What's Inside ?

NEWSLETTER Spring 2017 Volume 13, Number 2 what’s inside ? Legacy Discovering the Work of Bernal A. Jones Events + Talks What’s Up Waterloo Region? Special Event: ACO NWR Annual Meeting About Town Special Doors Open Sneak Preview Lecture Series Final Lecture in the Designing for Education Series EXECUTIVE 2016 - 2017 President Marg Rowell Vice-President Treasurer Amanda Stellings Secretary Peter Walberg Membership Coordinator: John Arndt Education Coordinator: Susan Burke Social Convenor Catherine Eby Members at Large Susan Mavor, Charlotte Woodley Communications: Kae Elgie, Coordinator (Past President) Peter Walberg, Catherine Eby; Website Deb Westman; Newsletter Editor Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation Representative: John Clinckett Serving Kitchener, Waterloo, Wilmot, Woolwich & Wellesley Townships LEGACY “Discovering the Work of Bernal A. Jones (1890 - 1959) Mutual Life Assurance Company of Canada, 227 King Street South Waterloo. Darling and Pearson , Toronto, 1912. was born in Toronto to George and Mary Jones in March Bernal Ambrose Jones of 1890, the very year that a Department of Architecture was established at the University of Toronto, the first such program in Canada. (Seventy-seven years would go by before a second school of architecture was established at Carleton, then a year later in 1968, a third in Waterloo.) It's not a surprise then that young Bernal would not enroll in university but would choose to attend a technical school, then apply for a position in a local architectural firm. He chose well; Darling & Pearson, a local firm with a solid reputation for Beaux-Arts classicism hired 18 year old Bernal as draftsman. Over the next 15 years his knowledge of architecture and design grew, cultivated by a partner of the firm, Frank Darling, the acknowledged Master of the Beaux-Arts style in Canada. Waterloo's dramatic Mutual Life building (1912) was designed and built by Darling during this period and it's not inconceivable that while assisting with this project, Jones recognized his next career opportunity. A new city hall was being planned by neighboring Kitchener and no doubt Jones' impressive experience with the Beaux-Arts style was considered an asset by the architect on the project, WHE Schmalz. In any case, Jones moved to Kitchener, joined Schmalz in a new firm and maintained an office until 1926 completing the construction of the handsome city hall which was to become beloved of residents of Kitchener and beyond. Kitchener City Hall, W. H. E. Schmalz and B. A. Jones, 1924. 2 Photograph J. A. Thackeray, circa 1945. Discovering the Work of Like architect Charles Knechtel (1869-1951) who was also practising in the 1920 “ to '50 period, Bernal Jones was called upon to design all manner of structures including commercial buildings, schools, factories and churches. The hand-drawn Bernal A. Jones (1890 - 1959) elevation here was for the original Knox Church on Erb Street in Waterloo, designed by Jones for a congregation of Presbyterians that did not want to join church union in 1925. This building and a 1957 addition were demolished in 2011 and replaced by the present church built closer to Caroline Street. Knox Presbyterian Church, Erb Street West Waterloo. B. A. Jones, architect's perspective, circa 1926. When the 1870 Swedenborgian church at King and Water Streets in Kitchener became cramped after the Great War, Jones designed a fine Gothic-style church for the property purchased by the congregation at the corner of Margaret and Queen from the Roos estate. The plan for the Church of the Good Shepherd (1935) was an important transitional work, its modernized Gothic thought to have influenced other architects working in south-western Ontario in the following decade. This modernized Gothic can certainly be observed in the more modest Jones' design for St Marks Lutheran (1938), King West at Green Street in Kitchener. Note the cruciform footprint of St Marks (aerial view) and the wonderful panelled ceiling and woodwork supplied by the Interior Hardwood Company of Kitchener and photographed by a Waterloo amateur, John A. Thackeray shortly after the church was built. (See editor's note below.) Modernized Gothic design of Church of the Good Shepherd (left), St. Mark's Lutheran Church interior view (right) with cruciform footprint (aerial view centre). Among Jones' most noteworthy designs is certainly the Public Utilities Commission building located at 191-197 King Street West, directly across from Kitchener's “new” City Hall. This three-storey, Beaux-Arts building is an impressive composition with sophisticated, though understated detailing. Constructed of cut granite and sandstone, its front facade features two large arched entryways with brass front doors illuminated by unique lantern-style light fixtures and ornamental stone work with carved floral medallions and gryphons. PUC Building (far left), and detail of left arched entryway with brass doors. 