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This single-bowl, stainless steel sink is undermounted in the granite. The one=bowl concept is coming back!
DIPLOMAT BUILDING FEATURES
Elegant two-story lobby
Upscale arrival piazza for convenient resident drop-off
Lushly landscaped exterior plaza at the amenity level
Twenty-four-hour access control security desk
Closed circuit Television surveillance system and keyless
entry
Elevated pool deck overlooking the ocean
Professionally equipped fitness center
Covered controlled access parking
State-of-the-art surround sound theater/media room
Resident clubroom with a full-service kitchen
Business center & conference room
Billiard Lounge & Card Room
Poolside Cabanas
Bicycle storage
DIPLOMAT RESIDENCE FEATURES & AMENITIES
Private elevator lobbies
Elegant double-door entry
Magnificent views from expansive windows and terraces
Exceptional quality materials and finishes
Designer lighting package
Large his and her’s walk-in wardrobe closets
Large capacity front-loading washer and dryer
Two-panel interior doors with brushed chrome hardware
Impact-resistant windows and doors
Pre-wired for high-speed internet access
Spacious balconies and terraces
Fully sprinkled fire and alarm systems
Recessed lighting in halls, kitchens, and baths
Granite countertops & backsplash in Kitchen
Premium Kitchen appliance packages including:
42" Subzero refrigerator with ice maker
Electric Range (Gas Optional)
Built-in wall oven with microwave
Multi-cycle "quiet-power" dishwasher with pot scrubber
Undermount Sink with European-style faucet
9' Ceilings
Solar tinted and laminated glass on all windows & sliding
glass panels
Energy efficient heating, ventilation & cooling systems
Air-conditioned storage
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
www.diplomathollywoodcondos.com/Building/Index/building/9...
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
Bathroom reno from May 11 (demolition day ) to July (?), 2023.
Goodbye, '90s. Everything except the hardwood flooring and oak baseboards was removed from this half-bathroom on May 11: a toilet, oak wall-hung cabinet, six-sided oak vanity w/2 drawers and arborite top, 3 mirrors, sink and faucet. Apart from the hardwood flooring, only the light fixture, wallplates and switches are staying.
Six days ago, the toilet and faucet were installed. Chrome faucet is "Essence", by Grohe. The old faucet did not swivel, which made sink-cleaning more of a chore. For this reason, the homeowner chose a faucet that swivels. Vanity is by Redl, quartz countertop by GS, in "Latte", and rectangular undermount sink by ProFlo.
The bathroom is now useable again, but sadly, instead of being all but done, the project is weeks away from completion due to the mistake that was made with the quartz sample, which impacted the choice of tile for the backsplash. It’ll be 2-3 weeks . . . . maybe . . . . before alternate tile and grout can be selected and the order arrives in Regina. The contractor doesn’t want to hang the mirror and install the light fixture until after the backsplash is in place. Too bad, so sad for the homeowner, who has to go with the flow.
Shows much better larger; press L.
To see before and after photos of the reno work in sequence, click on my "FOLLOW THE POWDER ROOM RENO" album.
Appliances by Gorenje Ora-Ito, Miele, De Dietrich and Siemens. Units are Hi-Gloss Heliante by Mobalpa, with Silestone worktops. Franke square cut undermount sink with Zoo taps mounted on l-shaped bespoke raised worktop/bar area.
The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and neighboring Greenfield Village is the largest indoor-outdoor museum complex in the United States. Located in Dearborn, Michigan, the indoor exhibit hall alone is 523,000 square feet in size and features antique machinery, locomotives, train cars, airplanes, automobiles, and thousands of other artifacts. Greenfield Village features numerous historic buildings and a steam railroad around its perimeter. The facility was completed in 1929 and was originally named the Edison Institute; it opened to the public in 1933. Today, the Henry Ford draws 1.7 million visitors a year.
Kitchen reno from Nov. 10 (demolition day) to Dec. 18 (substantial completion date).
The homeowner made a decision on drawer and door pulls, and they were installed on Mar. 3.
Handles are from Richelieu Hardware, in brushed nickel.
See how this space looked at the end of day 1: www.flickr.com/photos/joan-marie/15744412186/
Kitchen is by Redl: MDF cabinets painted with Benjamin Moore's "Dove Wing"; oak-panelled island stained dark brown. Kitchen walls are painted "Collingwood", eggshell finish; window trim, "Cloud White", pearl finish.
Vicostone quartz countertops in "Serra", with a square wrap edge profile. Ames "Elements" series 4" x 6" glass tile backsplash in "Forest" colour.
Integrated dishwasher by Miele is hidden by a cabinet panel and recessed toekick; all other appliances are by Jenn-Air. Fridge & ovens have what they call "floating" white glass panels.
Stainless steel undermount sink, "Alta" pull-out faucet & "Torre" soap dispenser by Blanco.
Light switches, outlets & wall plates by Legrand.
Hardwood floor (from '96) is by Mirage.
Kitchen Remodel June and July 2006 we used Ikea Adel birch cabinets, black galaxy slab granite, glass tile back splash, light carmalized horizontal grain bamboo flooring, stainless undermount sink with Hansgrohe faucet, and DCS appliances.
for my road bike...some gentle hacking of a GoPro undermount bracket provides a decent euro-mount for a headlight!
Bathroom reno from May 11 (demolition day ) to June (?), 2023.
Goodbye, '90s. Everything except the hardwood flooring and oak baseboards was removed from this half-bathroom on May 11: a toilet, oak wall-hung cabinet, six-sided oak vanity w/2 drawers and arborite top, 3 mirrors, sink and faucet. Apafrt from the hardwood floor, only the light fixture, wallplates and switches are staying.
Today, the quartz countertop, sink and cabinet handles were installed. Rectangular undermount sink is by ProFlo. Transitional metal pulls are from Richelieu Hardware, in brushed nickel. The countertop has a square wrap edge profile, and the pattern is "Latte", from a company called GS. Unfortunately, the ceramic tile backsplash, which was to have been installed tomorrow morning, won't be. Earlier this year, the local quartz dealer (not GS) provided the homeowner's project manager with a quartz sample so that the homeowner could select an appropriate colour of tile, grout and metal edger for the backsplash, and paint colour for the walls. Not until today was it discovered that the sample provided was not "Latte" but something else, mistakenly cut from another slab that had a pattern similar to "Latte" but not the same colour tones. As a result, the ceramic tile that was chosen by the homeowner does not work with "Latte", and another tile colour must be selected and ordered. The grout colour will also have to be changed. Because of this error, the backsplash will not be able to be installed for about another three weeks.
The toilet and faucet will be installed the day after tomorrow.
Shows much better larger; press L.
To see before and after photos of the reno work in sequence, click on my "FOLLOW THE POWDER ROOM RENO" album.
Bathroom reno from May 11 (demolition day ) to July 31, 2023.
Goodbye, '90s. Everything except the hardwood flooring and oak baseboards was removed from this half-bathroom on May 11: a toilet, oak wall-hung cabinet, six-sided oak vanity w/2 drawers and arborite top, 3 mirrors, sink and faucet. Apart from the hardwood floor, only the light fixture, wallplates and switches are staying.
On June 9, the new toilet and faucet were installed. Chrome swivel faucet is "Essence", by Grohe. Vanity is by Redl, quartz countertop by GS, in "Latte", and rectangular undermount sink by ProFlo.
The bathroom became useable again on June 9, and, if all had gone well, the project would have been finished within the next couple of days. However, a mistake was made with the quartz sample, which impacted the homeowner's selection of tile for the backsplash, so construction ground to a halt until alternate tile could be obtained, because the contractor did not want to hang the mirror and re-install the light fixture until after the backsplash was in place. Alternate tile was chosen quickly, but had to be ordered from stock in the USA, and did not arrive until yesterday, July 24. One careless mistake caused a delay of 6.5 weeks and counting, in terms of getting the work in this powder room finished and the house back to normal.
Today, the tile, metal edger and grout were installed: one row of 4" x 16" ceramic tile by American Olean, Color Story Wall series, in a grey colour called "Dependable", with a glossy finish. Metal edger is "Satin Nickel" by Schluter, and grout is "Pewter" by Mapei.
Tomorrow, the painter will return to repair the smudges and nicks in the walls, which happened while the countertop and tile were being installed. The mirror will be hung on Friday, and then the original light fixture will be re-installed, bringing an end to this project.
Shows better larger; press L.
To see before and after photos of the reno work in sequence, click on my "FOLLOW THE POWDER ROOM RENO" album.
Cheerful, versatile, and highly functional -- I love the mix of open shelves and glass-fronted cabinets, and the shot of yellow introduced through the servingware. Another great feature? The undermount sink. It looks gorgeous and means easier clean-up, too.
Photo by Michel Arnaud, Good Housekeeping, July 2007.
Bathroom reno from May 11 (demolition day ) to June (?), 2023.
Goodbye, '90s. Everything except the hardwood flooring and oak baseboards was removed from this half-bathroom on May 11: a toilet, oak wall-hung cabinet, six-sided oak vanity w/2 drawers and arborite top, 3 mirrors, sink and faucet. Apart from the hardwood floor, only the light fixture, wallplates and switches are staying.
Today, the quartz countertop, sink and cabinet handles were installed. Rectangular undermount sink is by ProFlo. Transitional metal pulls are from Richelieu Hardware, in brushed nickel. The countertop has a square wrap edge profile, and the pattern is "Latte", from a company called GS.
Unfortunately, the ceramic tile backsplash, which was to have been installed tomorrow morning, won't be. Earlier this year, the local quartz dealer (not GS) provided the homeowner's project manager with a quartz sample so that the homeowner could select an appropriate colour of tile, grout and metal edger for the backsplash, and paint colour for the walls. Not until today was it discovered that the sample provided was not "Latte" but something else, mistakenly cut from another slab that had a pattern similar to "Latte" but not the same colour tones. As a result, the ceramic tile that was chosen by the homeowner does not work with "Latte", and another tile colour must be selected and ordered. The grout colour will also have to be changed. Because of this error, the backsplash will not be able to be installed for about another three weeks.
The toilet and faucet will be installed the day after tomorrow.
Shows much better larger; press L.
To see before and after photos of the reno work in sequence, click on my "FOLLOW THE POWDER ROOM RENO" album.
Kitchen reno from Nov. 10 (demolition day) to Dec. 18 (completion date).
5 weeks have passed since the appliances and original 23-year old oak cabinets & island were removed and construction began. See how this space looked at the end of day 1: www.flickr.com/photos/joan-marie/15744412186/
Today, a row of 4" x 6" Ames glass tile was installed along the countertop. A metal Schluter in "brushed nickel" was run along the top and side edges of the tile, for a finished look.
Plumbers connected sink, faucet, garburator & dishwasher to the plumbing. No more washing dishes in the powder room sink!
The fridge, cooktop & wall oven/microwave were delivered and will be set into the cabinets tomorrow, and the electrician will connect power to the appliances & under-cabinet lites, and replace the existing light switches & electrical outlets.
TBD: installation of door & drawer pulls, once the owner has made a decision.
Kitchen is by Redl: MDF cabinets painted with Benjamin Moore's "Dove Wing", oak-panelled island stained dark brown. Kitchen walls are painted "Collingwood"; window trim, "Cloud White".
Quartz countertops by Vicostone; stainless steel undermount sink & "Alta" faucet by Blanco.
Kitchen reno from Nov. 10 (demolition day) to Dec. 18 (substantial completion date).
The homeowner finally made a decision on drawer and door pulls, and they were installed on Mar. 3.
Handles are from Richelieu Hardware, in brushed nickel.
See how this space looked at the end of day 1: www.flickr.com/photos/joan-marie/15744412186/
Kitchen is by Redl: MDF cabinets painted with Benjamin Moore's "Dove Wing"; oak-panelled island stained dark brown. Kitchen walls are painted "Collingwood", eggshell finish; window trim, "Cloud White", pearl finish.
