Memorable Manitobans: John Hamilton Gordon Russell (1863-1946)
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John Hamilton Gordon Russell Click to enlarge
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Architect.
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John Hamilton Gordon Russell
Click to enlarge
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Born at Toronto, Ontario on 5 November 1863, son of James Russell (1830-1913) and Fanny Heath Russell (c1839-1910), he was educated at the Toronto Model School. He worked as a draughtsman in Toronto starting in 1879 then came to Winnipeg in 1882. He set up an architectural practice in 1895, and over the course of nearly a half century, Russell designed some of Winnipeg’s finest buildings. A Presbyterian church at Roslyn, Washington is also attributed to him.
He served as the First Vice-President (1906) and President (1910) of the Manitoba Association of Architects. In addition to his architectural work, Russell was Vice-President of the Winnipeg Mercantile Trust Company, President of the Manitoba Association of Architects, a Director of the Canadian Securities Company, a member of Manitoba Board of Examiners of Architects, and a stockholder in Monarch Life Assurance Company, Sovereign Life, Standard Trusts Company, Great West Permanent Loan and Savings Company, and Northern Crown Bank.
On 2 March 1898, he married Agnes McAlpine Campbell (1868-1943) of Milton, Ontario. They had three children: John Gordon Russell (1899-1983), Ruth McAlpine Russell (1903-2002, wife of Fred Walker), and Norman Campbell Hall Russell. He was a member of the Canadian Club of Winnipeg and the AF & AM. In 1911, the family lived at 237 Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg.
Uncle of architect Gordon Leslie Russell.
He died at Winnipeg on 7 February 1946 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.
Some of his architectural works in Manitoba included:
Building |
Location |
Year |
Status |
Maw Block |
280 William Avenue, Winnipeg |
1897 |
|
McIntyre House (expansion) |
123 Middle Gate, Winnipeg |
1897 |
|
Gladstone School |
Osborne Street, Winnipeg |
1898 |
Demolished (1962) |
Wellington School |
Wellington Avenue, Winnipeg |
1898 |
Demolished (?) |
Ashdown Warehouse (expansion) |
179 Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg |
1899 |
|
Carnefac Block |
188 Princess Street, Winnipeg |
1901 |
|
Lake of the Woods Building |
212 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg |
1901 |
|
L. L. Lang Residence |
62 Roslyn Road, Winnipeg |
1901 |
|
Children’s Home of Winnipeg (expansion) |
198 River Avenue, Winnipeg |
1901-1902 |
Demolished (?) |
Hammond Building |
63 Albert Street, Winnipeg |
1902 |
|
McKerchar Block |
600-602 Main Street, Winnipeg |
1902-1903 |
|
J. Porter and Company Building |
368 Main Street, Winnipeg |
1902-1903 |
Demolished (?) |
Adelman Building |
92-100 Princess Street, Winnipeg |
1903 |
|
Bole Drug Building |
70 Princess Street, Winnipeg |
1903 |
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McArthur House |
159 Mayfair Avenue, Winnipeg |
1903 |
|
Free Kindergarten Building |
294 Ellen Street, Winnipeg |
1903 |
|
Thomson Block |
499 Main Street, Winnipeg |
1903 |
Demolished (?) |
McKerchar Block |
600 Main Street, Winnipeg |
1903 |
|
Bright and Johnston Building (renovations) |
137 Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg |
1903 |
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Windatt House |
657 Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg |
1903 |
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Augustine Presbyterian Church |
444 River Avenue, Winnipeg |
1903-1904 |
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Starbuck Presbyterian Church |
Starbuck, RM of Macdonald |
1903-1904 |
Destroyed (2014) |
Euclid Block |
865 Main Street, Winnipeg |
1903-1904 |
|
Allman Block |
592-594 Main Street, Winnipeg |
1904 |
|
Daylite Building (addition) |
296 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg |
1904 |
|
Ashdown Building |
476 Main Street, Winnipeg |
1904 |
|
C. H. Becket House |
94 Middlegate, Winnipeg |
1904 |
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Franklin Press Building |
168 Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg |
1904 |
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Green and Litster Block |
235-237 Fort Street, Winnipeg |
1904 |
Demolished (?) |
Silvester-Willson Building |
222 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg |
1904 |
|
Wilson House |
545 Broadway, Winnipeg |
1904 |
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Calvary Temple / First Baptist Church |
400 Hargrave Street, Winnipeg |
1904 |
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Beckett House |
94 Middle Gate, Winnipeg |
1904 |
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McKay House |
204 Colony Street |
1904 |
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Central Park Block |