3 As the fight against tuberculosis ramped up in the late 1920's, a series of “modern” structures began to be added to the growing facility at the Freeport Sanatorium beginning with the nurses residence of 1927. BA Jones was the architect of choice by the Board and the buildings he designed for the site were “Colonial Home” style. This was a deliberate choice since many TB patients were resident for extended periods and both they and the staff came to regard Freeport as their home. The symmetrical facade of the nurses' residence, the use of decorative fan transoms and keystones, all typical of the popular neo- Georgian style of the time can be observed in the facade of the “new” treatment centre (1930) and other domestic-sized buildings Jones designed for Freeport in the years 1927 through 1941. Though Jones has a lower profile than other architects practising in 20th century Waterloo Region, he is certainly worthy of further study. He was a skilled technician and fastidious designer and his practice extended as far as North Bay and Copper Cliff. He also had other business interests as vice-president of Merchants Printing in Kitchener. Unfortunately, poor health cut short his productive years; he retired at age 62 and died 6 years later in 1959. Sifting through the archives with Susan Burke and Philippe Elsworthy. Images by the authors and J. A. Thackeray. With thanks to Doors Open Waterloo Region. Editor's note: John A.Thackeray (1907 - 1983) lived in Waterloo for close to 30 years from c.1930, operating the Thackeray Industrial Maintenence company. He is better known today as an avid amateur photographer who used the attic of the family home at 51 Young Street West in Waterloo as a dark room. He is memorialized by a collection of his work in the Region of Waterloo Archives. Three of his images illustrate the B.A.J ones article above - The 'Old' City Hall decorated for Christmas, the Church of the Good Shepherd and St. Marks Lutheran Church. Front elevation drawing of Freeport nurses residence. 4 What’s up Waterloo Region? heritage events + talks Thursday May 18th, 2017 | Cambridge Early Undertakers of Galt and Area: When, Who, Where McDougall Cottage, 89 Grand Ave. S., Cambridge 7 pm $5 plus HST | Call 519-624-8250 to register Local historian Marion Roes will share information about early Galt undertakers, research for a book she is writing about Waterloo County funeral homes. Wednesday June 14th, 2017 ACO-NWR Annual Meeting Where: Highland Baptist Church (Architect Carl Rieder) 135 Highland Road West Kitchener (parking in rear) When: 7pm - Brief tour of sanctuary and garden lead by Rick Haldenby. Refreshments served Free Admission Featuring guest speakers Terry Montgomery, Montgomery Sisam Architects, and Dr. Mark Harris, Dean of the Seminary Renovation of the Waterloo Lutheran Seminary Waterloo Lutheran Seminary constructed in 1963, Kruschen and Dailey Architects. at Wilfrid Laurier University Image by Charles Belair from the Ball Construction Archive We are witnessing in Kitchener Waterloo a modest, but exciting renaissance of a generation of fine modern buildings created by local architects in the 1950’s and 60’s. First the Kitchener Public Library, then the Waterloo County Court House and now the former Laurel Vocational School and the extraordinary Waterloo Lutheran Seminary. The speakers at the 2017 Annual General Meeting of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario North Waterloo Branch are the two main agents for the renewal of the Lutheran Seminary originally designed in 1963 by Kruschen and Dailey. Rev. Dr. Mark Harris is the Principal and Dean. He is the client whose appreciation of the spirit and beauty of the original building lead him and his colleagues to appoint the distinguished Toronto architectural firm Montgomery and Sisam to design the renovation. Rev. Dr. Harris and Terry Montgomery will discuss the quality of the existing building and the project for the renovation that is currently underway. Prof. Rick Haldenby will introduce the speakers and lead a brief guided tour of the building in which the meeting will take place, Highland Road Baptist Church a modernist gem designed in 1956 by Carl Rieder. 5 A Sneak Preview of a Remarkable Site Ready, set... Doors Open Save the date for a day of architectural adventures including a little known and handsome pair of monumental public Mausoleums in Woodland Cemetery. Insights and images by Karl Kessler, Doors Open Waterloo Region on the third Saturday in September, noteworthy buildings and interesting places open Every year their doors during Doors Open Waterloo Region. This year, as usual, many first-time Doors Open sites will be included, because even though this will be our fifteenth annual event, Waterloo Region’s built heritage can still offer up surprises. Two of these are a little known and handsome pair of monumental public mausoleums, tucked among the trees at Kitchener’s Woodland Cemetery, at 119 Arlington Blvd. Kitchener Cemeteries will be giving visitors the rare opportunity to see inside during Doors Open on September 16, 10 a.m.

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