Thomas Fuller (architect)

Thomas Fuller (architect)

Thomas Fuller (March 8, 1823 – September 28, 1898) was a Canadian architect.

He was born in Bath, Somerset (England), where he trained as an architect. Living in Bath and London he did a number of projects. In 1845 he left for Antigua, where he spent two years working on a new cathedral before emigrating to Canada in 1857. Settling in Toronto, he formed a partnership with Chilion Jones with Fuller responsible for design work. The company first won the contract to design the church of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields.

In 1859, The Legislative Assembly in Ottawa voted the sum of £75,000 for the erection of a "Parliament House" and offered a premium of $1000 for the best design within that budget. The winning bid was made by Fuller and Jones for a neo-gothic design. The principal architects until its completion in 1866 were Thomas Fuller and Charles Baillairge. In Hand Book to the Parliamentary and Departmental Buildings, Canada (1867), Joseph Bureau wrotes, "The corner stone was laid with great ceremony by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales in September, 1860, on which occasion the rejoicings partook of the nature of the place, the lumber arches and men being a novelty to most of its visitors, bullocks and sheep were roasted whole upon the government ground and all comers were feasted."

In 1867 he won the contract to build the New York State Capitol building in Albany, New York, and spent the next several years in the United States. The project ran into severe cost overruns, and an inquiry blamed Fuller. Fuller thus returned to Canada, and unable to work in the more lucrative private sector, in 1881 became Chief Dominion Architect, replacing Thomas Seaton Scott. In this capacity, which he held until 1896, he played a role in the design and construction of every major federal building.

The Department of Public Works erected a number of small urban post offices in smaller urban centres during Thomas Fuller's term as Chief Architect.