Turner created legacy in architecture

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Walk around the downtown streets of Brantford, or along the main avenues of some towns and villages in Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk counties, and your eyes will likely cast on a landmark building that was designed by famed architect John Turner in the mid to latter 1800s.

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That was when when all of these locales were rapidly growing from fledgling rural and small-town settlements into vibrant cities, towns and villages. Turner was a British immigrant whose reputation and prosperity came along with the society that shaped him as he shaped it.

John Turner was born in Wales in 1806 into a family of builders. He sought employment in London with Lewis and Thomas, an architect and master builder, respectively. Turner learned from them for seven years.

In 1827 he married his wife Elizabeth and they sailed from Liverpool to Upper Canada. In their new land the couple had six children, three boys and three girls, and there would be more to come, inspiring Turner to design homes for large families.

Turner bought a lot on Nelson Street to raise the family. However he lost his three sons and Elizabeth produced three more children before she passed away before her 50th birthday.

Only Turner and his three daughters would survive to see Brantford flourish. He would go on to design many landmark public buildings in downtown Brantford, as well as several mansions for Brantford entrepreneurs.

Turner designed buildings beyond Brantford, including the county, Caledonia, Stratford and Toronto. We have concentrated in detail on his works in the downtown and surrounding Brantford neighbourhoods, which he accomplished over more than 60 years until his death in 1887 at the age of 81.

The viewer can see in photographs the design and construction of 10 buildings, which show Turner’s talents in public and residential architecture. It begins with the original city hall in 1849, when Brantford’s population had reached 3,200 people, with a town hall, several stores and six churches. Merchants, farmers and professionals had been pushing since the 1830s for a new, larger town hall, and a separate market. Turner was contracted to design a classical Revival style edifice that resonated grandeur, with double flights of stairs and a cupola containing clocks.

The landmark presided over the downtown until 1967, when it was demolished for a new city hall famous for its Brutalist style, “meant to depict the great strength and stability of democratic government,” as The Brantford Expositor reported at the time.

The city hall has since shifted to the revamped Federal Building on Dalhousie Street.

Turner’s next grand oeuvre was the Brant County Courthouse (now Superior Courthouse) on Wellington Street on the northern edge of Victoria Park. It was constructed in 1853 at a cost of $50,000 – about $2 million today. The Brant Museum & Archives possesses Turner’s blueprints from expansions to the Courthouse in 1886.

The design and scale made the building predominate the area, and the intricate oak paneling and carved features that mark the interior. There is also a recounting of two floods in 2005 that forced expensive restoration.

Other Turner buildings in Brantford include:

• 55 Chestnut Ave., once the residence of Superior Court Justice E. O. Fanjoy;
• Park Baptist Church built in 1870 on the eastern edge of Victoria Park;
• 88 Brant Ave. now the Beckett-Glaves Family Funeral Home;
• Grace Anglican Church, the oldest congregation within the original Town Limits of Brantford;
• Yates Castle, the home of railroad magnate Henry Yates that reflected English aristocratic tastes;
• The hospital that John H. Stratford employed Turner to design across the street from the Ontario Institute for the Blind, which Stratford donated in 1884;
• The Wilkes-Barre house at 121 Darling St., built in 1870 in the Italianate style;
• 98 George St., built for Dr. Theodore Brown, now the home of the Brantford Club.

Despite a tragic personal life, John Turner made his mark in stone and architecture in the Brantford area and we are privileged to be able to still see that legacy on our streets today.

Established on May 8, 1908, the Brant Historical Society is an independent registered charity operating two museums uniquely positioned to make a difference in the lives of Brant citizens. Its purpose is to collect, preserve and share the history and heritage of Brantford/Brant County and Six Nations/New Credit.

The historical society can be reached by e-mail at information@brantmuseums.ca.