THOMPSON, Francis (1808-1895)
(biography in preparation)
N.B. for a list of works by Wells & Thompson, Architects of Montreal, Que, see entry under John Wells
FRANCIS THOMPSON (works in Montreal)
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, alterations and improvements, 1832 (Montreal Gazette, 25 Oct. 1832, 3, t.c.)
ST. ANNE’S MARKET, Place Youville between Grey Nun’s Street and Commissioners Street, completion of the work begun by Wells & Thompson, 1833 (Canadian Courant, 19 Jan. 1833, 3, t.c.; Montreal Gazette, 28 Nov. 1833, 3, detailed description)
ST. PAUL’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, St. Helen Street at Recollet Street, 1833 (Canadian Courant [Montreal], 22 June 1833, 3, t.c.; Montreal Gazette, 31 Aug. 1833, 2, descrip.; N. Bosworth, Hochelaga Depicta, 1839, 119, illus. & descrip.)
THOMPSON & PARRY (works in Montreal)
LACHINE, QUE., dwelling for the Hudson’s Bay Co., 1834 (Montreal Gazette, 19 April 1834, 2, t.c.; 29 April 1834, 3, t.c.; 9 June 1835, 3, t.c.)
NAPIERVILLE, QUE., Court House & Jail, 1834 (Montreal Gazette, 22 May 1834, 2, t.c.; M. Carter, Early Canadian Court Houses, 1983, 82, illus.; dwgs. at NAC, National Map Coll. H3/350)
NOTRE DAME STREET, addition to Mr. Lindsay’s house, 1835 (dwgs. at ANQM, CD2/328)
FRANCIS THOMPSON (works in England and Wales)
CHESTERFIELD, DERBYSH., North Midland Railway Co. Station, 1839-40 (Derby Mercury, 20 May 1840, 3, descrip.)
ECKINGTON, DERBYSH., North Midland Railway Co. Station, 1839-40 (Derby Mercury, 20 May 1840, 3, descrip.)
MASBRO, DERBYSH., North Midland Railway Co. Station, 1839-40 (Derby Mercury, 20 May 1840, 3, descrip.)
DERBY, DERBYSH., Trijunction Station, 1839-41 (Carroll Meeks, The Railroad Station, 1956, 44-5, illus. plate 19; H.R. Hitchcock, Architecture Nineteenth & Twentieth Centuries, 1958, 69; illus. plate 62b)
DERBY, DERBYSH., Midland Hotel, 1840
SOUTH WINGFIELD, ENGL., Wingfield Station, 1840 (G. Biddle & O. Nock, Railway Heritage of Britain, 1983, 85, illus.)
DERBY, DERBYSH., Railway Workers Housing & Brunswick Inn, 1841-42
ESSEX, ENGL., Audley End Station and Great Chesterford Station, 1845 (G. Biddle & O. Nock, Railway Heritage of Britain, 1983, 16-17, illus.)
CAMBRIDGE, ENGL., Cambridge Station, 1846-50 (M. Binney & D. Marcus, Railway Architecture, 1979, 56-7, illus.; G. Biddle & O. Nock, Railway Heritage of Britian, 1983, 18, illus.)
MENAI STRAIT, WALES, pylons for the Britannia Bridge, 1846-50 (H.R. Hitchcock, Architecture Nineteenth & Twentieth Centuries, 1958, 69, 123, illus. plate 61)
CHESTER, CHESHIRE, Chester Station, 1847-48 (Ipswich Journal, 27 May 1848, 4, descrip.; Carroll Meeks, The Railroad Station, 1956, 67; M. Binney & D. Marcus, Railway Architecture, 1979, 56-7, illus.)
HOLYWELL JUNCTION, NORTH WALES, Holywell Station, 1847-48 (G. Biddle & O. Nock, Railway Heritage of Britain, 1983, 95, illus.)
HASTINGS, ENGL., residence for the architect, 2 Alfred Road, 1867 (inf. Oliver F. Carter, Wigton)
FRANCIS THOMPSON – Railway Stations and other works for the Grand Trunk Railway Co. in North America
A lengthy illustrated essay on Thompson and his GTR works in Canada and the USA has been prepared by David L. Jeanes of Ottawa, Ont., and was published in Canadian Rail Magazine, No. 514, Sept.-Oct. 2006, p. 229-239 [now online]. This essay includes reproductions of original architectural drawings by Thompson for his station designs. Many of these drawings are now held in the National Map Collection at the National Library of Canada, Ottawa. The Ontario Archives in Toronto also holds an original drawing, in the style of Thompson, showing a prototype for a Second Class Way Side Station for the GTR. (OA, MU 2701 – Toronto & Guelph Drawings). This drawing is unsigned and undated, but was likely prepared in 1855 or 1856.
