BRUCE, William (1852- ), a native of Caithnesshire, Scotland, was born on 26 August 1852 and attended Haldene Academy in Glasgow. He trained with several architects in Edinburgh, Glasgow and in London, and claimed to have designed 'some public buildings in Leeds, England' where local directories list him as clerk-of-works in 1894-98, and as an architect there from 1898 to 1906. He came to Canada in mid-1906 and opened an office shortly after his arrival (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 7 July 1906, 16). He practiced in Winnipeg, at first in a partnership with Daniel Smith from Apri 1907 (see list of works under Smith & Bruce), and from late 1909 until 1913 under his own name. Bruce employed a range of traditional styles for his buildings and favoured Tudor or English half-timber interpretations for his designs. He prepared an elaborate visionary scheme for 'Roblin City' on the shore of Hudson's Bay at the mouth of the Churchill River in northern Manitoba, but the project was never realized. No references to his work in Winnipeg can be found after 1913, but he may be the same 'William Bruce, Architect' recorded in Prince Rupert, B.C. in 1919, and in Seattle, Washington in 1920 (biog. Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 17 April 1907, 5; biog. F. Scholfield, The Story of Manitoba, 1913, ii, 325-6, illus.)
(works in Winnipeg unless noted)
CIVIC OFFICE BUILDING, James Avenue, 1909 (Winnipeg b.p. 2022, 1909)
MINNEWASKA COURT APARTMENTS, Spence Street, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 30 March 1910, 25; Winnipeg b.p. 559, 9 April 1910)
OAK POINT, MAN., Reform Hunt Club, overlooking Lake Manitoba, 1910 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 30 July 1910, 21, illus. & descrip.)
ASHBURN STREET, residence for Roderick J. McKenzie, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 30 March 1910, 25; Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 23 April 1910, 25, illus. & descrip.)
OAKWOOD AVENUE, residence for Alexander R. Burt, 1910 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 23 April 1910, 25, illus. & descrip.; C.R., xxiv, 27 April 1910, 29, t.c.)
WINNIPEG PUBLIC BATHS, Charles Street at Pritchard Avenue, 1911-12 (C.R., xxv, 15 Feb. 1911, 35, t.c.; Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 29 Oct. 1910, 33, illus. & descrip.; 16 March 1912, 14, illus. & descrip.)
YORKTON, SASK., residence for the manager of the Bank of Toronto, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 2 Aug. 1911, 62)
SIMCOE APARTMENTS, Simcoe Street, 1912 (Winnipeg b.p. 1592, 23 May 1912)
CALGARY, ALTA., office block for Winnipeg Bible Society, 1912 (C.R., xxvi, 10 April 1912, 68)
MANITOBA & SASKATCHEWAN BIBLE SOCIETY, Alexander Avenue, 1912 (Winnipeg b.p. 3073, 1912)
RUSSELL, MAN., public school, 1913 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 19 July 1913, 10, 12, descrip. & illus.)