BRANTON, William Archibald (1887-1976), a native of Spalding, Lincolnshire, Engl., emigrated to Canada at the age of sixteen and attended Brandon College in Manitoba in 1908-11. He studied architecture and construction at night school and moved to Calgary in early 1911 to join the Calgary School Board, working there as assistant to H. McClennan, the building superintendent for the Board. In 1920 he was appointed Chief Architect and Building Superintendent for the Board and during the next thirty-five years he designed and supervised the construction of more than sixty schools in Calgary, including the ‘cottage schools’, a series of two-classroom buildings erected after WWI to cope with the rapid increase in school enrollment. His later designs were often designed in a simplified Collegiate Gothic style, for which Crescent Heights High School (1928) and Upper Hillhurst School (1929) are notable examples. Branton retired from the Board in December 1956 and died in Calgary on 29 October 1976 (death notice Calgary Herald, 30 Oct. 1976, 68; biog. Calgary Herald, 22 Feb. 1957, 22). The present Branton Public School on 20th St. N.W. (1956) was named in his honour.
(list of works from the Calgary School Board)
COLONEL WALKER PUBLIC SCHOOL, 9th Avenue S.E., 1911
CONNAUGHT PUBLIC SCHOOL, 12th Avenue S.W., 1911
HILLHURST PUBLIC SCHOOL, 7th Avenue N.W., 1911
KING EDWARD PUBLIC SCHOOL, 30th Avenue S.W., 1912
KING GEORGE PUBLIC SCHOOL, 10th Street N.W., 1912
LOGOS PUBLIC SCHOOL, Sonora Avenue S.W., 1912
RAMSAY PUBLIC SCHOOL, Spiller Road S.E., 1912
STANLEY JONES PUBLIC SCHOOL, 8th Avenue N.E., 1913
BALMORAL PUBLIC SCHOOL, 16th Avenue N.W., 1914
VICTORIA COMMUNITY SCHOOL, 11th Avenue S.E., 1919
SUNNYSIDE BUNGALOW PUBLIC SCHOOL, 7th Street N.W., 1920
CLIFF BUNGALOW PUBLIC SCHOOL, Cliff Street S.W., 1920
TUXEDO PARK PUBLIC SCHOOL, 28th Avenue N.E., 1920
BRIDGELAND PUBLIC SCHOOL, 11A Street N.E., 1921
ELBOW PARK PUBLIC SCHOOL, 38th Avenue S.W., 1926; damaged by flooding in 2015 and demolished except for walls on front facade
CRESCENT HEIGHTS HIGH SCHOOL, 1st Street N.W., 1928
UPPER HILLHURST PUBLIC SCHOOL, 1929 (R.A.I.C. Journal, vii, Dec. 1930, xvi, illus. in advert.)
WESTERN CANADA SENIOR SCHOOL, 17th Avenue S.W., 1929
RIDEAU PARK PUBLIC SCHOOL, Rideau Road S.W., 1930
MOUNT VIEW PUBLIC SCHOOL, 4th Street N.E., 1946-47
TERRACE ROAD PUBLIC SCHOOL, 46th Street N.W., 1949
QUEEN’S PARK PUBLIC SCHOOL, 4th Street N.W., 1949
PUBLIC SCHOOL, 21st Avenue at 18th Street N.W., 1950-51 (The Albertan [Calgary], 22 Dec. 1950, 13, t.c.)
PUBLIC SCHOOL, Russet Road at 12th Avenue N.E., 1950-51 (The Albertan [Calgary], 22 Dec. 1950, 13, t.c.)