Architect, artist.
Born at Kensington, England in 1845, he was educated at private schools before studying at the South Kensington School of Arts. He worked in London for nine years before emigrating to Canada in 1870, where he practiced as an architect at Montreal and Ottawa, designing at the latter place the post office, customs and inland revenue buildings, a church, and various businesses and homes. He moved to Winnipeg in 1881 and was soon after joined by a Mr. McNichol in the architectural firm of Chesterton and McNichol until 1890, after which he practiced alone until around 1901 when he returned to Ottawa.
He and wife Martha Sophia Ashworth (1850-1928) had three children: Cyril Ashworth Chesterton (1878-?), Copley Walter Chesterton (1879-1965, son-in-law of Peter B. H. Ramsay), and Lillian S. Chesterton (1880-?). A noted painter, Chesterton’s work was exhibited frequently at the Art Association of Montreal. He died at his Ottawa home on 13 November 1931.
Some of his architectural works in Manitoba included:
Building
Location
Year
Status
444 York Avenue, Winnipeg
1881-1883
Ruttan House (H. N. Ruttan)
Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg
1881
Drummond House (H. M. Drummond)
River Avenue, Winnipeg
1882
Killam House (A. C. Killam)
St. Boniface West
1882
McKilligan House (John B. McKilligan)
Donald Street, Winnipeg
1882
442 Scotia Street, Winnipeg
1882
266-270 Stanley Street / 326-336 Logan Avenue, Winnipeg
1882
Demolished (1923)
Robinson House (Francis B. Robinson)
Edmonton Street, Winnipeg
1885
Hatton House (William Hatton)
Donald Street, Winnipeg
1887
Brandon Reformatory for Boys (Brandon Asylum for the Insane)
First Street, Brandon
1890
Destroyed by fire (November 1910)
River Avenue, Winnipeg
1890-1891
Demolished (August 1954)
Stonewall
1891
Demolished (1957)
Glenboro
1892
Demolished (?)
Ninth Avenue South, Virden
1892
Ninth Avenue South, Virden
1892
Demolished (?)
McLeod House (W. W. McLeod)
Broadway, Winnipeg
1892
Black House (William A. Black)
Edmonton Street, Winnipeg
1893
Hastings House (George V. Hastings)
Donald Street, Winnipeg
1893
Demolished (?)
Hamilton House (Lauchlan A. Hamilton)
Assiniboine Avenue, Winnipeg
1894
134 West Gate, Winnipeg
1895
69 East Gate, Winnipeg
1896
145-155 East Gate, Winnipeg
1896
Ross House (A. W. Ross)
Fort Rouge, Winnipeg
1890s
Lindsay House (George L. Lindsay)
Donald Street, Winnipeg
1899
Rockley Kaye / Wood House
86 West Gate, Winnipeg
1901
Demolished (1989)
Bain House (John F. Bain)
Roslyn Road, Winnipeg
1901
Clark House (Douglas A. Clark)
Roslyn Road, Winnipeg
1903
252 Hamilton Street, Manitou
1903
Main Street, Manitou
1903
Demolished (1990s)
The Canadian Architect and Builder, Volume 10, Issue 1, page 4, 1897.
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Marriage registration [C. A. Chesterton], Ancestry.
Death registration [M. S. Chesterton], Ancestry.
Death registration [C. W. Chesterton], BC Archives Genealogy.
“W. Chesterton, first prairie architect, dies,” Winnipeg Tribune, 14 November 1931, page 1.
“Walter Chesterton expires at Ottawa,” Manitoba Free Press, 16 November 1931, page 18.
Buildings at the Brandon Mental Health Centre by David Butterfield and Randy Rostecki, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch, November 1988.
Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.
We thank Pat Thomson for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 3 July 2024
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