Vicostone quartz countertops in "Serra", with a square wrap edge profile. Ames "Elements" series 4" x 6" glass tile backsplash in "Forest" colour.
Integrated dishwasher by Miele is hidden by a cabinet panel and recessed toekick; all other appliances are by Jenn-Air. Fridge & ovens have what they call "floating" white glass panels.
Stainless steel undermount sink, "Alta" pull-out faucet & "Torre" soap dispenser by Blanco.
Light switches, outlets & wall plates by Legrand.
Hardwood floor (from '96) is by Mirage.
Kitchen reno from Nov. 10 (demolition day) to Dec. 18 (substantial completion date).
Today, some minor touch-ups were done, the cardboard protector removed from the floor, and the dining table and rug returned to the dinette. The reno is now finished, except for door & drawer pulls.
Green tape = temporary pulls, until the owner makes a decision (handles or knobs . . . handles or knobs?).
See how this space looked at the end of day 1: www.flickr.com/photos/joan-marie/15744412186/
Kitchen is by Redl: MDF cabinets painted with Benjamin Moore's "Dove Wing"; oak-panelled island stained dark brown. Kitchen walls are painted "Collingwood", eggshell finish; window trim, "Cloud White", pearl finish.
Vicostone quartz countertops in "Serra", with a square wrap edge profile. Ames "Elements" series 4" x 6" glass tile backsplash in "Forest" colour.
Integrated dishwasher by Miele is hidden by a cabinet panel and recessed toekick; all other appliances are by Jenn-Air. Fridge & ovens have what they call "floating" white glass panels.
Stainless steel undermount sink, "Alta" pull-out faucet & "Torre" soap dispenser by Blanco.
Light switches, outlets & wall plates by Legrand.
Hardwood floor (from '96) is by Mirage.
Kitchen reno from Nov. 10 (demolition day) to Dec. 18 (completion date).
Night falls on the kitchen. Today, the appliances were set into position and the electricians connected power to them and to the under-cabinet LED lites (shown here), replaced the existing light switches & electrical outlets, reattached the sconce above the sink, and changed the 3 overhead tracklight bulbs from incandescent spot (wrong light for this kitchen!) to LED.
Green tape = temporary pulls, until the owner makes a decision on door & drawer pulls.
Tomorrow, some minor touch-ups will be done, the cardboard protector removed from the floor, and the dining table and rug returned to the dinette.
See how the space looked before, during & after: www.flickr.com/photos/joan-marie/albums/72157648831744487
Kitchen is by Redl: MDF cabinets painted with Benjamin Moore's "Dove Wing"; oak-panelled island stained dark brown. Kitchen walls are painted "Collingwood"; window trim, "Cloud White".
Vicostone quartz countertops in "Serra", Ames "Elements" series 4" x 6" glass tile backsplash in "Forest" colour.
Integrated dishwasher by Miele is hidden by a cabinet panel & recessed toekick; all other appliances by Jenn-Air.
Fridge & ovens have what they call "floating" white glass panels.
Stainless steel undermount sink, "Alta" pull-out faucet & "Torre" soap dispenser by Blanco. Light switches, outlets & wall plates by Legrand.
Our condo was built in 1967 and the kitchen has never been updated----we haven't even had a dishwasher since we moved here almost 3 years ago----In addition to a dishwasher, we added lots of cabinets (Diamond, maple, coconut), a deep stainless steel undermount sink, faucet and a quartz countertop (Silestone Merope, suede finish). The only thing left to do is backsplash and we are taking our time because we're not sure what we want. We more than doubled our counter space so cooking is now a pleasure.
Kitchen reno from Nov. 10 (demolition day) to Dec. 18 (substantial completion date).
The homeowner finally made a decision on drawer and door pulls, and they were installed on Mar. 3.
Handles are from Richelieu Hardware, in brushed nickel.
It's too cold now, but soon, the black dinette doors will be painted the same colour as the walls, and the fabric toppers will be removed.
See how this space looked at the end of day 1: www.flickr.com/photos/joan-marie/15744412186/
Kitchen is by Redl: MDF cabinets painted with Benjamin Moore's "Dove Wing"; oak-panelled island stained dark brown. Kitchen walls are painted "Collingwood", eggshell finish; window trim, "Cloud White", pearl finish.
Vicostone quartz countertops in "Serra", with a square wrap edge profile. Ames "Elements" series 4" x 6" glass tile backsplash in "Forest" colour.
Integrated dishwasher by Miele is hidden by a cabinet panel and recessed toekick; all other appliances are by Jenn-Air. Fridge & ovens have what they call "floating" white glass panels.
Stainless steel undermount sink, "Alta" pull-out faucet & "Torre" soap dispenser by Blanco.
Light switches, outlets & wall plates by Legrand.
Hardwood floor (from '96) is by Mirage.
Bathroom reno from May 11 (demolition day ) to July 31, 2023. It's finally over!
Goodbye, '90s. Everything except the hardwood flooring and oak baseboards was removed from this half-bathroom on May 11. The toilet, oak wall-hung cabinet, oak vanity with arborite top, three mirrors, sink and faucet were discarded. Only the original light fixture and outlet plates were kept. On July 31, the light fixture was re-installed, bringing an end to this small but extended project.
Vanity and mirror frame are by Redl, painted in "Dove Wing" by Benjamin Moore, handles by Richelieu. Quartz countertop by GS, glossy 4 x 16 ceramic tile by American Olean, metal edger by Schluter. Undermount sink by ProFlo, swivel faucet by Grohe. Chrome towel holder by Gatco. BM Aura Bath & Spa wall paint in "Collingwood", matte finish.
Shows much better larger; press L.
To see before and after photos of the reno work in sequence, click on my "FOLLOW THE POWDER ROOM RENO" album.
Kitchen reno from Nov. 10 (demolition day) to Dec. 18 (completion date).
