William Lyon Somerville
| William Lyon Somerville | |
|---|---|
Portrait of W. L. Somerville, 1936 for RAIC Journal
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| Born |
August 5, 1886 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | April 14, 1965 (aged 78) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Spouse(s) | Evelyn Mary Gillard |
| Buildings |
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William Lyon Somerville (August 5, 1886–April 14, 1965) was a Canadian architect practicing in Toronto, Ontario and Southern Ontario, Canada. He was President of the Ontario Association of Architects, and president of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. He was an accomplished architect who designed hospitals, commercial and institutional buildings, residential buildings. Somerville designed the original McMaster University buildings in Hamilton, Ontario and the Rainbow Tower complex in Niagara Falls. He also designed several monuments, including the Clifton Gate Pioneer Memorial Arch in Niagara Falls and the Henley Bridge and Queen Elizabeth Way Monument for the new Queen Elizabeth Way superhighway built in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
Somerville was born on August 5, 1886 in Hamilton, Ontario. He was educated in Hamilton and New York, New York. He first practiced architecture in the United States before World War I. He returned to Ontario to practice in 1919.
When McMaster University moved to Hamilton, Ontario, Somerville was contracted by the firm of J. Francis Brown & Son to design the University's plan and several of its buildings. Somerville designed the Convocation Hall, University Hall, Hamilton Hall, Wallingford Hall, and the Refectory in the Collegiate Gothic style. Somerville would later design the Mills Memorial Library, however by then the Collegiate Gothic style was considered passé and it was designed in a contemporary style. The building now houses the McMaster Museum of Art.
Somerville was a favoured architect of T. B. McQuesten, Ontario’s Minister of Highways and Public Works in the mid-1930s. McQuesten was the figure in the Ontario Government responsible for many public works that Somerville was involved in. These included restoration of old forts for their touristic value. Somerville assisted in the restoration of several historic forts in Ontario: Fort Henry in Kingston, Fort George at Niagara-On-The-Lake and Fort Erie. For McQuesten, Somerville worked on the design of the Queen Elizabeth Way, which was built to facilitate the travel of American tourists into Ontario, including the Henley Bridge and the Lion Monument.
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