Augustus Laver (19 or 20 September 1834 – 27 March 1898) was a Canadian architect.
Dictionary of Canadian Biography He worked for

Thomas Stent Thomas Stent (died 1912) was an architect in New York City. He assisted Alexander Saeltzer on the Astor Public Library and was the architect for the 1879–1881 expansion. Stent was trained and practised in England before coming to London, Ontario ...

and later designed extensive alterations and additions to Ottawa's Russell Hotel, as well as

East Block The East Block (officially the Eastern Departmental Building; french: Édifice administratif de l'est) is one of the three buildings on Canada's Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario, containing offices for parliamentarians, as well as some preser ...

and

West Block The West Block (officially the Western Departmental Building; french: Édifice administratif de l'ouest) is one of the three buildings on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario. Since 28 January 2019, it has housed the interim House of Commons Cham ...

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (french: Colline du Parlement, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their archit ...

. He entered the 1866 competition to design the New York State capitol at Albany and was awarded one of the premiums, participated with Thomas Fuller, and Arthur Delavan Gilman in planning a revised design. In Albany he partnered with Fuller, but after controversy neither partner saw the project to completion. In 1871 Stent and Laver won the competition to design the new city hall and law courts for

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Eight years after Laver's death, the unfinished building was destroyed in the fire following the 1906 earthquake. Laver was the architect of San Francisco's first brownstone, the neo classical James C. Flood Mansion and, not far away, in Oakland, the grand Victorian, Ellen Kenna house. He was involved with the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

, was president of the Pacific Coast Association of Architects and a fellow of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

. Laver was born in Folkestone, England. His father, George Laver, was a leading solicitor and his mother Mary Ann—; m. 9 June 1859 Elizabeth Fox in

Dover, England Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidston ...

, had twin sons and a daughter. He died on 27 March 1898 in

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for " tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda Island, but also spans Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, as we ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laver, Augustus 1834 births 1898 deaths 19th-century Canadian architects People from Folkestone Architecture in the San Francisco Bay Area People from the San Francisco Bay Area 1906 San Francisco earthquake British emigrants to Canada