The cooktop was set into the counter and measurements were taken for the wall oven/microwave.
This afternoon, the electrician will connect power to the appliances & under-cabinet lites, and replace the existing light switches, electrical outlets & incandescent bulbs in the overhead track.
TBD: installation of door & drawer pulls, once the owner has made a decision.
See how the space looked before, during & after: www.flickr.com/photos/joan-marie/albums/72157648831744487
Kitchen is by Redl: MDF cabinets painted with Benjamin Moore's "Dove Wing"; oak-panelled island stained dark brown. Kitchen walls are painted "Collingwood"; window trim, "Cloud White".
Quartz countertops by Vicostone; stainless steel undermount sink & "Alta" faucet by Blanco.
Kitchen reno from Nov. 10 (demolition day) to Dec. 18 (completion date).
This image shows part of the flip-up door and side panel for the corner appliance garage and the dishwasher toekick, which were attached today. Other work was done today, but is not shown in this image.
Green tape = temporary handles to enable the doors to be opened.
Propped against the ledge is a glass tile by Ames. One row of this will be installed along the countertop.
Blanco stainless steel undermount sink, "Alta" spray faucet & "Torre" soap dispenser, Miele integrated dishwasher & Vicostone "Serra" quartz with a square wrap edge profile.
Monday: no one will be working onsite.
Tuesday: tile to be installed; plumber to connect sink, faucet, garburator & dishwasher, & remaining appliances to be delivered.
Wednesday: electrician to install new light switches & electrical outlets, and connect oven, cooktop, dishwasher & under-cabinet lites.
TBD: installation of door & drawer pulls.
See how the space looked before, during & after: www.flickr.com/photos/joan-marie/albums/72157648831744487
Kitchen is by Redl: MDF cabinets painted with Benjamin Moore's "Dove Wing".
Kitchen walls are painted "Collingwood"; window trim, "Cloud White".
Kitchen reno from Nov. 10 (demolition day) to Dec. 18 (completion date).
What's different today:
The flip-up door and side panel for the corner appliance garage, dishwasher toekick and undercabinet LED lights were attached, & the scratched and dented 23-year old oak baseboards replaced with the oak trim that was removed from the kitchen windows. Baseboards look like new again!
Monday: no one will be working onsite.
Tuesday: glass tile to be installed along the countertop; plumber to connect sink, faucet, garburator & dishwasher, & remaining appliances to be delivered.
Wednesday: electrician to install new light switches & electrical outlets, and connect oven, cooktop, dishwasher & under-cabinet lites.
Next year: paint dinette doors same colour as walls, and remove fabric toppers.
TBD: installation of door & drawer pulls.
Kitchen is by Redl: MDF cabinets painted with Benjamin Moore's "Dove Wing" and oak-panelled island stained Dark Oak. Kitchen walls are painted "Collingwood"; window trim, "Cloud White".
Quartz is "Serra", by Vicostone; integrated dishwasher by Miele and stainless steel undermount sink by Blanco.
#KitchenDecor - New undermount kitchen sink fit into the existing sink hole. If the hole is too large or oddly shaped sink does not fit. Fortunately, manufacturers sink to create a wide selection of sinks of all shapes and sizes, most likely sink to fit within the existing hole.
Kitchen countertop must be...
Granite countertop, undermount sink and tumbled marble backsplash.
The mirror is backlit along the top and bottom edges, and holds 2 hidden medicine cabinets on either side.
American Kitchen Corporation includes a stainless steel undermout sink with every kitchen package. The inside lip is polished. This is the 60/40 stainless undermount sink, shown with an optional tumbled travertine backsplash with customer-provided decos.
An Avery Teeth Talk logo spotted on a door in Colonia Condesa.
The logo was placed on the front of Peoria, Illinois based Avery Manufacturing steam driven tractors.
The logo features a bulldog with small blades for teeth and spike accents on his "Avery" collar.
The tractors steam was used to run threshing machines.
Massive steam engines like the Avery were generally used on the large farms of the US Great Plains.
The Avery generated 30 horsepower, but weighed 23 tons.
More efficient tractors, like the Fordson, which could generate 20 horsepower but weighed just over one ton, soon replaced these dinosaurs of the farm.
AVERY:
The Avery Company, founded by Robert Hanneman Avery, was an American farm tractor manufacturer famed for its undermounted engine which resembled a railroad engine more than a conventional farm steam engine.
Avery founded the farm implement business after the Civil War. His company built a large line of products, including steam engines, beginning in 1891.
The company started with a return flue design and later adapted the undermount style, including a bulldog design on the smokebox door.
Their design was well received by farmers in central Illinois. They expanded their market nationwide and overseas until the 1920s, when they failed to innovate and the company failed.
Courtesy Wikipedia.
DIY kitchen remodel of "The Sweet Pea Café ", at about the 90% finished phase. 5 months, going on 6 & still pluggin away! Wainscot & tin backsplash to be installed next week, new chandelier on order & the marble island top should be ready soon!
It's all coming together beautifully, I'm beyond anxious to add the final decorating touches, my goal is to create a modern convenient kitchen for functionality sake, but preserve it with a vintage flare that is in-keeping with the home's 1946 roots.
Kitchen reno from Nov. 10 (demolition day) to Dec. 18 (completion date).
The quartz tops for the window ledge, counter & island were delivered today and set into position, along with the undermount sink. The door and rear panel for the corner appliance garage will be installed tomorrow.
Kitchen is by Redl: MDF cabinets painted with Benjamin Moore's "Dove Wing" and oak-panelled island stained dark brown. Kitchen walls are painted "Collingwood"; window trim, "Cloud White".
Quartz countertops and window ledge are "Serra", by Vicostone, with a square wrap edge profile. Stainless steel sink by Blanco.
