Henry Bowyer Lane

Who was Henry Bowyer Lane?

Henry Bowyer Joseph Lane was an English architect who worked in Toronto from c. 1841 to 1847.

Lane was born to Henry Bower Lane, a Royal Artillery Captain and Elizabeth Lacey in 1817 and moved to Devon, England after 1819.

Lane's education included time at Blundell's School in Tiverton and subsequent professional training in England before he emigrated to Canada in 1841, living first in Cobourg, Upper Canada, and then in Toronto.

One of Lane's most significant contributions is Osgoode Hall, namely the west and central wings from 1844-1846. He designed and oversaw the construction of the incorporated city of Toronto's second city hall in 1844. Lane's commissions outside of Toronto were limited and never as grand as his work in Toronto.

Lane married Lucy Anne Sharpe in 1844 during his time in Toronto and left Toronto in 1847 and believed to have died in Birmingham, England in 1878.