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John Wright was born May 15, 1830 in
Killearn,
Scotland. Wright immigrated to
Canada in 1845, settling with relatives near
Guelph, Ontario. He trained there as a carpenter, and established himself as a contractor. In 1856 he was appointed inspector of works for the new
Guelph City Hall, which was designed by
William Thomas. In 1858 he entered government employ, and was sent to
Victoria, British Columbia to design and superintend the construction of lighthouses. In that capacity he was the designer of
Fisgard Lighthouse, completed in 1860. By 1859 he was independently working as an architect, and was the first professional architect to practice in
British Columbia. In 1861 he formed a partnership with George H. Sanders, who was born in
England in 1837. Wright & Sanders practiced in Victoria for the next six years, designing a variety of buildings including houses, churches and
Congregation Emanu-El, the oldest synogogue on the west coast of North America. In 1866 they entered and won an
architectural competition to design the new Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind in
Berkeley, California. Due to the project's size and complexity, they relocated to [[San Francisco] in 1867. In 1868 they also won a competition to design the new campus of the
University of California, Berkeley, but refused the job over a compensation dispute.[1]
Wright was even more productive in San Francisco. In addition to churches, he designed houses for men like
Mark Hopkins Jr. and Alfred A. Cohen, the campus of the
San Francisco Theological Seminary, the
Napa State Hospital,
Lick Observatory on
Mount Hamilton and some of San Francisco's earliest skyscrapers. Wright retired from practice in 1895, though Sanders continued the Wright & Sanders office for at least ten more years. The bulk of their work was destroyed in the
1906 San Francisco earthquake, and only a half dozen of their major buildings remain in California.[1]
Personal life
In 1858, Wright married Agnes Scott Armstrong, the daughter of a leading Guelph businessman. They had ten children, and she died in 1890. In 1868 his partner Sanders married her sister. After his retirement, Wright spent the bulk of his time traveling. He died August 23, 1915 in Victoria while en route to Ontario.[1]