(railway stations in Ontario)
BELLEVILLE, ONT., GTR Station, Station Street, 1856; still standing as of 2020
BERLIN [now Kitchener], ONT., GTR Station, 1856
BRAMPTON, ONT., GTR Station, 1858
BRIGHTON, ONT., GTR Station, Maplewood Avenue, 1856; still standing as of 2020
COBOURG, ONT., GTR Station, 1856
CORNWALL, ONT., GTR Station, 1856; demol.
ERNESTOWN, ONT., GTR Station, 1855-56; still standing as of 2020
GEORGETOWN, ONT., GTR Station, 1858
GUELPH, ONT., GTR Station, 1858
KINGSTON, ONT., GTR Station, Montreal Street, 1856; burned 1996; now in a ruinous state (biog. & port. Jennifer McKendry, Architects Working in the Kingston Region 1820-1920, 2019, 108-09, illus.)
NAPANEE, ONT., GTR Station, John Street, 1856; still standing as of 2020
PRESCOTT, ONT. GTR Station, 1856
PORT HOPE, ONT., GTR Station, 1856; still standing as of 2020
ST. MARY’S JUNCTION, ONT., GTR Station, Glass Street, 1858; still standing of of 2020
STRATFORD, ONT., GTR Station, 1858
(railway stations in Quebec Province, in association with Thomas S. Scott as local supervising architect)
L’ISLET, QUE., GTR Station, 1858
RIVIERE DU LOUP, QUE., GTR Station, 1858
ST. ANNE DE LA POCATIERE, QUE., GTR Station, 1858
ST. HELENE, QUE., GTR Station, 1858
ST. JEAN, QUE., GTR Station, 1858
ST. PASCHAL, QUE., GTR Station, 1858
ST. ROCH DES AULNAIES, QUE., GTR Station, 1858
(railway stations in the U.S.A.)
PORTLAND, MAINE, Grand Trunk Railway Station & Dining Hall, Commercial Street, 1855-56; demol. 1902 (Montreal Transcript, 25 Sept. 1857, 2, descrip.)
ISLAND POND, VERMONT, large engine house and repair shops for the Grand Trunk Railway, 1857 (Montreal Transcript, 25 Sept. 1857, 2, descrip.)
FRASER, MICH, GTR Station, 1859
MOUNT CLEMENS, MICH., GTR Station, 1859
NEW HAVEN, MICH., GTR Station, 1859
PORT HURON, MICH., GTR Station, 1859
SMITH’S CREEK, MICH., GTR Station, 1859; and station later moved to Greenfield Historic Village in Dearborn, Mich.; still standing as 2020
WEST DETROIT, MICH., GTR Station, 1859
(other works for the GTR in Canada)
TORONTO, ONT. proposal for the G.T.R. Central Railway Station, York Street, south of Front Street West, designed in 1855, but not built (Canadian Rail Magazine, No. 514, Sept.-Oct. 2006, 236, illus. [online]),
MONTREAL, QUE., Tubular Railway Bridge across the St. Lawrence River, for the Grand Trunk Railway, 1854-59. Thompson is credited as the architect and designer of the 24 massive cut-stone piers which supported the enclosed tubular bridge structure above. These piers, or “cutwaters”, were designed to resist ice dams and heavy ice floes during the winter season, and were a significant engineering achievement for their time. Described as the longest bridge in the world when completed in 1859, the design and construction of the piers received international attention in the press (Illustrated London News [London], xxxiv, 19 Feb. 1859, 176-77, illus. & descrip.; Building News [London], vi, 28 Sept. 1860, 750, descrip.; Builder [London], xviii, 20 Oct. 1860, 671-72, illus. & descrip.). All of the piers and abutments are still standing as of 2020, and now support a more recent steel truss railway bridge structure which replaced the enclosed tubular bridge in 1898. A full-page photographic plate of this tubular bridge, taken c. 1880, appears in the publication called Dominion Illustrated: Special Number Devoted to Montreal, 1891, 48.
COMPETITIONS
NEW YORK CITY, N.Y., New York Stock Exchange, 1836. Thompson was one of several architects from the United States and Canada who submitted a design in this important competition to replace the Merchant’s Exchange building which had been destroyed in a fire in 1835. Thompson published a notice in The Gazette [Montreal], 9 April 1836 in which he stated that had “…lately prepared a Design for the New York Exchange, upon speculation” (inf. Pamela Scott, Washington). The winner of the competition was Isaiah Rogers of Boston.