William Wallace Blair (1852-1916)

Architect.

Born at Anktelle Lodge, Stewartstown, Tyrone County, Ireland on 14 December 1852, son of McCrea Parker and Eliza Blair, he was educated at the Academical Institute of Belfast, Ireland, later serving as a pupil under Charles Sherry of Belfast. He commenced a professional career at Middlesborough-on-Tees, England in 1874. He came to Canada in 1876 and resided in Hamilton and Toronto until 1884, then returned to Ireland as resident engineer in Londonderry and Ballymena waterworks system until 1889. He then moved to Chicago and practiced his profession there for fifteen years.He came to Winnipeg in 1905.

In 1879, he married Margaret Maria Bastedo of Toronto. They had a son and a daughter: M. P. Blair and Mrs. William White. He was a member of the St. Charles Country Club, Adanac Club, Hamilton Club (Chicago) and the AF & AM. He was a Fellow of the Royal Architect Institute of Canada, and a member of the Manitoba Association of Architects and the Royal Society of Arts of London. He enjoyed golf and fishing.

He retired to Victoria, BC in 1911 where he died on 17 July 1916.

Some of his buildings in Winnipeg:

• Adelaide Block (103-111 Osborne Street), 1906
• Ryan Block (44-46 Princess Street), 1906
• Princeton Apartments (312 Broadway Avenue), 1907-1909
• William Whyte residence (66 Kingsway Avenue), 1907
• Warwick Apartment Building (366 Qu'Appelle Avenue), 1908-1909
• Roslyn Court Apartments (40 Osborne Street), 1909
• Great West Saddlery Building (113 Market Avenue), 1910
• Victory Building (333 Main Street), 1910
• Mark Fortune residence (393 Wellington Crescent), 1911

Sources:

Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, 1911. C. W. Parker, editor. Canadian Press Association, Vancouver.

Death registration, BC Vital Statistics.

“Former Resident Dead” Manitoba Free Press, 20 July 1916, page 4.

Profile revised: 27 December 2009

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