389 Cumberland Avenue, Winnipeg |
1904 |
Demolished (?) |
Bathgate House |
34 Carlton Street, Winnipeg |
1905 |
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Deacon House |
251 Furby Street, Winnipeg |
1905 |
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F. M. Morse House |
515 Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg |
1905 |
Demolished (?) |
Pilot Mound School No. 105 |
Pilot Mound |
1905 |
Demolished (?) |
Aikins Block (renovation) |
221 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg |
1905 |
|
Killarney Public School |
Killarney |
1905-1906 |
Demolished (?) |
Porter Building |
165 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg |
1906 |
|
J. D. Clark House |
511 Stradbrook Avenue, Winnipeg |
1906 |
|
West House |
124 Nassau Street North, Winnipeg |
1906 |
|
Crane-Ordway Building / Lombard Building |
93 Lombard Avenue, Winnipeg |
1906 |
|
Harvey House |
112 West Gate, Winnipeg |
1906 |
|
Scott-Bathgate Building |
149 Pioneer Avenue, Winnipeg |
1906 |
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Aurora Court |
543 Ellice Avenue, Winnipeg |
1906 |
Demolished (?) |
Canadian Moline Plow Company |
Winnipeg |
c1906 |
|
Grassie House |
53 Harvard Avenue, Winnipeg |
1907 |
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Treherne Presbyterian Church |
Treherne |
1907-1908 |
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N. T. MacMillan House |
412 Wardlaw Avenue, Winnipeg |
1908 |
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All People’s Mission |
119 Sutherland Avenue, Winnipeg |
1908 |
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Casa Loma Building |
644 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg |
1909 |
|
McArthur Building / Childs Building |
211 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg |
1909 |
Demolished (1988) |
Royal Bank of Canada Building |
460 Main Street, Winnipeg |
1909 |
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Whiting Hardware Building |
106 Osborne Street, Winnipeg |
1909 |
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H. Archibald House |
176 Roslyn Road, Winnipeg |
1909 |
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McPherson House |
36 Balmoral Street, Winnipeg |
1909 |
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Smith House |
119 West Gate, Winnipeg |
1909 |
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Campbell Brothers & Wilson Limited |
102 Princess Street, Winnipeg |
c1910 |
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Glengarry Building |
290 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg |
1910 |
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Westminster Presbyterian Church |
745 Westminster Avenue, Winnipeg |
1910-1912 |
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Fort Rouge Methodist Church |
525 Wardlaw Avenue, Winnipeg |
1910-1911 |
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Chatsworth Apartments |
535 McMillan Avenue, Winnipeg |
1911 |
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Trust and Loan Building |
173 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg |
1911 |
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Dingwall Building |
62 Albert Street, Winnipeg |
1911 |
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Robertson Memorial Presbyterian Church |
648 Burrows Avenue, Winnipeg |
1911 |
|
YMCA Building |
475 Selkirk Avenue, Winnipeg |
1911 |
|
Campbell House |
58 Middle Gate, Winnipeg |
1911 |
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YMCA Building |
301 Vaughan Street, Winnipeg |
1911-1913 |
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John Williams House |
2 Ruskin Row, Winnipeg |
1912 |
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Wesley Hall Annex / Sparling Hall |
University of Winnipeg |
1912 |
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Great West Permanent Loan Company Building |
356 Main Street, Winnipeg |
1912 |
Demolished (?) |
Guelph Apartments |
778 McMillan Avenue, Winnipeg |
1912 |
|
Wilkinson Kompass and Hawkey Warehouse |
92 Gomez Street, Winnipeg |
1912 |
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Ashdown House |
529 Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg |
1913 |
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Donald Hall (addition) |
72 Donald Street, Winnipeg |
1913-1914 |
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Knox Presbyterian Church |
400 Edmonton Street, Winnipeg |
1914-1917 |
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Children’s Home of Winnipeg |
615 Academy Road, Winnipeg |
1915-1916 |
Demolished (?) |
Stanley Brock Building |
145 Market Avenue, Winnipeg |
1916 |
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E. S. Popham House |
555 River Avenue, Winnipeg |
c1916 |
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Baltic Apartments (completion) |
347 Manitoba Avenue, Winnipeg |
1917 |
