Hopkins, Edward C. (Edward Colis), 1857-1941

Edward Colis Hopkins, son of the prominent Montreal architect John W. Hopkins, was born on January 21, 1857, in Montreal, Quebec.

He trained under his father with whom he formed a partnership in 1879 (J.W. & E.C. Hopkins). He worked in Boston from 1894 to 1896 and in Quebec City from 1896 to 1904 with George E. Tanguay. He designed the ice palace in Montreal for Canada’s Governor-General Marquess of Lorne. Shortly after the death of his father in 1905, Edward moved to Calgary where he became associated with a successful architect William M. Dodd. In 1906, he moved to Edmonton to take up the position of Provincial Architect for Alberta. In 1907, he resigned from this position and became a partner in the firm of Magoon, Hopkins & James. In 1908, their office was called Hopkins & James, and in 1909, Hopkins formed another partnership with Edmund Wright which was dissolved within a year. He started his own practice specializing in the design of large commercial and industrial warehouse buildings. His best-known work is a large block called The Boardwalk, a brusque Romanesque Revival warehouse clad in brick and stone originally built for Ross Brothers Hardware Company. In 1910, he was elected President of the Alberta Association of Architects.

In 1885, he married Emma Jane Blow. He died on August 18, 1941, in Edmonton, Alberta.