COX, Charles F. (1858-1895) was born in England in August 1858 and came to Canada before 1870. He trained in the office of Tracy & Durand in London, Ont. and moved to New York City where he 'secured a responsible position' in 1881 (London Free Press, 11 May 1881, 4). By 1885 he had returned to London and formed a partnership with A.O. Graydon. He acted as Clerk of Works to Thomas Fuller on the construction of the Infantry School & Military College, Oxford Street, LONDON, ONT. in 1886 (London Free Press, 30 Oct. 1886, 3, descrip.). His most important commission was a scholarly and fastidious Gothic Revival design for St. John's Anglican Church which featured a tall and slender tower and spire that was never completed. The drawings for the church, prepared by Cox in February 1887, survive and can be found in the collections of the D.B. Weldon Library at the University of Western Ontario. Construction of the church began the following year after Cox had accepted an appointment to the Dept. of Marine & Fisheries in October 1887, leaving William Joanes, a local London architect, to supervise the construction of the church in 1888. In 1892 Cox was one of sixty-two competitors who submitted a design for the British Columbia Parliament Buildings. His entry, signed 'Dixie', was not placed among the finalists (M. Segger, The British Columbia Parliament Buildings, 1979, 84). In July 1894 he became assistant engineer with the Hydrographic Survey in Ottawa. Cox never lived to see the completion of his last commission for the Anglican Church at Dunrobin, Ont.; he drowned in a boating accident near Gatineau Point on 1 August 1895 (obit. Ottawa Citizen, 1 Aug. 1895, 7).
( works in London, Ont. unless noted)
unnamed street, pair of houses for C. Taylor, 1885 (Daily Advertiser [London], 27 Oct. 1885, 5, t.c.)
HURON COLLEGE, demolition and re-building of St. John's Anglican Chapel, 1887 (Free Press [London], 1 April 1887, 5)
ST. JOHN'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, James Street at Wellington Street, designed by Cox in 1887; completed by William Joanes in 1888 (Daily Advertiser [London], 2 March 1887, 5, t.c.; 22 Oct. 1887, 3, descrip.; 3 Oct. 1888, 5, descrip.; dwgs. Univ. of Western Ontario, Moore Coll.)
OTTAWA, ONT., Experimental Farm, laying out of the site and design of farm buildings, 1887 (Daily Advertiser [London], 21 May 1887, 8)
DUNROBIN, ONT., St. Mary's Anglican Church, 1896 (Canadian Churchman [Toronto], xxii, 12 March 1896, 168, descrip.)