Born in Garryvacum in County Laois, Ireland, Kivas Tully was the son of John P. Tully, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and Alicia Willington. He trained as an architect at the Royal Naval School in London, England, before coming to the Province of Canada in 1844, arriving in Toronto, where he began working at the firm of John George Howard, designing many important buildings throughout southern Ontario.
Following Canadian Confederation, Tully joined the Ontario Department of Public Works in 1868. He was appointed the first Ontario Provincial architect (1868–1896)[2] and engineer.[3] He was involved in the supervising of the competition leading to the design of the Ontario Legislative Building at Queen's Park. As the provincial department of public works' chief architect, Tully supervised a series of district courthouses built in northern Ontario. The courthouse at Parry Sound designed in 1871 still forms the core of the present courthouse complex.
The Ontario Archives hold drawings for virtually all provincial buildings including courthouses, registry offices, goals & lock-ups, schools and colleges, hospitals and other works executed under his supervision from 1896 until 1926.[4]
In 1903, Tully was awarded the Imperial Service Order. He had retired in 1896 and died in Toronto on 24 April 1905.
Neoclassical in style with quarters on the second and third floors for the manager and his family, the three-story stone building was demolished in 1886 for a new Beaux-Arts Bank of Montreal office which now houses the Hockey Hall of Fame.[5]
Designed in the Neoclassical style by Tully and constructed by John Hellems and William A. Bald of several courses of Queenston limestone. Addition added in 1954.
Main building demolished 1870 and only Infirmary or Exam Building remains. Site vacant but part of London Psychiatric Hospital (Regional Mental Health Care)
South cottage added 1885 and infirmary 1895; demolished 1990s; site now used by Centre for Mountain Health Services after transfer to St. Joseph's Healthcare-Hamilton
Main building and cottages, 1892–94; later renamed as Brockville Psychiatric Hospital and now Brockville Mental Health Centre
Personal
Tully was married twice, first to Elizabeth Drew in 1844 (died 1847) and Maria Elizabeth Strickland in 1852 (died 1883). He had four daughters, and was survived by two, including the artist Sydney Strickland Tully (1860–1911), when he died in 1905.[6]
Publications
Preliminary report of the engineer, on the survey of the various routes, for the proposed ship canal, to connect the waters of lakes Huron & Ontario at Toronto, presented to the president of the Board of Trade, 1857.
