Thompson, Norman Livingston

THOMPSON, Norman Livingston (1882-1965), the founding partner in the successful firm of Thompson, Daniel & Colthurst, of Saskatoon, Sask., and active there from 1911 to late 1913. He operated the following offices:

N.L. Thompson, Saskatoon, 1907
Thompson & Gale, Saskatoon, April-Sept. 1907
Thompson & Coderoy, Saskatoon, July 1907-March 1908 , operating under the name of The Saskatoon Drawing Company
Thompson & Murray [also called The Saskatoon Drawing Company], Saskatoon, July 1907 to 1909
N.L. Thompson, Saskatoon, 1910- April 1911
Thompson, Daniel & Colthurst, Saskatoon, May 1911- February 1914
N.L. Thompson, Saskatoon, March 1914 to early 1915
N.L. Thompson, England, U.K. 1919-23
N.L. Thompson, Moose Jaw, Sask. 1923 to 1942
N.L. Thompson, Saskatoon 1942 to 1951

Thompson was born in Hull, England on 9 September 1882 and was educated at the Hull Grammar School and at the Hull Technical College. He articled in the architectural office of his father T. Brownlow Thompson from 1899 to 1903, and continued to work as his assistant in 1903-05. He then emigrated to Canada, settling in Saskatoon and working in the engineering department of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Thompson opened his own office in 1907 and he operated his architectural business as The Saskatoon Drawing Company. The following year, he was briefly in partnership with several architects including Walter Gale, with Charles E. Corderoy, and in early 1908 with Oscar H. Murray. In early 1911 he invited two local architects, T. Brammall Daniel and G. Buller Colthurst, to form a partnership which commenced on 1 May 1911. Their firm was immediately successful, obtaining commissions for commercial, institutional, and ecclesiastical work in Saskatoon. Their most accomplished work was the remarkably sophisticated and mature Gothic Revival design for St. John’s Anglican Church, Saskatoon, which must surely rank as one of finest 20th. C. ecclesiastical works in western Canada. Much of this church design, and the extraordinary terra cotta detailing throughout the building, can be credited to T. Brammall Daniel, who was a fastidious and knowledgeable scholar of the Gothic style, and this building can rightly be considered his masterpiece.

The firm was dissolved in February 1914 when Thompson left to continue work under his own name in Saskatoon. After WW1 he returned to England but no information on his activity there from 1919 to 1923 has been found. In late 1923 he returned to Canada, but chose to open an new office in Moose Jaw, Sask. where he operated under his own name, or in partnership with Harry Hargreaves. He moved back to Saskatoon in 1942 and later succeeded Robert F. Duke as the District Resident Architect for the federal Dept. of Public Works, and he held that position from 1947 until his retirement in 1951. He later held the position of resident engineer for Central Mortgage & Housing Corp., and as supervising architect to H.K. Black, the designer of the Murray Memorial Library at the Univ. of Saskatchewan.

Thompson died in Saskatoon on 24 April 1965 (obituary with port. Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 26 April 1965, 3; Regina Leader-Post, 27 April 1965, 2; R.A.I.C. Journal, xlii, August 1965, 10; biog. Who’s Who and Why in Canada, 1913, 803; biog. of the firm in the Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 25 Sept. 1912, Section Four, Building & Development Number, with ports. and list of works; E.J. Gilbert, Up The Years with the Sask. Association of Architects, 1969, 18-19; Brock Silversides, “Saskatoon Architects 1905-1920” in Saskatoon History, No. 3, 1985, 23-5, illus.; inf. Saskatchewan Association of Architects; inf. Gordon Fulton, Ottawa). A photographic portrait of Thompson was published in the Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 13 Sept. 1919, Kiwanis Supplement, p. 8).

N.L. THOMPSON, Architect and owner of The Saskatoon Drawing Company

SASKATOON, a public school, 1907 (Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 16 July 1907, 3, t.c.)

