Cowan, Frank Romaine

COWAN, Frank Romaine (1889-c. 1957), was born in Toronto on 28 December 1889 and trained under Symons & Rae from 1909 to early 1912. During this period he also attended evening classes and studied architectural design and drawing at the Toronto Technical School. He then appears to have opened an office under his own name, and designed several industrial buildings which are solely credited to him in building permit records. By 1913 he had joined Bond & Smith as a draftsman, and the following year he worked briefly for Wickson & Gregg.

In late 1914 he joined the architectural department of the Toronto Board of Education as a staff architect, and remained there until after 1931. He registered with the Ontario Association of Architects in August 1931, and continued to work as an architect in Toronto until December 1957 when he resigned (inf. Ontario Assoc. of Architects)

(works in Toronto)

ONTARIO PRESS LTD., McCaul Street near Queen Street West, warehouse for Horatio C. Hocken, 1911 (City of Toronto b.p. 30486, 23 Sept. 1911)

DUCHESS STREET (now Richmond Street East), near Sherbourne Street, warehouse for John G. Kent, 1911-12 (C.R., xxv, 6 Dec. 1911, 60)

ART TAILORING LTD., College Street at Markham Street, warehouse for F.R. Cowan (in Trust), 1913 (City of Toronto b.p. 3935, 7 May 1913; Toronto Architectural Conservancy: College Street: A Study - Part One, 2012, 33-4, illus. & descrip.)

WYCHWOOD PARK, residence for Alan Sullivan, Alcina Avenue, 1913 (inf. Toronto Historical Board, Inventory of Listed Properties)

QUEEN STREET WEST, near Cowan Avenue, a four storey brick warehouse for Frank R. Cowan (in Trust), 1914 (City of Toronto b.p. 9226, 14 Feb. 1914)