Thomas Fuller (March 8, 1823 – September 28, 1898) was an English-born Canadian architect. From 1881 to 1896, he was Chief Dominion Architect for the Government of Canada, during which time he played a role in the design and construction of every major federal building.
Early life and education Fuller was born on March 8, 1823, in Bath, Somerset, England, where he trained as an architect with James Wilson (becoming a pupil of Wilson's in 1844) alongside his future architectural business partner William Bruce Gingell. His father, also called Thomas, was a carriage-maker, and his mother was Mary Fuller (née Tiley).
Career While living in Bath and London, he did a number of architectural projects, with Wilson (with whom he went into partnership in 1854), with Gingell (working as Fuller and Gingell from 1848 to 1850) or on his own account. In 1845, he left for Antigua, where he spent two years working on the new St John's Cathedral, before emigrating to Canada in 1857. Settling in Toronto, he formed a partnership with Chilion Jones in which Fuller was responsible for design work. The company first won the contract to design Toronto's 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 wrote, "The corner stone was laid with great ceremony by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales [the future king Edward VII] 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, succeeding Thomas Seaton Scott. Canada's Department of Public Works erected a number of post offices in smaller urban centres during Thomas Fuller's term as chief architect.
Works United Kingdom England BuildingYear completedHeritage statusBuilder/architectStyleLocationImageCentral Block of Greenbank Prison (formerly Longfield House)1849 Listed Grade II by Historic England in 2007 Architects: Fuller & Gingell (Thomas Fuller and William Bruce Gingell) Builder: William Clift Plymouth, DevonCranwells (formerly Summerfield School) Weston Park East1852Listed Grade II by Historic England in 1972 Architects: Wilson & Fuller (James Wilson and Thomas Fuller) Bath, SomersetBradford-on-Avon Town Hall and police station and offices (now St Thomas More Roman Catholic Church, Bradford-on-Avon)1854 Listed Grade II by Historic England in 1974 (former town hall) and in 1993 (police station and offices) Architect: Thomas Fuller Builders: Long and Spender ElizabethanMarket Street, Bradford-on-Avon, WiltshireAnglican Mortuary Chapel in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Bathwick (now Smallcombe Cemetery1855Listed Grade II by Historic England in 2008Architect: Thomas FullerBuilder: George MannEarly EnglishDarlington Street, Bath, SomersetBuildings at Holt Road Cemetery, Bradford-on-Avon1856 Architect: Thomas Fuller Bradford-on-Avon, WiltshireNos 1 and 2, Christchurch Cottages, Bath1856 Listed Grade II by Historic England in 2011Architect believed to be Thomas FullerJulian Road, Bath, SomersetNewark WorksListed Grade II by Historic England in 2006. The building was converted in 2022 into flexible working space for small businesses as part of the Bath Quays development. Its larger site was developed from 2011 into the Bath Western Riverside residential scheme.Architect: Thomas Fuller Lower Bristol Road, Bath, Somerset
Wales BuildingYear completedHeritage statusBuilder/architectStyleLocationImageLlandovery College (known until the 1880s as the Thomas Phillips Institution, or the Welsh Collegiate Institution)1851Listed Grade II by Cadw in 2004Architects: Fuller & Gingell (Thomas Fuller and William Bruce Gingell) Tudor Gothic Queensway, Llandovery, Carmarthenshire
United States California BuildingYear completedHeritage statusBuilder/architectStyleLocationImageSan Francisco City Hall1899Destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco EarthquakeArchitects: Fuller & Laver (Thomas Fuller and Augustus Laver) Second EmpireLarkin Street, McAllister Street and the former City Hall Avenue, San Francisco
New York State BuildingYear completedHeritage statusBuilder/architectStyleLocationImageGround floor of the New York State Capitol1867–1875It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, then included as a contributing property when the Lafayette Park Historic District was listed in 1978. The New York State Capitol was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1979. and undated photo; 289 KiBArchitect: Thomas Fuller Classical/RomanesqueAlbany, New York
Canada Alberta BuildingYear completedHeritage statusBuilder/architectStyleLocationImageLand Titles Building – Victoria Armoury1893On Canada's Register of Historic Places since 1977Architect: Thomas Fuller10523 100 Avenue, Edmonton Calgary Post Office1895Demolished in about 1929Architect: Thomas Fuller8th Avenue, Calgary
British Columbia BuildingYear completedHeritage statusBuilder/architectStyleLocationImageThe Armoury (home of The Royal Westminster Regiment)1895A Recognized Federal Heritage Building since 1987Architect: Thomas Fuller Builder: David Bain Italianate/Romanesque Revival530 Queen's Avenue,New Westminster
Manitoba BuildingYear completedHeritage statusBuilder/architectStyleLocationImageFormer Dominion Post Office Building / Portage City Hall1898 Originally a post office, it became the Portage la Prairie City Hall in 1960. A plaque erected in 1983 by the Historic Sites and Monuments Advisory Board of Canada describes it as a representative of small, urban post offices designed by Fuller, and says that is mostly intact and has not undergone major exterior renovation. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1983.Architect: Thomas Fuller Romanesque Revival97 Saskatchewan Avenue West, Portage la Prairie
