The Architects of our City

Cedardale School

Hiram Robert Barber was born in Ontario in 1843. Not much is known about Hiram in his early years.  He is listed in the 1861 census as being a carpenter by trade and living in Oshawa.  He was married to Elizabeth Jane Phillips and they have four children; William H. in 1865, John E. in 1870, Lily in 1878 and Olive Francis in 1882.

In December 1865, an ad in the Oshawa paper announced that Hiram Barber was prepared to draw designs for public buildings, cottages and bridges with considerable experience.

In 1866, Hiram joins with Mr.Pye, an Architect recently from Manchester, England.  Barber & Pye advertised in the May 30th1866, Oshawa Vindicator as Architects, Building Surveyors, Valuers, Land Surveyors and Contractors.  Nothing much is known of Mr. Pye, what buildings were designed by the firm or how long the firm lasted but by 1867, Hiram was working on his own.

Cedar Dale had grown since the arrival of the Grand Truck Railway in 1856.  Local industries and the harbour development made Cedar Dale a busy and growing community.  There was pressing need for a school house.  Plans for a new schoolhouse were announced in the Oshawa Vindicator on February 20 1867 with Hiram Barber as the architect.  Although, the building was a modest structure, the paper praised the design as being the latest design and well drawn, and attest the ability of the architect.

Music Hall

An newspaper article in 1867 describes a house design of Mr. Barber that is a L shaped frame house with long covered porch on the side and says a number of homes are being built using the Barber design. In 1868 Mr. Barber describes in an article, how an octagon house is a better design for a house, being cheaper to build, a bettere use of space and more structural sound. It goes on to say that Mr. Barber is buildng an octagon house at that time.

Soon after a devastating fire destroyed a section of King Street East in 1871, Mr. Wilson announced plans to build a new three story structure, containing stores and a large hall and Hiram Barber was to be the architect.  The Wilson Block was finished in 1872, at a cost of $8,000.  The Wilson Music Hall opened in 1873 and continued to serve the community as a hall, opera house and the Grand Theatre until it was converted to offices in the 1926.

When the Machine Made Hat Company chose to build a factory in Oshawa in 1872, Hiram Barber partnered with Henry Langley to design the building on Centre St. S. The building was later occupied by the Masson Works and then the Schofield Woolen Mills.

In Oshawa, Hiram also designed a house John Gibson at 170 Simcoe St. South in 1873, Metcalf church and the Christian Church where City Hall is today.

In Port Perry, Hiram designed the Town Hall in 1873, the High School in 1874 and the Joseph Bigelow residence in 1877.  This Italianate residence is listed as one of the best Bracketed Italianate residences in Ontario.

Thornton Dundee

The Whitby, Hiram designed the Roman Catholic School, the Whitby Hotel, in 1874 and 75, Lakeview Villa, the residence of John Rice and in 1877 the residence of Mayor G. Young Smith on King Street.

In 1879, the East Whitby Section 5 School which later became the Thornton-Dundee Community Centre and the Columbus Public School which was replaced in 1930 by the C. C. Stenhouse designed school.

Hiram also worked in the surrounding area, designing the manse in Ashburn, grain elevators in Manilla, stores in Brougham and homes in Pickering.

Hiram moved his family to Toronto in 1884 and again took up his profession and designed a number of buildings and homes there. Designed by House of Refuge in 1894 and the residence of George Gage in 1895 in Hamilton.

In 1901, he worked for the Toronto School Board, first as a Draughtsman and by 1908, the architect for the Board.  By his retirement in 1913 he was the Inspector of Manuel Training and Domestic Science schools in Toronto.  He died at home of his daughter on July 17th 1914 at the age of 71 and was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.