CORLEY, Frank Sydney (1892-1976) was born in London, Engl. on 20 December 1892 and was brought to Canada by his family in 1907. He worked in Edmonton for A.F. Nesbitt (in 1908-10) and in Winnipeg where he was assistant to George Teeter (in 1910-12), and later worked there as a draftsman in the office of the Provincial Architect V.W. Horwood (in 1912-15). After serving overseas with the Royal Canadian Engineers during WWI he moved to Toronto where he worked for Burden & Gouinlock in 1919-21. He accepted a position with the Robert Simpson Co. in June 1923 and became a staff architect of the Special Contracts Branch of the store in 1928, overseeing the design of many custom homes built for clients in North Toronto and on suburban estates. From 1930 he was responsible for all new buildings for this department store chain in locations across Canada, including major additions to stores and mail order facilities in Toronto, Halifax, Regina and elsewhere. By 1940 he had adopted a modernist style for his designs, best seen in the bold curvilinear facade of the Simpson Co. warehouse in London, Ont. (C.R., lxiii, Sept. 1950, 119, illus. in advert.). Corley became the Staff Architect for the company in 1951 and was appointed Chief Architect in 1960. He retired in 1963 and died in Toronto on 13 March 1976 (obit. Toronto Star, 16 March 1976; inf. Ontario Assoc. of Architects; inf. Mr. R.F. Corley, Toronto.)
TORONTO, ONT., major additions to the Mail Order Warehouse for the Robert J. Simpson Co., Mutual Street, an 11 storey extension to the existing warehouse designed in 1916 by N. Max Dunning of Chicago, and completed by Corley in 1939-40 (Greg Lindberg, The Merchandise Building: Original Lofts, Original Story, 2002, 28-29, illus. & descrip.; dwgs. City of Toronto Archives)