LAVER, Augustus (1834-1898), a talented British architect who arrived in Canada in 1858 and was a partner in the following firms:
Stent & Laver, Ottawa, Ont., 1859-1864
Augustus Laver, Ottawa, Ont. 1865-1867
Fuller & Laver, of Albany, N.Y. and San Francisco, Calif. 1871-1873 (with Thomas Fuller)
Augustus Laver, San Francisco, Calif. 1874-1877
Laver & Curlett, San Francisco, Calif. 1878- to November 30, 1879 (with William Curlett)
Augustus Laver, San Francisco, Calif., December 1879-1889
Laver, Mullany & Laver, San Francisco, 1890-1893 (with Patrick Mullany and Charles J.F. Laver)
Laver & Mullany, San Francisco, Calif. 1893-1897 (with Patrick Mullany)
(biography in preparation)
AUGUSTUS LAVER
OTTAWA, ONT., major additions and alterations to the Russell House Hotel, incorporating a new Music Hall, Sparks Street at Elgin Street, 1865-66; burned 1927 (Ottawa Citizen, 19 Jan. 1866, 2, descrip.; 8 Nov. 1866, 2, descrip.; Ottawa Times, 19 Feb. 1866, 2)
OTTAWA, ONT., residence for Alfred Patrick, in Sandy Hill, 1866 (Ottawa Citizen, 12 May 1866, 2, t.c.)
OTTAWA, ONT., St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Kent Street, begun 1869 by Laver; completed 1874-75 by King M. Arnoldi (Ottawa: A Guide to Heritage Structures, 2000, 70-1, illus.; Andrew Waldron, Exploring the Capital: An Architectural Guide to the Ottawa-Gatineau Region, 2017, 66-7, illus. & descrip.)
HULL, QUE., coach house, stables and outbuildings for 'Riverview', a residence for David Moore, Aylmer Road, 1867; demol. (Ottawa Citizen, 18 April 1867, 3, t.c.)
(with Thomas Fuller) SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., City Hall & Hall of Records, McAllister Street at Leavenworth Street, a competition entry 1871 by Fuller & Laver; completed 1872-94 by Augustus Laver; destroyed by earthquake in 1906 (The Architect [London], v, 3 June 1871, 288, illus. and descrip.; Daily Examiner [San Francisco], 14 Oct. 1871, 5, t.c.; California Mail Bag [San Francisco], i, Jan.-Feb. 1872, vii-ix, illus. & descrip., with perspective by A. Laver; Harper's Weekly [New York], 30 March 1872, 245, illus.; American Architect & Building News [Boston], xl, 27 May 1893, plate illus.)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., commercial block for M. McConnell, Market Street at Post Street, 1873 (dwgs. California Historical Society, San Francisco)
LAVER & CURLETT
MENLO PARK, CALIF., 'Linden Towers', a mansion for James C. Flood, 1878-81; demol. 1934 (Harper's Weekly [New York], 22 March 1879, 225-6, illus. & descrip.; California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], i, Oct. 1880, 100; H. Kirker, California's Architectural Frontier, 1973, plate 45; dwgs. California Historical Society, San Franciso)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., residence for J.G. Ayers, Sutter Street, 1879 (Quarterly Architectural Review [San Francisco], i, April 1879, 16)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., Golden State Woolen Mills, 20th Street, 1879-80 (Quarterly Architectural Review [San Francisco], I, Oct. 1879, 32; California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], i, March 1880, 30)
AUGUSTUS LAVER
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., sarcophagus in the Jewish Cemetery for Mr. Myers, 1880 (California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], i, Feb. 1880, 10)
MARTINEZ, CALIF., residence, stables, barn and workshop for D. Cook, 1880 (California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], i, March 1880, 30; Aug. 1880, 80)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., seven houses for Mr. Myers, Geary Street, 1880 California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], i, July 1880, 70)
REDWOOD CITY, CALIF., major addition to the Court House, 1881 (California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], ii, Oct. 1881, 108)
REDWOOD CITY, CALIF., commercial block for Charles Prior, 1881 (California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], ii, Dec. 1881, 134)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., commercial block for W.S. Wood, Clay Street, 1883 (California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], iv, Jan. 1883, 16)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., commercial block for Mrs. M. Coleman, Market Street, 1883 (California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], iv, May 1883, 84)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., mansion for James C. Flood, California Street, 1883-87; burned 1906; rebuilt 1909-12 for the Pacific Union Club (California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], iv, Dec. 1883, 212; vii, 15 Dec. 1886, 183; D. Gebhard et al, Guide to Architecture in San Francisco & Northern Calif., 1976, 71, illus.)
SAN FRNCISCO, CALIF., commercial block for Huntington, Hopkins & Co., First Street, 1884 (California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], v, March 1884, 60)
LAVER & MULLANY
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., block for Cornelius Egan, Butte Street at York Street, 1893 (California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], xiv, 20 April 1893, 47)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., apartment block for John Traynor, Golden Gate Avenue, 1894 California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], xv, 20 June 1894, 72)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., block for Clinton H. Ball, Washington Street at Baker Street, 1897 (California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], xviii, 20 Sept. 1897, 108)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., block for Michael Mullany, Washington Street at Scott Street, 1897 (California Architect & Building Review [San Francisco], xviii, 20 Oct. 1897, 120)
COMPETITIONS
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., City Hall, at Yerba Buena Park, 1871. The design by Fuller & Laver, submitted by Laver under his signature using the pseudonym Ne Ville Fano, was awarded First Prize, with Laver to act as superintending architect (Daily Examiner [San Francisco], 14 Feb. 1871, 3, descrip.)
HARTFORD, CONN., State House, 1871. Laver was one of five invited entrants for this competition. He dispatched his drawings from his office in San Francisco but they were caught in a snowstorm in the Rocky Mountains and failed to arrive in Hartford by the deadline of 1 January 1872 (H.R. Hitchcock & W. Seale, Temples of Democracy: The State Capitols of the U.S.A., 1976, 159-60). In 1879 the R.I.B.A. recorded a donation of drawings by Laver, a Fellow of the Institute, which included this Hartford project, but a recent search at the Collection has failed to locate this material.
TORONTO, ONT., Provincial Parliament Building, 1880. Under the motto 'Communi Consensu', Laver was one of sixteen competitors who submitted an entry in this two stage competition. He was not among the six finalists (Ontario Ministry of Govt. Services, Critical Summary of Archival Material Relating to the History of the Parliament Building, Toronto, by F. Bayer and R. Nasgaard, 1978, 10-11)
OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON, State Capitol Building, 1893. The firm of Laver & Mullany of San Francisco were one of 188 entrants in this open competition. Their name was not included among the ten finalists (Inland Architect [Chicago], xxiii, June 1894, 54-55). The winner was Ernest Flagg of New York, but only the foundations of his scheme were built. The design by Laver & Mullany was later published in the California Architect & Building News [San Francisco], xv, Oct. 1894, 114, with plate illus.
(see other competition citations under Fuller & Laver and under Stent & Laver).