Chapman and Oxley
Chapman and Oxley was a Toronto based architectural firm which responsible for designing a number of prominent buildings in the city in the 1920s and 1930s. Even with the departure of Chapman, the firm's last projects appeared to be in the late 1940s.
History
The firm was founded by architects Alfred Hirschfelder Chapman and James Morrow Oxley in 1919.A.H. Chapman was born in Toronto to the Chapman family whom owned Grenadier Ice Company at Grenadier Pond and Belle Ewart Ice Company. Chapman apprenticed under architect Beaumont Jarvis. He then went to study architecture in Paris. From 1920 he was head of the family business Chapmans Limited, which sold ice and fuel in a Toronto. Chapman served as President of the Ontario Association of Architects for two consecutive periods, 1929 and 1930. Chapman retired in 1943 and died in 1949. He is buried at St. George's Church and Cemetery in Sutton, Ontario.
Chapman's son Howard Dennison Chapman formed his own fim Chapman and Hurst, which was also an architect and worked with Howard V. Walker on a number of buildings like Riverdale Hospital and restoration projects in the 1980s. His other son Christopher Chapman was a writer, director and cinematographer.
J.M. Oxley attended the University of Toronto as an engineering student. He fought in World War I in the Canadian Expeditionary Force from 1915-1918. Oxley was also president of the Mississauga Golf & Country Club from 1939 to 1940. He died in 1957.
Projects
A list of projects worked on by Chapman and Oxley:| Building | Year | Type | Notes |
| Toronto Harbour Commission Building | 1919 | Office building | Successor agency PortsToronto no longer is located in building |
| Sunnyside Bathing Pavilion | 1922 | Public pool | Still in operation |
| Palais Royale | 1922 | Dancehall | Built with Bishop; still in use as special events hall |
| 330 Bay Street | 1925 | 16 storey office tower | Now named as Northern Ontario Building |
| CNE Ontario Government Building | 1925-1926 | Exhibition Hall | Now houses Liberty Grand banquet and ballroom facility |
| Havergal College | 1926 | School | Still in operation |
| Maple Leaf Stadium | 1926 | Baseball stadium | Demolished 1968 and replaced with apartment buildings and gas station |
| National Building | 1926 | 12 storey office building | Demolished in 2009 to make way for Bay Adelaide Centre |
| Crosee and Blackwell Building | 1927 | Television station | Later as CFMT Building and now simply as 545 Lakeshore Boulevard West |
| Princes' Gates, at Exhibition Place | 1927 | Arch gateway | |
| Dominion Building | 1927 | 12 storey office tower | Home to National Cash Register; later as City Hall Annex and Robert Simpson Complex at the rear |
| Toronto Public Library Circulating Library | 1930 | Library | Now Koffler Student Centre, University of Toronto |
| Toronto Hydro Building | 1931 | Office building | With associate Albert E. Salisbury |
| Royal Ontario Museum | 1933 | Expansion wing | Mix of neo-Byzantine and Art Deco |
| Holy Blossom Temple | 1938 | Synagogue | |
| Heaslip House | 1938-1939 | Office building | Built as HQ for E.P. Taylor's Canadian Breweries Limited - purchased by Ryerson University as home for radio station CRJT and now home to Chang School of Continuing Education |
| Bank of Montreal Building at King and Bay | 1948 | Bank building | Demolished 1972 along with Old Toronto Star building for First Canadian Place |
A list of work by Chapman or Oxley prior to the founding of their firm in 1919:
| Building | Year | Type | Architects | Notes |
| Old Oakville Grammar School | 1908 | School | Chapman | Later as Oakville Trafalgar High School and closed in 1993; 1942 and 1960s additions demolished after being acquired by Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital |
| Toronto Public Library Bloor-Gladstone Branch | 1911-1913 | library | Alfred H. Chapman & Robert B. McGiffin; | Renovated by Howard D Chapman 1975 |
| Toronto Reference Library - St. George Street | 1909 | Library | Wickson & Gregg and A.H. Chapman | Now Koffler Student Centre, University of Toronto |
| Carnegie Library - Dundas, Ontario | 1909 | Library | Chapman and McGiffin | Now Carnegie Gallery |
| Rosedale Presbyterian Church, Toronto | 1909 | Church | Chapman and McGiffin | Christian Education building added 1955 |
| Knox College | 1912-15 | University building | Chapman and McGiffin | |
| Toronto Public Library Dovercourt Branch | 1913 | Library | Chapman and McGiffin | |
| Carnegie Library - Barrie, Ontario | 1915 | Library | Chapman and McGiffin | Now MacLaren Arts Centre |