Kitchen Renovation for a 2,600 sq.ft. triplex in Shaughnessy
8 week lead time
all new plumbing, electrical, addition of gas line, new flooring with radiant heating
structural constraints determined locations of appliances
white lacquer flush cabinetry
corian square profile countertops
miele integrated appliances
subzero integrated fridge / freezer
blanco undermount sink & faucet
stainless steel hardware
Photographs from the 2024 Midwest Old Settlers and Threshers Reunion at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. This is a five-day event that takes place every Labor Day weekend. Old Threshers features numerous farm machinery displays, including dozens of operational steam and gas tractors, vehicles, and other rare equipment. Steam and diesel locomotives operate over a mile of track on the 3-foot-gauge Midwest Central Railroad, and vintage streetcars and interurbans can be seen running on the standard-gauge Midwest Electric Railway.
Jayne Alofs Partners
-Your answer for real estate
Gorgeous Exposed Brick Walls, Expansive 12.5' Timber Ceilings in an immaculate Streeterville loft! A Great Lakefront home! '01 Tier Facing North. 1 Large Bed/1 Bath. Wonderful Loft Space with a Closed-Off Bedroom. Large Windows. Hardwood Floors throughout. Kitchen with Maple Cabinets, Undermount Sink, Granite Counters and Eating Area. Assessment includes Heat, A/C, Cable TV, Door Staff, Roof Deck, School Data
Contact Info:
Jayne Alofs
OFC 312.475.4593
CELL 312.513.0102
FAX 312.204.5293
Email: Jayne@jaynealofspartners.com
Scott Fishman
OFC 312.475.4538
CELL 312.316.5409
FAX 312.204.5238
Email: Scott@jaynealofspartners.com
THOMAS, WILLIAM, architect, water-colourist, and engineer; b. c. 1799 in Suffolk, England, son of William Thomas and Ann —; m. 17 Sept. 1826 Martha Tutin in Birmingham, England, and they had four sons and six daughters; d. 26 Dec. 1860 in Toronto.
William Thomas’s significance among his generation of architects in British North America lies not only in the outstanding nature of the work he executed but also in the unique opportunity his career affords of tracing the relationship between his extensive preparation in England and his work in Canada, the latter being more accomplished and much more important relatively. Other architects such as John George Howard*, George Browne*, Frederic William Cumberland*, and Thomas Fuller* arrived when they were much younger than Thomas, with the result that their early work is unknown. Thomas came in his maturity.
Shortly after William’s birth, the family settled at Chalford, Gloucestershire, where his father was innkeeper of the Clothier’s Arms. William and his three brothers all entered the building trades. John, the youngest, was apprenticed to a letter-carver or mason at first, studied briefly under William in the early 1830s, and achieved some success as an architect; he is, however, best remembered as one of the most prolific sculptors of the period. Between 1812 and 1819 William was apprenticed to John Gardiner, a local carpenter and joiner.
Some time after receiving his indenture papers, William moved to Birmingham, where he married Martha Tutin in 1826. He may have been the pupil of Richard Tutin, a builder-turned-architect who was apparently a relative of Martha. In 1829 Thomas entered into partnership with him, but it was probably dissolved the following year. In 1832 Thomas moved to nearby Leamington, a flourishing watering-place in Warwickshire. Here he had a varied career: initially serving as agent for a developer, he promoted and executed his own building speculation schemes and designed numerous buildings for clients. The failure of a local bank in 1837 may have obliged him to apply for the office of town surveyor – he was acting surveyor in 1838–39 – and undoubtedly precipitated his bankruptcy in 1840, along with those of most of the other building speculators in Leamington. Thomas had opened a branch-office in Birmingham, but there were few architectural commissions available because of widespread depression in the early 1840s.
Thomas’s architectural work in England comprises designs for a remarkable range of structures, including houses, churches, shops, a conservatory, a public bath complex, and iron and stone bridges. The bulk of his work, however, consisted chiefly of speculative housing for the middle class in Leamington. He is known to have designed town houses on Beauchamp Terrace, beginning in 1831, and two chapels in 1834. Two impressive housing complexes followed the next year: Lansdowne Circus, a horseshoe-shaped grouping of plain Georgian-style semi-detached houses and villas (most with decorative cast-iron porches and balconies under tent-shaped roofs), and adjacent Lansdowne Crescent, a curving terrace of connected and landscaped town houses executed in a fully elaborated classical style. For Lansdowne Crescent, Thomas had acquired the property in partnership, furnished the designs, and developed some parcels with covenants requiring conformity in the design of façades. In a somewhat similar vein he was responsible for the development on Brandon Parade and Holly Walk (which adjoined both the crescent and the circus) of about ten villas, in a mixture of Grecian and Gothic Revival designs. Before his bankruptcy Thomas lived in one of these villas, Elizabethan Place, which is conspicuously dated 1836 and signed “WT.” A combination of small volumes balanced in effective groupings with ornamental flourishes at the edges is characteristic of the mature Thomas. Victoria Terrace, Pump Room and Baths, a multipurpose building begun in Leamington in 1837, formed a major focus of the town and was his grandest work in England.
In Duddeston (Birmingham) he erected St Matthew’s Church (Anglican) in 1839–40. This rectangular brick building, executed in a mixture of Early English and Decorated Gothic Revival styles with a projecting three-storey tower at the west end, would be used by Thomas as a basis in developing many of his Canadian churches. In the same years he was also responsible for a palatial draper’s shop in Birmingham called Warwick House. A water-colour by Thomas of this highly ornamented block, which was bombed in World War II, shows a four-storey building of seven bays, with immense display windows set between graceful piers opening up the ground floor, while the second and third floors are set off by colossal columns and the fourth floor is richly treated as an attic. This was a successful formula for commercial structures and would be used for one of Thomas’s best-known works in Canada. In essence, Thomas’s career up to this point forms a modest and provincial parallel, in its range of activity, styles, and enterprise, to that of John Nash, the fashionable architect who had done so much to reshape London in the first quarter of the 19th century.
