BARTHEL, Bernhard (1865-1934) was '...the famous architect of Chicago who has drawn plans for all the principal breweries built in Canada and the United States in recent years'. In Canada his works included the Edmonton Brewing & Malting Co., 121st Street at 104th Avenue, EDMONTON, ALTA, 1906-07 (Edmonton Daily Bulletin, 20 Sept. 1906, 2, descrip.; 3 May 1907, 1, descrip.). He was also credited with the design of the Brandon Brewing Co., Assiniboine Avenue at 14th Street, BRANDON, MAN., 1906; with addition of a bottling plant, 1907 (MPA, Brandon b.p. 540, 15 May 1906, b.p. 932, 28 Sept. 1907). In British Columbia, he was credited with the design of the Fernie-Fort Steele Brewing Co. complex in FERNIE, B.C., 1908 (Western Brewer [Chicago], xxxiii, Sept. 1908, 469).
Born in Rueckmansdorf, Leipzig, Germany on 29 December 1865, Barthel arrived in Chicago in 1892 and became an acknowledged expert in the design of industrial brewery buildings both in the United States, and in Canada. He died in Chicago on 18 November 1934 (obituary Chicago Tribune, 19 Nov. 1934, 20).