraph Building, 1913 (dwgs. at Nfld. Dept. of Public Works)