TABLE OF CONTENTS
Collection Summary
John William Hurrell Watts fonds:
Finding Aid
Collection Summary |
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| Title: | John William Hurrell Watts fonds. | |
| Dates: | – ca. 1890-ca. 1910. | |
| Quantity: | – 6 b&w photographs, 3 b&w negatives, and 1 notebook : 17.5 cm x 11.5 cm. | |
Biographical Sketch
John William Hurrell Watts was born September 16, 1850 in Teignmouth, England, the son of John Watts, a ship's purser, and Susan Hurrell. In 1867, at age seventeen, Watts was elected a member of the Architectural Association in London, England, where he trained at its school and in an architectural firm until early 1871. He subsequently worked as a draftsmen, surveyor, and evaluator in the city until 1873. Watts married Elizabeth Blanche Morris (b. April 21, 1847 in Guernsey, England) on July 16, 1872 and the following year immigrated to Canada, settling in Janeville, Gloucester, Ontario. Over the next several years the couple had five daughters, Florence (b. 1873), Flora Mary (b. 1875), Ida Mary (b. 1876), Bellis Blanche (1881-1896), and Dora Hurrell (b. 1885); and three sons, Wilfred F. (b. 1878), Harold Hurrell (b. 1882) and Lawrence Homer (b. 1887). Florence, Flora, and Lawrence died in infancy.
Watts began working immediately upon arriving in Canada, producing illustrations for magazines such as Canadian Illustrated News, where he published an engraving of a post office designed by architect Walter Chesterton (1845-1931) in the July 19, 1873 issue. Soon afterwards, Watts was hired as a draftsman by Thomas Seaton Scott (1826-1895), chief architect for the Department of Public Works in Ottawa. As Watts's first project for the Department, he prepared drawings for the interior fittings of the Library of Parliament, including the desks surrounding a statue of Queen Victoria. Other early works include the Gasometer at Rideau Hall and a 50-foot Civil Service Arch at Parliament Square in Ottawa to mark the arrival in Canada of the Marquis of Lorne (1845-1914), Canada's fourth Governor General, in 1878.
In 1880 the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was established by Lorne to hold annual exhibitions. In his opening remarks at the first official exhibition Lorne recommended that artists should submit a diploma work upon election to the Academy and that these works should form the nucleus of a national collection administered by the Department of Public Works. Watts was elected an associate member of the RCA in the design category in 1880 and promoted to full academician the following year when he submitted his diploma work, a pen-and-ink drawing for a stairway. Watts regularly exhibited his designs for furniture, interiors and buildings, as well as paintings, etchings and watercolours of landscapes with the RCA. He also exhibited with the Art Association of Montreal and the Ontario Society of Artists. His design skills were recognized in competitions sponsored by the American Architect and Building News (Boston) in 1881 and 1882, and he was awarded a prize of fifty dollars for The Deuce in the Fourth American Architect Competition. In 1882, in addition to his post as draftsman, Watts was appointed curator of the National Gallery, in charge of diploma submissions and the acquisitions budget, and began developing plans for a print room in the old Supreme Court building. Watts acquired more than 100 works of art as curator of the national collection until 1897, when a change in government led to his dismissal from the Department of the Public Works.
After leaving the public service, Watts started a new career as an architect in private practice with many of his early designs being for churches. The design for St. Matthew's Anglican Church, a wooden structure at 217 First Avenue in the Glebe area of Ottawa (demolished in 1930) is believed to be one of Watts's first commissions built in 1898. In 1901 he designed St. Augustine's Anglican Church at 100 Huxley Street in Galetta, Ontario (completed 1902) and in 1904 the Adath Jeshrun Synagogue at 375 King Edward Avenue in Ottawa (the Ottawa French Seventh-day Adventist Church since 1999). In the same year Watts painted an altarpiece and designed the ceiling of the chancel for St. Margaret's Anglican Church, where he served as first people's warden. In 1909 he made alterations and designed a new Sunday School for Zion Presbyterian Church on Albert Street in Carleton Place, Ontario.
Watts also specialized in homes for the wealthy, designing the residence of lumberman John Mather (1828-1907) at 453 Laurier Avenue East in 1878 (now Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa Culinary Arts Institute); the residence of John Frederick Booth, son of J.R. Booth (1827-1925), at 285 Charlotte Street in Ottawa (the Embassy of Russia since 1942); the residence of prominent Ottawa resident, Andrew Walker Fleck (1848-1924) at 500 Wilbrod in Ottawa (now the Algerian Embassy in Canada); and the residence of William Davis at 407 Wilbrod in Ottawa (now Australia House). Other notable designs by Watts include the Men Wah Tay lodge, a summer railway hotel at Rock Lake in Algonquin Park in 1900 (acquired by the crown and dismantled in 1955) and the studio residence of Canadian painter John Charles Pinhey (1860-1912) in Hudson Heights, Quebec in 1903. Watts remained involved in the architectural community for most of his life. In 1906 he became the first president of the Ottawa chapter of the Ontario Association of Architects and the following year he was appointed treasurer of the newly founded Architectural Institute of Canada. Watts exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy for the last time in 1913. He passed away at his home at 62 Robert Street in Ottawa on August 26, 1917 and was buried in Beechwood Cemetery.
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Scope and Content
Fonds consist of personal photographs and documents related to Watts's association with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Photographs include three portraits of Watts taken in Canada, one family portrait, and one Royal Canadian Academy of Arts photograph from 1897. There are negatives for two of the Watts portraits and the family photograph, as well as a negative showing portraits of Watts and his wife Elizabeth taken in England. Also included in the fonds is a notebook containing pictorial and print newspaper clippings related to the 1882 Royal Canadian Academy of Arts exhibition.
Source of supplied title proper: Title based on contents of fonds.
Immediate source of acquisition: The collection was acquired by the National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives from Crowther & Brayley Ltd, Waverley, Nova Scotia, 2009.
Terms governing use and reproductions: Permission to reproduce or publish material from the John William Hurrell Watts fonds must be obtained from the National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives.
Associated materials: The National Gallery of Canada owns six drawings by John William Hurrell Watts, including "Design for a Stairway," his diploma work submitted to the Royal Academy of the Arts in 1881.
Related groups of records: The National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives collection includes Watts's specifications book from the Department of Public Works, Chief Architect's office. The Homer Watson fonds includes correspondence between Watts and Homer Watson and two photographs of Watts. Two books in the Library collection, Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini (London: Harry G. Bohn, 1850) and Clara Erskine Clement, Naples: The City of Parthenope and Environs (Boston: Estes and Lauriat, 1894), were formerly owned by Watts and include his bookplate.
Finding aids: Series level descriptions and box list available.
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Organization of the Collection |
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| This collection is organized into two series. | ||
| Series 1 - Photographs. | ||
| Series 2 - Notebook. | ||
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Index Terms |
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| Names: | ||
| Watts, John William Hurrell, 1850-1917 | ||
| Organizations: | ||
| Royal Canadian Academy of Arts | ||
| Document Types: | ||
| Photographs. | ||
| Notebook. | ||
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Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
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Contact Information
Reference Services
Library and Archives
National Gallery of Canada
380 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 9N4
T 613-714-6000 ext. 6323
[email protected]
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Series Level Descriptions
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Detailed Description of the Collection
Box List
Series 1 - Photographs |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||||
| Box 1 | File 1 | Portraits of J.W.H. Watts and family photographs *note: file contains 6 b&w photographs and 3 b&w negatives | |||||||||||
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Series 2 - Notebook |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||||
| Box 1 | File 2 | Notebook containing pictorial and print newspaper clippings | |||||||||||
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