CLIFT, Christopher (1861-1933) was born in Whitby, Co. Yorkshire, England on 15 June 1861. In 1876, at the young age of 15, he joined the office of Joseph H. Morton, FRIBA, a prominent architect in South Shields, Tyne & Wear, near Newcastle in northern England, and was indentured there for six years, receiving all of his architectural training under Morton's supervision. In 1882 he emigrated to Canada and settled in Montreal, where he was invited to form a partnership with James A. Nelson in 1883. He collaborated with him until December 1890 (see list of works under Nelson & Clift), and later opened his own office in that city in early 1891. In 1894 he formed a new partnership with Morley Pope and together they operated two offices, one in Sherbrooke, Que. where Clift moved in 1896, and one in Montreal, supervised by Pope. Clift was one of the founding members of the Province of Quebec Association of Architects and served as its Secretary in 1890.
Clift left Canada in May 1900 and moved to Schenectady, N.Y. where he opened a new office under his own name (W. T. Comstock, Architect's Directory for the United States and Canada, 1904-05, 80). In 1908 he moved to New York City and remained there for nearly ten years, and took a position with the Atlantic Terra Cotta Co., supervising the installation of the elaborate cladding system on the Woolworth Building (built 1911-13), an early skyscraper landmark designed by Cass Gilbert and, at the time of its completion, described as the tallest building in the world. In 1918 Clift moved to Wilmington, Delaware where he held the position of company architect for the DuPont Engineering Co., acting as designer, draftsman and specification writer, overseeing nearly $15 million in new buildings for the General Motors Corporation which were built at Pontiac and Flint, Mich., and at Oshawa, Ontario. These buildings included auto paint shops, assembly and machine shops, loading and storage buildings, and power house plants. He also advised on planning the company housing estates at Pontiac and Flint, Mich, and assisted with the planning and development of the new town of Hadley Bend, Tennessee, site of the Old Hickory Powder Plant where he designed the YMCA, the YWCA, community houses, and housing estates for employees at the plant. Clift joined the American Inst. of Architects in May 1920, and later died in Wilmington, Delaware on 6 September 1933 (obituary Wilmington Morning News, 8 Sept. 1933, 2). A photographic portrait of Clift can be found in C.A.B., iii, Dec. 1890, 138 ff.(biog. in Gazette [Montreal], 5 June 1897, 15; biog. Evening Journal [Wilmington, Delaware], 25 May 1920, 2; inf. John J. Mayers, Beaufort, South Carolina).
C. CLIFT (works in Montreal unless noted)
ONTARIO AVENUE, four houses for Whitley Bros., 1891 (C.R., ii, 6 June 1891, 1, t.c.)
WEST END METHODIST CHURCH, Coursol Street at Canning Street, a parsonage and dwelling for the church, 1891 (C.R., ii, 1 Aug. 1891, 1, t.c.)
ST. URBAIN STREET, curling rink, 1891 (C.R., ii, 7 Nov. 1891, 1, t.c.)
SEYMOUR AVENUE, residence for Alfred W. Hadrill, 1892 (C.R., iii, 16 April 1892, 2, t.c.)
MONTREAL WEST, QUE., Presbyterian Church, Westminster Avenue at Curzon Avenue, 1892 (C.R., iii, 16 June 1892, 2; 25th Anniversary of Montreal West Presbyterian Church 1891-1916, illus.)
STE. CATHERINE STREET WEST, at Alexander Street, a 4 storey commercial block of seven stores, for J.C. Watson, 1893 (Gazette [Montreal], 15 March 1893, 5; Montreal Star, 25 March 1893, 3, descrip.)
MONTREAL JUNCTION, the residence for Chirstopher Clift, Architect, Hillsview Avenue, c. 1895 (Montreal Daily Star, 28 April 1899, 3, detailed descrip. in Auction Sale Notice)
CLIFT & POPE (works in Montreal unless noted)
OUTREMONT, Protestant Church, 1894 (C.R., v, 19 July 1894)
DUROCHER STREET, stable for Charles F. Smith, 1895 (C.R., vi, 2 May 1895, 3)
ST. HYACINTHE, QUE., Eastern Townships Bank, 1896 (C.R., vii, 26 March 1896, 3)
LENNOXVILLE, QUE., major addition to St. George's Anglican Church, 1896 (C.R., vii, 13 Aug. 1896, 2)
PONT DU SAULT, QUE., residence for G.M. Day, 1896 (C.R., vii, 17 Sept. 1896, 3)
STANLEY STREET, alterations and repairs to residence for Frank W. May, 1897 (C.R., vii, 28 Jan. 1897, 2)
GAULT BROS., St. Helen Street at Recollet Street, warehouse for John Gault, 1897 (C.R., vii, 28 Jan. 1897, 3)
SHERBROOKE, QUE., Bell Telephone Exchange, 1897 (C.R., viii, 1 April 1897, 2)
SAVOY HOTEL, Victoria Street, for E.H. Dunham, 1897 (C.R., viii, 10 June 1897, 3)
SAULT AUX RECOLLETS, QUE., residence for Arthur Crewe, 1897 (C.R., viii, 22 July 1897, 3)
SHERBROOKE, QUE., opera house, 1897 (C.R., viii, 5 Aug. 1897, 2)
SHERBROOKE, QUE., St. Peter's Anglican Church, 1898; but scheme by Clift & Pope was later abandoned and the commission awarded to Cox & Amos of Montreal in 1900 (C.R., ix, 6 April 1898, 2; dwgs. at Rector's Office, St. Peter's Church)
SHERBROOKE, QUE., Sun Life Assurance Co., office block, 1898 (C.R., ix, 20 April 1898, 3; Montreal Daily Star, 9 July 1898, 11; and 8 Nov. 1898, 2)