In December 1842 Thomas sent to press a slim book entitled Designs for monuments and chimney pieces, a discreet piece of self-advertisement which was published in London the following year. Consisting of 41 lithographed plates with 46 Grecian, Roman, Gothic and Elizabethan patterns, the book is indicative of the eclectic approach to architectural design prevalent during the late Georgian and early Victorian periods. Like most other designers, Thomas felt free to choose historical revival styles that were deemed fitting to the location and function of a work. His churches, for example, were generally designed in the Gothic style, which readily identified their religious function and association with the devout Christian beliefs of the Middle Ages.
In April 1843 Thomas left England for Toronto. Precisely what prompted him, in his early 40s, to emigrate with his wife and eight children or to choose Toronto for his new home is unknown. His forced bankruptcy three years earlier and the dearth of work must have been contributing causes, but the key factor was probably his ambition. Toronto, which was entering a boom period with a population of more than 15,000 but with only three practising architects, was an appealing location for an industrious architect. Thomas’s journal of his transatlantic crossing in 1843 reveals an acute and well-informed observer. He emerges from the journal as a patient and loving father, a warm and sympathetic man. Possessed of a considerable sense of humour, he was very sociable as well and enjoyed chess, card-playing, conversation, singing, and dancing. Thomas settled with his family at 5 York Street and opened an office at 55 King Street East, in the city’s main commercial district. His first major commission in Toronto seems to have been the Commercial Bank of the Midland District on Wellington Street. Designed in 1844 and built a year later, it was one of the earliest banks fashioned in the Greek Revival mode in British North America and its façade remains one of the best examples of that style in the city. The only other bank known to have been designed by Thomas, the Bank of British North America, Hamilton (1847–49), has been demolished.
It was, however, his churches that brought early acclaim. Reputedly there were eventually more than 30 of these, 12 in Toronto alone. The first, St Paul’s Church (Anglican) in London, was erected in 1844–46 of red brick (with a white-brick front) in the Decorated Gothic style. Described by William Henry Smith* in the year of its completion as “the handsomest gothic church in Canada West,” it was elevated to cathedral status in 1857 [see Benjamin Cronyn*] and extended in the 1890s by means of transepts.
Before St Paul’s was completed, Thomas commenced his most ambitious ecclesiastical work and the largest church in Toronto at the time, St Michael’s Cathedral (Roman Catholic), which was constructed in 1845–48 of the then-fashionable white brick. Extending from Bond to Church streets on the north side of Shuter, its long flank commanded McGill Square before that area was built over. St Michael’s too was designed in the Decorated Gothic style, but on a cruciform plan, and it was both more substantial and more ornamental in character than St Paul’s. The congregation could not immediately afford Thomas’s tower and spire; these and the dormers were later added by the firm of Thomas Gundry and Henry Langley*. A palace for Bishop Michael Power* was also designed by Thomas, in the Tudor Revival style, and was erected in 1845 on Church Street just north of the cathedral.
Thomas was especially favoured by Presbyterian congregations, particularly those created as a result of the disruption of 1844 [see Robert Burns*]. In Toronto alone he designed Knox’s Church (Free Presbyterian), Queen Street (1847–48), a church for the United Presbyterian congregation of the Reverend John Jennings*, Bay Street (1848), and Cooke’s Church (Free Presbyterian), Queen Street (1857–58). But he worked for many other denominations in the city, designing the Methodist New Connexion Church, Temperance Street (1846), the Unitarian Church, Jarvis Street (1854), Zion Church (Congregational), Bay and Adelaide streets (1855–56), and the German Evangelical Lutheran Church, Bond Street (1856–57). All have been torn down or replaced.
Although Thomas was unsuccessful in the 1849 competition for the Church of England cathedral in Toronto, he received commissions in 1851–52 from Anglican congregations in Guelph and Hamilton which resulted in churches of considerable significance. St George’s Church in Guelph, begun in 1851, was not only one of the first churches executed in the Romanesque Revival style in British North America but was also one of the first based on an asymmetrical plan. Three bays, including a corner tower forming a porch on the axis of Wyndham Street, were added in stone to an existing wooden church. Designs drafted by Thomas in 1856 for the rest of the church and for an elegant interior were not implemented and the church was later demolished. In Hamilton, where he had opened an office by 1849, possibly in the care of his son William Tutin, Thomas began work on Christ’s Church (now the Anglican cathedral) in 1852. This was his most adventurous work structurally, calling for a stone building on a basilican plan, with a tall nave carried on piers, a decoratively treated open wooden roof, clerestory lighting, flanking aisles, and a short but distinct chancel. These features suggest that the design was an early instance in this province of the ritualistic neo-medievalism advocated in architectural design by the Ecclesiological Society in England, though Thomas was by no means doctrinaire in his designs for churches. Only the chancel and two bays of Christ’s Church were built, as tall additions to Robert Charles Wetherell’s neoclassical wooden church of 1842, and the disjointed effect gave rise to the name “the hump-backed church.” In 1873–77 it was completed. Simpler churches were well within Thomas’s capability and at least three still stand: St George’s-on-the-Hill Church (Anglican) of 1847 in Etobicoke (Toronto), the Free Presbyterian Church (now Grace United) of 1852 in Niagara (Niagara-on-the-Lake), and MacNab Street Church (Presbyterian) of 1856 in Hamilton. Of these, the Niagara church is particularly appealing. Executed in a predominantly Romanesque mode, it features chunky corbel tables and pilaster strips which look less skimped than those in his conventional Gothic designs.
Thomas’s design for another Presbyterian church in Hamilton, the well-preserved St Andrew’s (renamed St Paul’s in 1874), was his most successful composition. It was begun in 1854 on a large budget, which encouraged a rich treatment in stone and an elaborate interior. The tower is bold and massive, with deep angle buttresses and dense carving in areas such as the entrance and the gables. The octagonal spire is apparently the only stone spire erected in Ontario. The interior is equally striking in the richness of its sombre decoration, carved in dark wood. Although the cost proved ruinous for its congregation, the church has been consistently admired: in 1901 the Canadian Architect and Builder regarded it as still “well worth the study of architects” because “the construction is genuine” and “an essential part of the aim was honest work.”