New Brunswick BuildingYear completedHeritage statusBuilder/architectStyleLocationImageOld Bathurst Post Office1885A National Historic Site of Canada since 1998Architect: Thomas FullerRomanesque96 Main Street, Bathurst, New Brunswick
Nova Scotia BuildingYear completedHeritage statusBuilder/architectStyleLocationImage Halifax Armoury 1858It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1989 and a Classified Federal Heritage Building in 1991. Architect: Thomas Fuller Romanesque Revival Cornwallis Street, Halifax Gilbert H. Grosvenor Hall (originally built as the Baddeck Post Office and Custom House) 1887 On Canada's Register of Historic Places since 1983 Architect: Thomas Fuller Romanesque Revival 532 Chebucto Street, Baddeck
Ontario BuildingYear completedHeritage statusBuilder/architectStyleLocationImage St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Anglican Church 1858 The church was gutted by fire in 1865 and subsequently rebuilt and enlarged by Henry Langley. None of Fuller's original interior survives but, on the exterior, the polychromatic masonry, solid buttressing and open bell core survive. Architects: Fuller & Jones (Thomas Fuller and Chilion Jones); rebuilt by Henry Langley Neo-Gothic 103 Bellevue Avenue, Kensington Market, Toronto Canada's Parliament Buildings Centre Block 1858Destroyed by fire in 1916. in The replacement building was designed by a team of architects led by John A. Pearson and Jean-Omer Marchand. Architects: Fuller & Jones (Thomas Fuller and Chilion Jones) Neo-Gothic Parliament Hill, Ottawa Library of Parliament 1858 Architects: Fuller & Jones (Thomas Fuller and Chilion Jones) Victorian High Gothic Parliament Hill, Ottawa Langevin Block (renamed Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council in 2017) 1858 The building is a National Historic Site of Canada and was recognized as a Classified Federal Heritage Building in 1988. Architects: Thomas Fuller and Henry Langley Second Empire Parliament Hill, Ottawa Victoria Tower 1866 The tower was destroyed during the great fire of the Centre Block on 3 February 1916. Its replacement, the Peace Tower, was built on the same location but the design (larger clock face, ornamental High Victorian Gothic vs. simpler Modern Gothic) and height were radically changed. The original tower bore some similarities to the tower at the Parliament Building in Quebec (which is still standing). The Victoria Tower Bell is the only relic remaining from the Victoria Tower. Architect: Thomas Fuller Neo-Gothic Parliament Hill, Ottawa Royal Military College of Canada Gatehouse 1, Building R21884A Recognized Federal Heritage Building 1994Architect: Thomas Fuller Point Frederick, KingstonRoyal Military College of Canada Gatehouse 2, Building R61884A Recognized Federal Heritage Building 1994Architect: Thomas Fuller Point Frederick, Kingston Former Brockville Post Office 1886 Designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1983 Architect: Thomas Fuller Flemish, Queen Anne and classical elements 14 Court House Avenue, Brockville Old Galt Post Office building 1887Designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1983 Architect: Thomas Fuller; Builder: M.A. Piggott Romanesque, Gothic and Second Empire 12 Water Street South, Cambridge Royal Military College of Canada Administration Building, former Hospital, Building 55 1887 Designated a Recognized Federal Heritage Building in 1994 Architect: Thomas Fuller Classical Revival elements19 Valour Drive, Kingston Napanee Post Office 1887A National Historic Site of Canada since 1977 Architect: Thomas Fuller Richardson Romanesque and Victorian Eclecticism 36 Bridge Street, Greater Napanee John Weir Foote Armoury 1888–1908 A National Historic Site of Canada since 1989Architects: Thomas Fuller and David Ewart Neo-Gothic200 James Street North, Hamilton Almonte Post Office 1891A National Historic Site of Canada since 1983 Architects: Thomas Fuller and Henry Langley Romanesque Revival 73 Mill Street, Mississippi Mills Toronto Armouries1894 Demolished in 1963. A plaque in front of the Toronto Courthouse at University Avenue and Armoury Street marks the Armouries' site. Architect: Thomas Fuller Romanesque RevivalUniversity Avenue, Toronto
Prince Edward Island BuildingYear completedHeritage statusBuilder/architectStyleLocationImage Former Summerside Post Office 1887A National Historic Site of Canada since 1983 Architect: Thomas Fuller Gothic and Romanesque elements 45 Summer Street, Summerside
Quebec BuildingYear completedHeritage statusBuilder/architectStyleLocationImage Coaticook Post Office 1886–1890 A National Historic Site of Canada since 1988Architect: Thomas Fuller 34, Rue Main Est, Coaticook Saint-Hyacinthe Post Office1892 A National Historic Site of Canada since 1983Architect: Thomas FullerItalianate/ Romanesque Revival1915 Girouard Street West,Saint-Hyacinthe
Saskatchewan BuildingYear completedHeritage statusBuilder/architectStyleLocationImageGovernment House, Regina1891Architect: Thomas FullerItalianate/ Romanesque Revival 4607 Dewdney Avenue, Regina
Family In 1853 he married Caroline Anne Green, who was also from Bath; they had one son and two daughters together. Their son, Thomas W. Fuller, was also an architect, being appointed Canada's chief architect in 1927. Thomas W. Fuller's son, Thomas G. Fuller, spent more than 50 years in the building industry.
Death and legacy