The Dominion Public Building is an Art Deco office building located on Richmond Street in the heart of London, Ontario, Canada. Construction on the building started in 1935 and concluded with the building's inauguration in September 1936. The Dominion Public building was a result of the Public Works Construction Act of 1934 which laid out a plan to reinvigorate Canada's economy through public works projects. The building was designed by Chief Public Works Architect Thomas W. Fuller with the help of three London architects: John MacLeod Watt, Victor Joseph Blackwell and Roy O. Moore. The building displays a physical essay of "the New Classicalism or Modern Classicalism"; this architectural approach is a take on the Art Deco style of architecture and is what highlights this building as a piece of Canadian Heritage.
The Dominion Public Building was mainly known for its use by the Postal Service; but the building also hosted other government departments such as Customs, Department of Labour, Pensions, Health, and others. Currently the building is still under government ownership, and is now a Classified Federal Heritage Building.
The Public Works Construction Act
The Public Works Construction Act was enacted on July 3, 1934 and was designed to rebuild Canada and pull the nation out of the economic struggles of the Great Depression and return Canada to a state of economic normalcy. From the act itself: "An Act to provide for the construction and improvement of certain public works and undertakings throughout Canada"; this act aspires to create work for the nation to return Canada to economic normalcy. This act laid out a total of 185 project locations across Canada totaling around $39.69 Million in funding; which was distributed per project, per city. This funding ranged anywhere from a few thousand dollars to $2.5 million for bigger projects in bigger cities. Many of these projects were Dominion Public Buildings for other cities, one example of such situation would be The Dominion Public Building in Toronto, Ont. or The Dominion Public Building in Halifax, NS.
Implementation in London, Ont. The City of London received $1.5 million dollars for a brand new public building which eventually became The Dominion Public Building. London, like any other city during "the hungry thirties" was suffering economically with a huge unemployment crisis in progress. The Public Works Construction Act came as a relief to many Londoners during this time, with many of them taking up work to construct The Dominion Public Building.
Architects
The architects of the Dominion Public Building were headed by Thomas W. Fuller, who was in charge of all Public works construction for the Act. For London, Thomas worked with London architects John Watt, Victor Blackwell and Roy Moore to design The Dominion Public Building.
Thomas W. Fuller was a Canadian architect who practised across Canada designing various federal buildings. In 1927 he was appointed to the role of Chief Dominion Architect; the same role in which his father, Thomas Fuller, was involved with. Thomas W. Fuller was Chief Dominion Architect for a total of 10 years, and exited the role in 1936. During his time as Dominion Architect he oversaw many Public Works Construction Act projects and brought neoclassicism to Canadian federal buildings.
John Watt and Roy Moore were both local architects who worked with W. Fuller on The Dominion Public Building. They had both been working in the London area and had established practices in the city. At the time of the design and construction of The Dominion Public Building, John Watt partnered with Victor Blackwell at their firm Watt and Blackwell, which became one of the leading firms in the city. Roy Moore, one of the other architects for the project was also involved with another leading architecture firm in London. Roy worked at and then became partner at his father's firm, eventually changing the name from Moore & Henry to J.M. Moore & co.