Thomas was busy almost continuously designing a succession of significant public buildings for centres throughout British North America. These include the Fireman’s Hall and Mechanics’ Institute building, Toronto (1845), the combined district court-house, town hall, and market, Niagara (1846–48), the Talbot District Jail, Simcoe (1847–48), the House of Industry, Toronto (1848), the Kent County Court-House, Chatham (1848–49), the St Lawrence Hall, Arcade, and Market building, Toronto (1849–51), the town hall and market-house, Peterborough (1851), the town hall and market, Guelph (1856–57), the custom-house, Quebec (1856–60), the town hall and market-house, Stratford (1857), the city jail (now known as the Don Jail), Toronto (1859–64), and the Halifax County Court-House, Halifax (1858–62). All survive except those in Peterborough and Stratford, and the Fireman’s Hall and Mechanics’ Institute building in Toronto. Most of these commissions were won in competition and follow a common formula in their design: a long symmetrical front, with a projecting frontispiece under a pediment, often with colossal orders, seated on a heavy base. Not all of Thomas’s competition designs were successful. In 1859, for example, he was an unsuccessful entrant in the contest for the parliament buildings in Ottawa.
The best known of Thomas’s public structures is undoubtedly St Lawrence Hall in Toronto which, with its original arcade and market, comprised the St Lawrence Buildings. An earlier town hall and market on the site, designed by Henry Bowyer Joseph Lane, were destroyed in the fire of 1849 and Thomas immediately received the commission for their replacements, his design closely following his successful (but unexecuted) competition design of 1845 for refronting the earlier buildings. The St Lawrence Buildings were I-shaped, with the hall fronting on King Street, the market on Front Street, and the 200-foot arcade between the two. The hall contained shops on the ground floor, committee rooms on the second, and an assembly room on the third, the latter offering a more dignified space for concerts, balls, lectures, and the like than those provided by local hotels or the earlier town hall and market. An enlarged and more controlled version of Thomas’s Warwick House (executed in Birmingham nearly a decade earlier), St Lawrence Hall is his most graceful exercise in classical design. The market and arcade have been replaced, but the hall has been refurbished and remains an important civic focus.
Thomas’s earlier public buildings at Niagara and Chatham are both Late Georgian in style and nearly as restrained as St Lawrence Hall, but most of his other public works were designed in a forceful Victorian version of the Renaissance Revival style. There is a deliberate crudity of scale and texture in these visually powerful buildings which reflects their association with the law, public administration, and commerce. They are characterized by blocky masses, rugged surfaces, and abrupt transitions. The Halifax County Court-House best displays these characteristics in Thomas’s later public buildings. The dominant feature of this sandstone structure is its heavily textured frontispiece with bands of contrasting stone at every level up to the stout brackets that support the simple pediment. The three splendid keystones, which are carved in the form of sombre bearded heads and alternate with lion’s-head medallions, are hallmarks of Thomas’s last, and most vigorous, architectural phase.
His civic architecture also included public schools, which were just beginning to be designed in Canada as architecturally distinctive institutions. His Union School in London (1849), described two years later in a government report as “by far the finest school house in the Province,” was followed by designs for two schools in Toronto. In 1851 the city’s first elected school-board, under the chairmanship of Dr Joseph Workman*, launched a school-design competition. Thomas’s plan was used in 1852–53 for the Park and Louisa Street schools. These were designed in the Tudor style, which was popular for institutional buildings because it afforded ample lighting and ventilation as well as an interesting silhouette, all within a reasonable budget. All three schools have been demolished. In 1853 Thomas received the commission for the combined county grammar and common schools in Goderich.
The columnar monument to Sir Isaac Brock* on Queenston Heights (1853–56) is arguably Thomas’s most florid composition. It is 185 feet tall, rising from a richly trophied base guarded by carved lions. A colossal statue of Brock stands on a lavish capital, designed by Thomas himself rather than drawn from the classical orders. Gates, a lodge, and steps, all completed in 1859, frame the monument in scenographic fashion. Thomas displayed a stone model of it at the universal exposition in Paris in 1855.
His English work had consisted largely of housing and numerous Canadian examples can be identified. In Toronto, a handsome row of houses called Wellington Terrace, built on Wellington Street in 1847, has been demolished, but three units of another group, built in 1848, survive on Church Street behind St Michael’s Cathedral. In Hamilton, Thomas’s firm was said by the Halifax Reporter in 1860 to be responsible for “the greater number of the very beautiful private residences that meet the eye in every direction.” Surviving work there attributed to Thomas includes Undermount (on John Street), designed for John Young* in the Italianate style in 1847, and two Gothic villas: the Presbyterian manse (at Herkimer and Park streets), completed in 1854, and Inglewood (on Inglewood Drive), built for Archibald Kerr about the same date. Thomas’s Wilderness House (1848–51), built for Aeneas Kennedy, was destroyed in 1853. Thomas also designed a villa in London for Lawrence Lawrason*. His own Toronto residence, Oakham House (1848), a Gothic composition on Church Street, stands but has been gutted and additions replace his office wing on Gould Street; his 1859 Italianate home on Mutual Street has been destroyed. He is also known to have built houses in Toronto for at least six prominent businessmen, including John McMurrich*. Among Thomas’s last known residential works was the house, which still stands, built in St Catharines in 1859–60 for William Hamilton Merritt*.
Mixed commercial and residential buildings by Thomas were surely numerous too. The first of these was probably the Adelaide Buildings on Yonge Street (1844), which were altered in 1853 and subsequently torn down. In 1846 William Henry Smith described some stores designed by him and under construction on King Street, Toronto, as “the handsomest buildings of the kind in Canada, and equal to anything to be seen in England.” Although some of the stores were damaged in the fire of 1849 and others were demolished later, several still survive, now generally altered. More stylish were two Italianate works, both large-scale dry-goods businesses: the 1847 store (named the Golden Lion in 1849) of Robert Walker and Thomas Hutchinson on King Street and the premises of Ross, Mitchell and Company, built at Yonge and Colborne streets about 1856. Both have been demolished. In a period of vigorous economic growth in Canada, at least three other Toronto firms, including Bryce, McMurrich and Company, commissioned buildings from Thomas, who also designed stores in Port Hope and Hamilton.
