John M. Lyle

John M. Lyle
Born	13 November 1872 Connor, County Antrim, Ireland
Died	20 December 1945 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Alma mater	Yale University
Occupation	Architect
Practice	Atelier Lyle 1906–1943
Buildings	Royal Alexandra Theatre
Projects	Worked on many Dominion Bank branches in Toronto 1911–1937
Design	Royal Alexandra Theatre, Bank of Nova Scotia head office

John MacIntosh Lyle (13 November 1872 – 20 December 1945) was an Irish-Canadian architect, designer, urban planner, and teacher active in the late 19th century and into the first half of the 20th century. He was a leading Canadian architect in the Beaux Arts style and was involved in the City Beautiful movement in several Canadian cities. In the 1920s, he worked to develop his vision of a uniquely Canadian style of architecture.

Biography

Lyle was born in Connor, County Antrim, Ireland on 13 November 1872. He came to Canada as a young child in 1878 and grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, where his father, Rev. Dr. Samuel Lyle, was minister of Central Presbyterian Church. Lyle attended the Hamilton School of Art. He trained as an architect at Yale University, enrolling in the École des Beaux-Arts, in Paris, France, in 1894. Following his graduation, he found work in 1896 with the New York architectural partnership of Howard & Cauldwell. Lyle subsequently became an associate with the New York firm of Carrère and Hastings—with which he was involved in the design of the New York Public Library Main Branch (Fifth Avenue at 42nd St., 1897)—and became a member of the Society of Beaux-arts Architects.

In 1904, John Lyle designed and supervised the construction of the main building (now named Rogers House) at Pickering College at 16945 Bayview Avenue in Newmarket, Ontario.

Lyle returned to Canada in 1905 to begin work on the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, Ontario. In 1906, he established his own company, Atelier Lyle, in Toronto.

During the 1920s, Lyle strove to develop a uniquely Canadian architectural style, incorporating traditional designs from the English and French colonial periods and stone, metal, plaster, fresco, glass and mosaic floral and faunal motifs inspired by the Canadian Post-Impressionist painters known as the Group of Seven.

In 1926, the Ontario Association of Architects awarded Lyle its Gold Medal of Honour for his design of the Thornton-Smith Building (1922) on Yonge Street in Toronto. Two years later, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. From 1941 to 1944, he served as president of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Most of Lyle's projects were in Toronto and other parts of Ontario (and mostly for banks, especially Dominion Bank), but completed projects in New Brunswick, Alberta, Nova Scotia. He submitted proposals for competition for two buildings in United States (1 in Providence, RI and another Chicago), but he did not win either one.

John M. Lyle died in Toronto on 20 December 1945.

Lyle's best-known contribution is Royal Alexandra Theatre, completed in 1907 in the Beaux-Arts style. It was renovated in 1963 and remains one of the city's valued arts venues.

Lyle designed the granite and Indiana limestone Memorial Arch at the Royal Military College of Canada, whose two large bronze tablets bear the names of the ex-cadets who gave their lives for their country in World War I. The stone was laid by Governor-General of Canada, Viscount Byng, of Vimy, CGB KCMG MVO 25 June 1923; Nominal rolls of Cadets and Staff, pamphlets concerning the Arch, the RMCC Review of May 1923, Canadian coins and stamps and the Roll of Honour of the College are in a sealed copper box.

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  Royal Military College of Canada Memorial Arch
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  Royal Military College of Canada Arms detail on the Memorial Arch
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  Canadian Coat of Arms detail on Memorial Arch (by John M Lyle) Royal Military College of Canada
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  Royal Military College of Canada plaque on Memorial Arch to Great War 1914–1919
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  Memorial Arch plaque unveiling Royal Military College of Canada
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  Blow out your bugles, detail on Memorial Arch (by John M Lyle) at Royal Military College of Canada

Works

Project	Location	Dates	Notes	Source	Image
Royal Alexandra Theatre	284 King Street West, Toronto	1907	Beaux Arts	W
Central Presbyterian Church	Hamilton, Ontario	1908	Beaux-Arts
Cobalt railway station	Cobalt, Ontario	1910
John B. Maclean House	7 Austin Terrace, Toronto	1911	Georgian Revival. Built for John Bayne Maclean. Facade retained (remaining structure demolished; was altered after 1950) during conversion to townhouses in 2011.
Maclean Publishing Building	Toronto	1913	Demolished
John Lyle Studio	Toronto	1920	Beaux-Arts. All but facade demolished to make way for One Bedford condos in 2006.
The Thornton-Smith Building	340 Yonge Street, Toronto	1922	Beaux-Arts. Lyle won the Ontario Association of Architects' Gold Medal of Honour for this building in 1926.
Commemorative Arch	Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario	1923	Beaux-Arts
Bank of Nova Scotia	125 Sparks Street, Ottawa	1923	Beaux-Arts	[1]
Union Station	Front Street West, Toronto	1915–1927	In the Beaux-Arts style, Canada's most monumental railway station. G.A. Ross and R.H. Macdonald, Hugh Jones (CPR), and John M. Lyle.	W
Gage Park Memorial Fountain	Gage Park, Hamilton	1927	Beaux-Arts
Bank of Nova Scotia	125 8 Avenue SW, Calgary	1929	Beaux-Arts	[2]
Bank of Nova Scotia head office and Halifax main branch	1709 Hollis Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia	1929–1931	Beaux-Arts (A rare example of Renaissance inspired structure)	[3] [4]
Runnymede Library	Toronto	1930	A branch of the Toronto Public Library. Incorporates elements of English and French colonial architecture in Canada and uses Canadian imagery for ornamentation.
Cowan House	174 Teddington Park Avenue, Lawrence Park, Toronto	1931	Tudor Revival. Built for industrialist Frederick Cowan.
Whitney Hall	University College, Toronto	1930–31	Georgian Revival university residence.
Thomas B. McQuesten High Level Bridge	Hamilton, Ontario	1932	Beaux-Arts monumental entrance bridge to the city of Hamilton, characteristic of the City Beautiful movement.
Bank of Nova Scotia head office	Toronto	1951	Designed in 1928 and built after Lyle's death to a modified design.

References

• Martin Eli Weil Award essay: Beaux-Arts on the Banks of Lake Ontario: John M. Lyle and the Royal Military College of Canada's Memorial Arch. Dec. 1994 (19:4), p. 88-99.

External links

• Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800–1950
• Historic Places in Canada
• John M. Lyle fonds, Archives of Ontario