William Critchlow Harris (30 April 1854 – 16 July 1913) was an English-born Canadian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

noted mainly for his ecclesiastical and domestic projects in

Maritime Canada The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...

. He was born near

Liverpool, England Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

to Welsh parents but moved to

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

with his family as a young child. He lived there most of his life, however for much of the time he led an itinerant existence travelling throughout Prince Edward Island,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

pursuing and executing design commissions throughout the region. He was influenced by the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style (for his domestic buildings) and

Victorian gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

(for his church designs). His greatest disappointment was the loss of a commission late in life to design the Anglican Cathedral in Halifax (1905-1910). The commission was awarded to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

architect

Bertram Goodhue Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue (April 28, 1869 – April 23, 1924) was an American architect celebrated for his work in Gothic Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival design. He also designed notable typefaces, including Cheltenham and Merrymount for ...

and Harris was given the unhappy task of overseeing completion of the more famous architect's work. His brother was the noted artist Robert Harris.

Notable works

File:SteAnnes.jpg,

Université Sainte-Anne Université Sainte-Anne is a French-language university in Pointe-de-l'Église, Nova Scotia, Canada. It and the Université de Moncton in New Brunswick are the only French-language universities in the Maritime Provinces. History It was found ...

Church Point, Nova Scotia Church Point (French: ''Pointe-de-l'Église'') is an unincorporated community located on Saint Mary's Bay in the District of Clare, Digby County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Local facilities Church Point is home to Université Sainte-Anne (about f ...

Image:StJohnsWindsor.jpg, St. John's Church 1898 & rectory 1898 in

Windsor, Nova Scotia Windsor is a community located in Hants County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a service centre for the western part of the county and is situated on Highway 101. The community has a history dating back to its use by the Mi'kmaq Nation for sev ...

File:GeorgetownPE KingsCountyCourtHouse Angle.jpg,

Georgetown, Prince Edward Island Georgetown is a community located within the municipality of Three Rivers in Kings County, Prince Edward Island, Canada. It is the Capital of Kings County. Previously incorporated as a town, it amalgamated with the town of Montague, the rural ...

Kings County Provincial Court House File:HensleyChapel KingsEdgehill.jpg, Hensley Chapel Kings Edgehill File:All Souls Chapel Interior.jpg,

All Souls' Chapel (Prince Edward Island) All Souls' Chapel is a historic chapel attached to St. Peter's Cathedral in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Built of Prince Edward Island sandstone in the High Victorian Gothic style of architecture, it overlooks Rochford Square. ...

Broughton, Nova Scotia Broughton (2001 pop.: 24) was a former town in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Cape Breton Regional Municipality (often referred to as simply "CBRM") is the Canadian province of Nova Scotia's second largest municipality and the economic he ...

(plan and buildings), Glace Bay, Nova Scotia *Frederick Borden house,

Canning, Nova Scotia Canning is a village in northeastern Kings County, Nova Scotia located at the crossroads of Route 221 and Route 358. History The area was originally settled by Acadians who were expelled in 1755 during the Acadian Expulsion. After the Acadi ...

*Elmwood House, Charlottetown, PEI *St. James Anglican Church,

Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia Mahone Bay is a town on the northwest shore of Mahone Bay along the South Shore of Nova Scotia in Lunenburg County. A long-standing picturesque tourism destination, the town has recently enjoyed a growing reputation as a haven for entrepreneur ...

(one of the famous Three Churches) *St. Mary's Church, Indian River,

PEI PEI or Pei may refer to: Places *Matecaña International Airport, Pereira, Colombia, IATA code PEI *Pei County (沛县), Jiangsu, China *Pei Commandery (沛郡), a commandery in Chinese history *Prince Edward Island, a province of Canada *Pei, T ...

References

* Tuck, Robert C., ''Gothic Dreams: The Life and Times of a Canadian Architect William Critchlow Harris 1854-1913''. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1978.

External links

Biography at ''the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''

Historic Places of Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, William Critchlow 1854 births 1913 deaths People from Prince Edward Island Canadian architects English emigrants to pre-Confederation Prince Edward Island Architects from Liverpool Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts