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SATURDAY, JUNE NTIL recently, Canadians paid little at- tention to their architects, and it is doubtful if most Canadians could name five architects who were active in Canada during the 19th century. Anyone who looks for historical data about the buildings which were erected 75 or 100 years ago in Ontario cities can often discover the name of the .contractor, or even the name of the plasterer, but who was respon- sible for the design of the building remains a mystery. The profession of the architect was not parti- cularly honored. Some architects did become well-known, such as William Thomas of Tor- onto, who died in 1860, or the firm of Cumber- land and Storm, or Kivas Tully,. whose most famous work was old Trinity College. But much 19th century architecture was designed by nameless artisans, who drew upon handbooks and their memories of buildings they had seen, usually in Britain or the United States, and added a good deal from their own imagination. This is what makes a tour through south- ern Ontario's cities and towns a fascinating ex- perience. Toronto has a number of fine old buildings, such as St. Lawrence Hall and 'St. ONTARIO TODAY / Church of Our Lady, Guelph. Michael's Roman Catholic Cathedral, both de- signed by William Thomas, St. James' Anglican Cathedral, a Cumberland and Storm design; and the Anglican church called Holy Trinity, designed by Henry Lane and built in 1847 with an anonymous bequest of money. But outside Toronto there are a vast number of interest- ing buildings. In Woodstock, there is a town hall model- led after the medieval town hall in Woodstock, England. The Ontario version is now quite an age itself, as buildings go in Canada. In Niagara-on-the-Lake, there is a Presby- terian church with a front portico which is a fair copy of the east facade of the Temple of Hephaistos built in ancient Athens in the middle of the 5th century before Christ. Buildings in the neo-classical style are no longer very common in Ontario, for by the middle of the 19th century the neo-classical style was giving way everywhere to the Gothic, and the number of buildings which date before 1850 or 1860. in Ontario is not great. However, in Galt, old St. Paul's Lutheran church is a rough attempt to reproduce a Greek temple, and at the city limits of Preston there stands, now rather neglected, a good example of a neo-classical house. N Guelph, there is a church which is reputed to be modelled on Cologne Cathedral, al- though the resemblance is not particularly strik- ing. However, the Church of Our Lady has one of the most striking sites of any church in Can- ada, and is a fine example of Gothic archi- tecture. Guelph has a number of interesting build- ings. It has a city hall designed by William Thomas, one of Canada's most famous 19th century architects, and one of her best, and there was a native Guelphite about a century ago who was no mean architect himself. He was a Scottish immigrant named David Allan, who studied design under David Bryce in Edinburgh before he came to Canada, and in Guelph he became a successful businessman, as well as an architect. He was responsible for St. Andrew's Presbyterian church in Guelph, built in 1857, with beautiful proportions, the Guelph Court House in Scottish baronial style, and Allan's Mill, the flour mill which made his fortune. Only parts of the mill are still standing, but originally it was the finest example of Scottish baronial in Canada. Go to Brantford, and you can see His Majesty's Chapel for the Mohawks, built at royal expense in 1785. The original building was remodelled and repaired in 1829. ody lh ac a lh