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Telephone Exchange Building (brick) |
Russell |
1918 |
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Neil T. MacMillan House |
137 Kingsway, Winnipeg |
c1918 |
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Telephone Exchange Building (brick) |
St. Boniface |
1919 |
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Grosse Isle Consolidated School No. 1975 |
Grosse Isle, RM of Rosser |
1919-1920 |
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Home Street Presbyterian Church / Home Street United Church / Home Street Mennonite Church |
318 Home Street, Winnipeg |
1920 |
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Telephone Exchange Building (frame or tile) |
Foxwarren |
1921 |
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Telephone Exchange Building (brick) |
Morris |
1921 |
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Telephone Exchange Building (frame or tile) |
Newdale |
1921 |
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Telephone Exchange Building (brick) |
Selkirk |
1921 |
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Telephone Exchange Building (frame or tile) |
Sidney |
1921 |
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Telephone Exchange Building (brick) |
Shoal Lake |
1921 |
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Telephone Exchange Building (brick) |
Swan River |
1921 |
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Gladstone School No. 70 |
Gladstone, Municipality of WestLake-Gladstone |
1921-1922 |
Demolished (1973) |
Marlborough Hotel addition |
331 Smith Street, Winnipeg |
1921-1923 |
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Odd Fellows Home |
4025 Roblin Boulevard, Winnipeg |
1922 |
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St. John’s Presbyterian Church (superstructure) |
250 Cathedral Avenue, Winnipeg |
1923 |
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Telephone Exchange Building |
Third Street West, Wawanesa |
1924 |
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Riverview Presbyterian Church |
360 Oakwood Avenue, Winnipeg |
1925 |
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R. R. Wilson House |
680 Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg |
1925 |
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Telephone Exchange Building (frame and stucco) |
Minto, Municipality of Grassland |
1927 |
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Telephone Exchange Building |
Gilbert Plains, Municipality of Gilbert Plains |
1927 |
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Telephone Exchange Building (brick) |
Grandview, Municipality of Grandview |
1927 |
|
Canadian National Institute for the Blind Building |
1031 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg |
1928 |
|
Neepawa Collegiate Institute |
213 Mountain Avenue, Neepawa |
1928 |
Demolished (1985) |
Eastman Kodak Building |
287 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg |
1930 |
Demolished (?) |
Johnson Apartments |
524 Sargent Avenue, Winnipeg |
? |
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Sources:
Ontario marriage registration, Ancestry.
Birth registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Winnipeg Tribune, 2 June 1899, page 6.
1901 and 1911 Canada censes, Automated Genealogy.
“Winnipeg’s big building development during 1908,” Winnipeg Tribune, 19 December 1908, page 31.
“James Russell died Saturday,” Manitoba Free Press, 13 October 1913.
Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, edited by C. W. Parker, Vancouver: Canadian Press Association, 1911.
A History of Manitoba: Its Resources and People by Prof. George Bryce, Toronto: The Canadian History Company, 1906.
The Story of Manitoba by F. H. Schofield, Winnipeg: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.
The Leading Financial, Business & Professional Men of Winnipeg, published by Edwin McCormick, Photographs by T. J. Leatherdale, Compiled and printed by Stone Limited, c1913. [copy available at the Archives of Manitoba]
“Tenders,” Russell Banner, 25 July 1918, page 15.
“Tenders,” Manitoba Free Press, 4 July 1919, page 15.
“Tenders,” Winnipeg Tribune, 30 May 1921, page 2.
“Tenders,” Manitoba Free Press, 17 August 1921, page 12.
“Tenders,” Manitoba Free Press, 27 February 1928, page 22.
“J. H. G. Russell architecture pioneer, dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 7 February 1946. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B9]
Obituary [John Gordon Russell], Winnipeg Free Press, 13 July 1983, page 49.
Crescentwood, A History by R. R. Rostecki, Winnipeg: Crescentwood Home Owners Association, 1993.
We thank Randy Rostecki, Grant Klassen, Nathan Kramer, Robert Hill, and Jordan Makichuk for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 20 May 2022
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Memorable Manitobans
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