Thomas formally took two of his sons, William Tutin and Cyrus Pole, both of whom he had trained, into his flourishing business in January 1857 and the firm became William Thomas and Sons. It was shortly to expand again. Thomas’s design for Knox’s Church in Toronto had so impressed visiting members of St Matthew’s Church (Presbyterian) in Halifax that, when it was destroyed by fire in 1857, his firm was asked to design its replacement, which was built on Barrington Street in 1858–59 and still stands. This project brought the Thomas firm to Halifax, where Cyrus opened an office in 1858. The firm’s successful entry that year in the county court-house competition no doubt led to commissions after the fire of 1859 for rebuilding much of the commercial section at the north end of Granville Street [see George Lang*]. At least 12 four-storey buildings, more than half of the new construction, were designed by the firm and nearly all were completed by the end of 1860. The group is remarkable not only for the number and variety of the commissions (executed simultaneously for no less than eight different clients) but for the impact of the resulting streetscape, which survives. Contiguous properties called the Palace Buildings were handled uniformly as the largest single design. Unity of effect elsewhere in the group was achieved through the use of stone (from different Nova Scotian quarries), elevations of related height, and recurring rhythms. All but one building had decorative cast-iron shop-fronts, which are important as early examples of this type of construction in British North America. Cyrus Pole Thomas visited Daniel D. Badger’s Architectural Iron Works in New York in 1860 to arrange for the shop-fronts and internal detailing, some of which were later reproduced in Badger’s lavish publication, Illustrations of iron architecture.
Thomas had risen quickly in Canada and had made a number of connections in the Toronto community and elsewhere. Concerned for the public enjoyment of the arts, he was probably instrumental in establishing the Toronto Society of Arts in 1847; he was elected its first president and showed his architectural drawings at the society’s exhibitions of 1847 and 1848. He maintained limited contact with English architecture through the publications that he bought and the visit he paid in 1851 to the Great Exhibition in London, where his brother John exhibited sculpture. When John George Howard made a trip to England in 1853, Thomas served as city engineer in his stead and was appointed to superintend the work on Toronto’s Esplanade. He also trained architects of the next generation, including, in addition to his sons, William George Storm*, who became a leading architect in Toronto, first in partnership with Frederic William Cumberland and then on his own.
The role played latterly by the sons in Thomas’s business is difficult to determine. The later work of William Tutin, who moved to Montreal about 1863, is both more assured and more flamboyant than that of his father; Cyrus, who worked in Montreal before settling in Chicago, claimed credit for the firm’s Haligonian work. It is reasonable, however, to assume a division of labour in William Thomas’s last years. He suffered “long and continued illness,” necessitating a journey to England in 1858. The financial burden of illness and treatment is reflected in the firm’s extra efforts to collect new commissions and overdue payments. There was ever-increasing competition for architectural work: by 1859 there were 16 architects in Toronto, many of them well trained in the latest developments in style and construction. Thomas’s seniority was nevertheless recognized and he was elected president in 1860 of the Association of Architects, Civil Engineers and Provincial Land Surveyors of the Province of Canada, which had been established the previous year.
William Thomas died on 26 Dec. 1860 of diabetes, according to cemetery records. Survived by his wife and six of their ten children, he was buried in the family’s plot at St James’ Cemetery beneath the handsome Grecian tombstone which he no doubt had designed. Although his obituary in the Globe commented conventionally that he would be remembered for “his kindly social qualities which endeared him to a numerous circle of friends,” the statement rings true. A portrait, a bust, and a photograph all show an engaging figure. Moreover, maintaining a successful practice required a diplomatic touch in an era when, increasingly, important commissions were for public buildings, which entailed intense professional competition and often difficult negotiations with building committees.
A combination of experience, ambition, and personality made him a leading architect, with the largest architectural practice in British North America. He apparently prided himself on his ability to design substantial structures which could be built at reasonable cost. When Upper Canada was experiencing a great wave of prosperity, Thomas and a handful of other architects, including William Hay* and Kivas Tully*, were able to design major buildings for the fast-growing communities: churches to express their faith, civic structures to display their pride and their optimism about the future, and commercial buildings and residences to reveal their growing wealth.
Thomas was the versatile architect who, in the manner of his period, worked in various styles, some of which he rendered in a fashion that can be clearly identified as his. The prevailing aesthetic of the picturesque movement was especially important to him, with its emphasis on variety and richness of visual effect. But deeply rooted in his work too was the older Georgian tradition of compactness, balance, and regularity. Such conservatism of style is not surprising in one who immigrated to the colony in mid life and whose contact with professional developments in Britain was limited to rare return visits and the receipt of publications. What is all the more remarkable, in contrast to other designers of the same generation working in British North America, is Thomas’s professional maturation and independence which was demonstrated, in the work he produced in his last decade, by his new-found confidence in large works, his use of cast-iron, and his own form of the Italianate style. But although he continued to develop, the financial constraints imposed by some clients, a limited range of materials, and a shortage of skilled workmen must have contributed to a certain severity that is also noticeable in his architecture.
It was no mean achievement to have made a major contribution to Leamington’s residential street-scape; subsequently Thomas reshaped the skyline of Canadian cities from Halifax to London with a series of churches and public buildings. George P. Ure, in his Hand-book of Toronto, claimed that “his high professional talent and correct taste have tended greatly to the embellishment and improvement” of Toronto, above all. Thomas’s obituary in the Globe concurred: “To him we owe some of the most tasteful buildings of which our city can boast.” His contributions to the development of architecture as well as the scope and quality of his work substantiate Thomas Ritchie’s claim that William Thomas was “one of the founders of the Canadian architectural profession.”