Читать книгу Edward James Lennox - Marilyn M. Litvak - Страница 10

INTRODUCTION

The Toronto into which Lennox was born in the year 1854 was a city of wharfs, churches, schools, and small businesses. The population, according to the provincial census of 1851–52, was just over thirty thousand. More than a third of Toronto’s population at that time were Irish born. Both of Lennox’s parents were born in the County of Antrim, near Belfast, but they did not meet until they arrived in Toronto. Lennox’s father had come to Upper Canada in 1832; he settled in Toronto, started a general produce business, speculated in real estate, and for about twenty years owned and ran a hotel on Francis Street (Francis Street ran north from King, opposite St. Lawrence Hall).

As a young child, Lennox was not known for his scholarly ability. But he exhibited strong artistic talent and was determined to become an architect.¹ However, his father did not approve and it was only after much pleading that he was permitted to attend architectural drawing class at the Mechanics’ Institute.² It was there his talent was recognized. “Though he was one of the youngest among experienced and older students, he carried off first prize and diploma at the head of about sixty pupils.”³

He was seventeen years of age at the time and, indeed, much younger than any of his fellow students, most of whom were experienced mechanics. Once having proved his ability and his determination, he was allowed to study architecture. His father helped him secure a place in the office of Toronto architect William Irving (1830—83), where he remained for five years.⁴

Irving’s architectural style had considerable impact on the young Lennox. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Irving was the son of a contractor and stone carver;⁵ he had arrived in Toronto in the early 1850s and joined the shop of Joseph Sheard (1813—83). Sheard and Irving were responsible for the building of the Ontario Bank, 1862 (Illus. 1 and 2).⁶ Reminiscent of an Italian Renaissance palace, the heavily carved surfaces and sculptural elements contributed to its presence and symbolism.

Having completed his apprenticeship, Lennox entered into partnership with William Frederick McCaw in 1876 – an association that lasted until 1881. That year Lennox, or E.J. as he was known to his friends, set out on his own and had the good fortune to marry a well-organized and efficient woman – Emeline, the second daughter of John Wilson of Cobourg, Ontario.⁷

The Lennoxes had four children: Eola Gertrude, Edgar Edward, Mabel Emeline, and Edith May. For thirty years, while the children were growing up, the family lived on Sherbourne Street, a boulevard occupied by Torontonians of wealth and influence. It was not until Lennox was in his mid-fifties that he began to design a grand house for himself and Emeline. The property, two and a half acres just west of Casa Loma, was purchased in 1905, and construction was begun in 1913. He and Emeline called their house “Lenwil” for both of their families — “Len” for Lennox and “wil” for Wilson. The Lennoxes moved into Lenwil in 1915. It was to be one of the last buildings E.J. worked on.

In 1977 Edith May “Maisie” Eckardt, Lennox’s youngest daughter, spoke with Colin Vaughan for an article about Lenwil and her father;⁸ she was eighty-five at the time. She talked about how exciting it was to move from Sherbourne Street to Lenwil: “There was no other house in Canada like it.” When the Lennoxes moved to their grand house on the brow of Wells Hill, Maisie was the only one of the children still home, but by 1916 she was married and gone. Edith May remembered her father and mother’s delight in their home and how, as her father grew older, he would walk about the grounds of Lenwil with a parrot on his shoulder.⁹

The picture his daughter Edith May painted of him is rather romantic: a remote figure walking lonely on the brow of Wells Hill – the artist contemplating his life. Lennox was not the contemplative sort. He was action oriented and demanding, and he expected his children to do his bidding. Edgar Edward, interviewed in 1966, recalled that his father “was not what you might call a heart-to-heart man, but he was a good man who believed in the virtues of honesty and integrity, and practised them.”¹⁰ His grandchildren do not remember him very well. They have sharper memories of their grandmother. Peter Eckardt, Edith May’s son, has fond recollections of outings in his grandparents’ chauffeured car, a “1928 Pierce Arrow, 7 passenger Sedan,” and remembers his grandmother as a strong woman who made certain that his grandfather was left alone so that he could tend to matters of architecture and business.¹¹

Lennox pursued his career vigorously and as early as 1885 he had one of the largest architectural practices of its kind in Canada. What Lennox lacked in eduction, he more than made up for in shrewdness and salesmanship. An able promoter, E.J. was receptive to the press and was most accommodating when it came to having his photo taken (Illus. 4). He was also politically astute. His active membership in such notable organizations as the Masons, the Board of Trade, and Cameron Loyal Orange Lodge was to prove mutually beneficial.¹²

His professional success was such that in 1901 he was able to purchase a building on Bay Street to house his firm (Illus. 133). Lennox’s career continued to flourish until 1915, when for some as yet undiscovered reason, he turned away from his practice. By 1917, the firm of E.J. Lennox, Architect was officially closed.¹³ Though no longer practising, Lennox continued to consider himself an architect first and foremost. And when legislation was passed in 1931 to provide architects with certification, Lennox applied for and became an accredited architect. The date was 29 September of that same year. At the time, Lennox was seventy-seven years old; his application lists no date of birth and his handwriting was not steady.

E.J. Lennox died on 15 April 1933. His passing was noted in many newspapers (Illus. 3), including the New York Times, as well as important architectural journals. His contributions to the City of Toronto, and to his profession, were praised and remembered. In his obituary in the Telegram, M. Forsey Page, president of the Ontario Architectural Association, commended Lennox not only for his buildings and his knowledge of modern architectural technologies but also for his willingness to share this knowledge with younger architects.¹⁴ His funeral took place in one of his last great works, St. Paul’s Anglican Church on Bloor Street East. E.J.’s good friend of more than forty years, Canon Henry John Cody, rector of St. Paul’s, officiated.

E.J. Lennox was an impressive talent who was arrogant, combative, and fearless when it came to speaking his mind. Despite his eccentricities, he was commissioned to design many of Toronto’s more notable structures and ultimately became known as the “builder of Toronto.” Lennox believed that he was destined to be a great architect. The quantity and quality of his work speak to that conviction.

Illus. 1: Ontario Bank, northeast corner of Wellington and Scott streets, 1862, William Irving and Joseph Sheard (demolished).

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Illus. 2: Ontario Bank. Detail.

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Illus. 3: Lennox’s obituary in the Toronto Star, 17 April 1933.

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Illus. 4: E.J. in 1892 in front of one of his more important works, the Freehold Loan Building, Adelaide Street East, 1889.

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