Frank Wills (architect)

Frank Wills was a British-born Canadian architect who is associated with the design of early Gothic Revival churches in North America.

Biography

Frank Wills was born in Exeter, in December 1822, where he started working under John Hayward. He was a member of the Exeter Architectural Society, and his first known work is a canopied tomb in Gothic style beside the high altar in St. Thomas' Church in Exeter. In 1842, Wills exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
He emigrated to New Brunswick in 1845 to work on Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton, which he modelled on St. Mary's Church in Snettisham, Norfolk. He moved to New York City, began an architectural firm in late 1847 and married Emily Coster in 1848. He became associated with the New York Ecclesiology Society and soon was the official architect for that group. In 1850, he published Ancient Ecclesiastical Architecture and Its Principles, Applied to the Wants of the Church at the Present Day. Emily died in the same year.
In 1851, he took a partner into his firm, Henry Dudley, who had also worked under Hayward in Exeter. He remarried to Almy Warne Casey in November 1853; she was the daughter of the Philadelphia iron merchant James Casey. They had one son, Charles James Wills. Frank Wills died in Montreal, on 22 April 1857, where he was working on Christ Church Cathedral.

Works

Selected works by him or his firm include:

Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
St. Anne's Chapel in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
The Church of the Holy Innocents in Albany, New York.
Grace Church in Albany, New York.
The House of Prayer in Newark, New Jersey.
St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Spotswood, New Jersey.
Anglican Church in Burton, New Brunswick.
St. Peter's Church in Milford, Connecticut.
Chapel of the Cross in Madison, Mississippi.
St. Mary's Church in Abingdon, Maryland.
Montgomery House in Madison, Mississippi
Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Nashville, Tennessee.
Trinity Episcopal Church in Mobile, Alabama.
Christ Church in Napoleonville, Louisiana.
Holy Trinity Church in Claremont, New Hampshire.
St. George's Church in Flushing, New York.
St. John's Church in Troy, New York.
St. Michael's Church in Sillery, Quebec.
Christ's Church, Rye in Rye, New York.
St. John's Episcopal Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
Christ Church in Oberlin, Ohio.
Trinity Episcopal Church in Connersville, Indiana.
Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Huntsville, Alabama.
Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal, Quebec.
Saint George's in Portage-du-Fort, Quebec, Canada

Also, based on similarities, three other churches are believed to be from his firm:

Trinity Episcopal Church Scotland Neck, North Carolina.
Church of the Nativity in Union, South Carolina.
Trinity Church in Natchitoches, Louisiana.