1 John Lyle

John Lyle was born in Ireland. He emigrated, with his parents, to Ontario in 1878. Lyle spent his childhood in Hamilton where he attended the Hamilton School of Art. He trained as an architect at the Yale School of the Arts and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, which he entered in 1894. Lyle spent a number of years working in New York City for several large architectural firms. On his return to Canada in 1906, he became a key figure in the dissemination of Beaux-Arts ideals to the architectural profession. He gave lectures at the University of Toronto on the style and designed some of that city’s great Beaux-Arts buildings, such as Union Station (1914-21) and the Royal Alexandra Theatre (Toronto, 1906-07). Lyle’s Runnymede Public Library (Toronto, 1929) combines a uniquely Canadian architecture with the use of local materials, a French-Canadian design influence and First Nation imagery. He also designed Central Presbyterian Church (Hamilton, 1907-08). Lyle was a leader in Toronto’s City Beautiful movement. He also developed visionary designs for Toronto's Civic Improvement League.

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