BUTLER, Ernest Newman (1865-1923), partner in the Calgary firm of Hodgson, Bates & Butler, was born in England on 19 May 1865 and was educated '...at various Technical Institutes in London and at the Department of Science and Art'. He emigrated to Canada in 1906 and the following year obtained a position in the Calgary office of Gilbert Hodgson and William S. Bates. In 1910 he was made a full partner in the firm, and many of their major projects including the Grain Exchange and the Leeson & Lineham Block were erected under his personal supervision. He had '...earned the reputation of being one of the most thorough and capable men in Calgary, and his ability, good judgement and fairness were responsible for his appointment by the city to superintend the completion of the Calgary City Hall' (biog. Calgary News Telegram, 8 Aug. 1912). Butler left Calgary in August 1912 and moved to Victoria B.C. to continue to practise as partner in the firm of Butler & Harrison. By 1916 he had left Canada and relocated to Flint, Michigan where opened an office as an architect in early 1917 (City Directory of Flint, 1917, 362). He continued to practise there until late 1922. Butler died at Bad Axe, Michigan on 18 January 1923 at the age of 56 years (obituary Victoria Daily Times, 31 Jan. 1923, 2; USA, State of Michigan, Death Certificate No. 32843, 1923; R.I.B.A. [London], Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, i, 315; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 456-7, 495;)
E.N. BUTLER (works in Alberta)
CALGARY, ALTA., Sandringham Apartments, 15th Avenue S.W., 1912 (inf. Alberta Historic Sites Dept.)
BUTLER & HARRISON (works in Alberta and British Columbia)
SAANICH, B.C., Methodist Church at Strawberry Vale, Wilkinson Road, 1913 (Daily Colonist [Victoria], 21 June 1913, 3, illus.; M. Segger & D. Franklin, Exploring Victoria's Architecture, 1996, 260, illus.; Donald Luxton & Jennifer Barr, Saanich Heritage Structures, 2008, 56, illus. & descrip.)
EDMONTON, ALTA., British American Paint Co., 102A Avenue, 1913 (Edmonton b.p. 1340, 1913)
METCHOSIN, B.C., residence for H.R. Hammond, 1914 (D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 456-7)
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C., hotel for D.A. Brewster, 1914 (D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 456)
VICTORIA, B.C., major additions to "Edgehill", a residence for Frederick W. Jones, Rockland Avenue, 1914 (Victoria Heritage Foundation, This Old House: Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods, Vol. 3, 2014, 185, illus. & descrip.)