Augustus Laver

Who is Augustus Laver?

Augustus Laver was a Canadian architect. He worked for Thomas Stent and later designed extensive alterations and additions to Ottawa’s Russell Hotel, entered the 1866 competition to design the New York State capitol at Albany and was awarded one of the premiums, participated with Thomas Fuller, and Arthur Delavan Gilman in planning a revised design. In Albany he partnered with Fuller, but after controversy neither partner saw the project to completion. In 1871 Fuller and Laver won the competition to design the new city hall and law courts for San Francisco. The unfinished building was destroyed in the fire following the 1906 earthquake and was "plagued with difficulties". He was involved with the Royal Institute of British Architects, was president of the Pacific Coast Association of Architects and a fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

Laver was born in Folkestone, England. His father, George Laver, was a leading solicitor and his mother Mary Ann—; m. 9 June 1859 Elizabeth Fox in Dover, England, had twin sons and a daughter. He died in in on the 27th of March, 1898 in Alameda, California.