The Architects of our City

Albert Asa Post

Albert Asa Post was born January 29th 1850 in Pickering Ontario.  His parents were Asa and Ann OReilly Post.  His father and his family operated inns along the Kings highway in Pickering and what is now Ajax.  Albert was educated at St. Michaels College after attending public school in Pickering.  He studied architecture as an apprentice to Mr. Henry Langley, the architect of Simcoe St. United Church. He lived in Pickering and was a member of the congregation when Henry Langley designed the St. Francis de Sales Roman Catholic Church in 1871. This was a very productive period for Mr, Langley and would give Asa lots of experience. In 1879, he announced he was opening his own practice, late of Langley, Langley and Burke, designs of Churches, Villas and Cottages a specialty, Office, for present at his residence on Kingston Road Pickering, P.O. Box 202 Whitby.  He soon after becomes the architect for the County of Ontario and opens offices in the Gerrie Block at the corner of Dundas and Brock, Whitby. One of the most notable buildings in Pickering he designed was the Culbert-Gordon House on Kingston Road. A building noted for it's use of dichromatic brickwork.

Albert married Margaret Huggard on September 8 1891 in Toronto and they had three children Flora, Mary and Dr. John Asa Post.

In 1891 he joined together with A. W. Holmes of England to form the company Post and Holmes.

Albert designed a number of buildings in Whitby notably the residence of John Fothergill on Dundas St., the Barnes Arena on Ontario St., the St. Johns Rectory on John St. and renovations to the Ontario County Courthouse in 1882

Illustration: St. Gregorys

Albert also designed the Bowmanville High School in 1888, the Gymnasium for the Whitby Collegiate in 1889, the Dunbarton United Church in 1886 and the new spire for St. Basils Roman Catholic Church in Toronto in 1886.  He also was responsible for the design of the St. Michael College School in 1891 and the St. Michaels Hospital in 1894.

Albert Asa Post was known as a leading ecclesiastical architect.  Albert was a devote Catholic and designed a great number of Roman Catholic churches in Ontario and in Buffalo.  He designed the Annunciation Church in Buffalo in 1885, the Holy Name of Mary in St. Marys in 1892-93, St. Gregorys Church in Oshawa in 1893, St. Peters in Goderich in 1896, St. Theresas in Buffalo in 1897, the Nativity Church in Buffalo in 1898 as well as the Mount St. Josephs Academy, Stella Niagara School and the Father Bakers building in Lackawana.

St. Gregorys church, built in the French Romanesque style replaced a much smaller 1841 church on the site. The cornerstone was laid in June 1893 and the building was dedicated in 1895.  The design for St. Gregorys church was illustrated in the journal Canadian Architects and Builders in 1896.

Albert Asa Post moved to Buffalo in 1895 where he died on June 28 1926.  He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Buffalo.