STEAD, Matthew Jr. (1840-1882), son of the important Saint John, N.B. architect Matthew Stead Sr., who was active there for nearly four decades. Born in Ludford, Co. Shropshire, England, and baptised on 13 August 1840, he was brought to Canada by his family in late 1840 or early 1841. He almost certainly trained under his father, and assisted him with the preparation of drawings for major commissions in New Brunswick from 1860 onward. The destructive fire in nearby Portland, Maine, USA in July 1866 provided an unique opportunity for Stead Sr. to open a new office there and help with the rebuilding of the city. He brought his son with him, and entrusted him with the responsibility of acting as local site architect in Portland, overseeing the construction of major works which had been designed by his father. By 1869 Stead Jr. had returned to Saint John, and he continued to assist his father until June 1876 when the first tender call for new buildings attributed solely to Stead Jr. can be found. His career as an independent architect received another fortuitous boost with the Great Fire of 20 June 1877 which swept Saint John, destroying over half of the commercial core of the city. More than fifteen commissions executed by Stead Jr. have been identified from this period.
After the death of his father in October 1879 Stead Jr. continued to work under his own name, designing a variety of commercial, educational and ecclesiastical works in the Saint John area. A dearth of work in the city likely prompted his move to Winnipeg, Man. in 1881 to capitalize on the building boom in that city, and he worked briefly for Charles Barber, a leading architect in that city, before opening his own office in the Donaldson Block. His troubled past, however, and his poor health, led to his sudden death in Winnipeg on 3 November 1882, all of it attributed to “…fits that were the result of excessive drinking, from which cause Mr. Stead has been temporarily insane at times, having been once or twice confined in the Lunatic Asylum at Saint John” (see his obituary in the Winnipeg Daily Times, 4 Nov. 1882, 8). Only one project by Stead Jr. in the Winnipeg area has been identified, that of a commercial store block for W.L. Orde built in 1882 (obit. Winnipeg Daily Times, 4 Nov. 1882, 8; obit. Manitoba Daily Free Press, 4 Nov. 1882, 8; obit. Morning Freeman [Saint John], 18 Nov. 1882, 3; biog. and port. In Gary Hughes, Music of the Eye: Architectural Drawings of Canada’s First City, 1991, 47-8, illus.).
(works in Saint John unless noted)
KING STREET, commercial block for James R. Ruel 'on the site formerly occupied by C. & .E. Everett', 1877 (Daily Telegraph [Saint John], 29 June 1877, 3, t.c.; 30 June 1877, 1, descrip.)
CHARLOTTE STREET, at Horsfield Street, three houses for an unnamed client, 1877 (Daily Telegraph [Saint John], 10 Sept. 1877, 2, t.c.)
ST. MALACHI'S HALL, Sydney Street at Leinster Street, 1877 (Morning Freeman [Saint John], 19 Nov. 1877, 3, descrip.; Daily News [Saint John], 5 Dec. 1877, 3; American Architect & Building News [Boston], iii, 26 Jan. 1878, 33)
DOCK STREET, commercial block for James R. Ruel, 1877 (Daily News [Saint John], 22 Nov. 1877, 3)
KING STREET, near Germain Street, commercial block for John Doherty, 1877 (Daily News [Saint John], 26 Nov. 1877, 3)
GERMAIN STREET, commercial block for Albert J. Lordly & Son, 1877 (Daily News [Saint John], 1 Dec. 1877, 3)
GERMAIN STREET, at Queen Street, block of four houses for John H. Harding, 1877 (Daily News [Saint John], 1 Dec. 1877, 3)
PRINCESS STREET, at Germain Street, commercial block for Mark N. Powers, 1877 (Daily News [Saint John], 12 Dec. 1877, 2)
HORSFIELD STREET, residence for Dudne Breeze, 1877 (Daily News [Saint John], 15 Dec. 1877, 3)
HORSFIELD STREET, residence for James H. Pullen, 1877 (Daily News [Saint John], 15 Dec. 1877, 3)
PRINCE WILLIAM STREET, commercial block for D.C. Perkins 'adjoining J. & A. MacMillan Co.', 1878 (Daily News [Saint John], 8 Nov. 1878, 3)
WATER STREET, at Princess Street, commercial block for Thomas Furlong, 1878-79 (Daily News [Saint John], 8 Nov. 1878, 3; Saint John Weekly Freeman, 14 June 1879, 3, descrip.)
ST. JOSEPH'S SCHOOL, Sydney Street, 'immediately north of Victoria School', 1878 (Daily News [Saint John], 28 Nov. 1878, 3, descrip.)
ORANGE STREET, at Wentworth Street, three houses for J.W. Hall, 1878 (Daily News [Saint John], 3 Dec. 1878, 2, descrip.)
ST. PATRICK'S ROMAN CATHOLIC INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, Loch Lomond Road overlooking Silver Falls, 1879 -80 (Daily Sun [Saint John], 4 Oct. 1879, 2, descrip.)
CHARLOTTE STREET, at Princess Street, office and residence for Dr. John Berryman, 1880-81 (Saint John Globe, 21 April 1881, 1, descrip.; Daily Sun [Saint John], 5 Aug. 1881, 3, descrip.)
PORTLAND, Roman Catholic Church, 1881 (Daily Sun [Saint John], 5 Aug. 1881, 3)
PORTLAND, Owen Building, Paradise Row, major alterations and new roof, 1881 (Daily Sun [Saint John], 5 Aug. 1881, 3, descrip.)
MEMRAMCOOK, N.B., St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church, tower and spire, 1881 (Daily Sun [Saint John], 5 Aug. 1881, 3, descrip.)
PETERSVILLE, N.B., Roman Catholic Church, 1881 (Daily Sun [Saint John], 5 Aug. 1881, 3, descrip.)
BASS RIVER, N.B., Presbyterian Church, 1881 (Daily Sun [Saint John], 5 Aug. 1881, 3)
CARAQUET, N.B., Roman Catholic Church, 1881 (Daily Sun [Saint John], 5 Aug. 1881, 3)
WINNIPEG, MAN., store for W.L. Orde, Main Street near St. Mary Street, 1882 (Winnipeg Times, 30 Sept. 1882, 4, t.c.)