N.L. THOMPSON

SASKATOON, SASK., Young Men's Christian Association, 22nd Street at 3rd Avenue, 1909 (Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 26 April 1909, 1, illus. & descrip.)

THOMPSON, DANIEL & COLTHURST (works in Saskatoon unless noted)

KNOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, new Manse, Spadina Crescent near First Avenue, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 5 July 1911, 63, t.c.)
CENTRAL CHAMBERS, 22nd Street near Second Avenue, a commercial office block for Herbert Weston, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 5 July 1911, 63)
SPADINA CRESCENT EAST, residence for Mayor J. Thomas Clinkskill, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 5 July 1911, 63)
YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, 24th Street East near Third Avenue North, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 4 Oct. 1911, 43, illus. & descrip.; Const., v, Jan. 1912, 82, illus.)
SECOND AVENUE, a new Theatre, possibly the Rex Theatre or the Victoria Theatre, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 11 Oct. 1911, 58)
MORTON BLOCK, Third Avenue at 20th Street, office block and stores for O.M. Helgerson, later called the McLean Building, 1911-12 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 28 June 1912, Section Two, 6, t.c.; 28 Oct. 1912, 25, descrip.; Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 27 April 1912, Section Two, p. 1, descrip.; 25 Sept. 1912, Section 4)
SASKATOON CLUB, 21st Street East, 1911-12 (Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 20 Feb. 1912, 12)
ST. JOHN'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, Spadina Crescent East, 1912-13, and Rectory for the church, 1912 (C.R., xxv, 4 Oct. 1911, 43, descrip.; 11 Oct. 1911, 42, illus.; xxvii, 10 Dec. 1913, 119-23, illus. & descrip.; Saskatoon Daily Star, 19 March 1912, 14, t.c.; 28 Oct. 1912, 39, descrip.; Const., viii, Feb. 1915, 68-71, illus. & descrip.; Sask. Assoc. of Architects, Historic Architecture of Saskatchewan, 1986, 133, illus.)
SPADINA CRESCENT EAST, residence for Dr. Theodore A. Girling, 1912 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 27 April 1912, 2, t.c.; Saturday Press [Saskatoon], 1912, Supplement, 27)
AVENUE H SOUTH, residence for Judge John Jackson, c. 1911 (Saturday Press [Saskatoon], 1912, Supplement, 27)
SASKATCHEWAN CRESCENT, opposite Cherry Street, residence for Leonard M. Bidwell, c. 1911 (Saturday Press [Saskatoon], 1912, Supplement, 27)
SPADINA CRESCENT, near Queen Street, residence for Henry A. Bruce, c. 1911 (Saturday Press [Saskatoon], 1912, Supplement, 27)
SASKATCHEWAN CRESCENT, Nutana, residence for Roger P. Strickland, c. 1911 (Saturday Press [Saskatoon], 1912, Supplement, 27)
BROADWAY AVENUE NORTH, Nutana, residence for Burton A. Archibald, 1912 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 19 March 1912, 14, t.c.; Saturday Press [Saskatoon], 1912, Supplement, 27)
BEDFORD ROAD, residence for Dr. Arthur L. Lynch, c. 1911 (Saturday Press [Saskatoon], 1912, Supplement, 27)
POPLAR CRESCENT, Idylwyld, residence for John M. Mathews, c. 1911 (Saturday Press [Saskatoon], 1912, Supplement, 27)
RIVERDALE & NUTANA BAPTIST CHURCH, "...located in the Broadway Addition", 1912 (Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 7 Sept. 1912, 5, descrip.; Saskatoon Daily Star, 28 Oct. 1912, 39 & 41)
SASKATCHEWAN TENT & MATTRESS FACTORY, 23rd Street at Avenue D, 1912 (Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 27 April 1912, Section Two, p. 2, descrip.; 25 Sept. 1912, Section 4)
PRINCE ALBERT, SASK., McEwan's Building, c. 1912 (Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 25 Sept. 1912, Section 4)
ST. JAMES ANGLICAN CHURCH, Dufferin Avenue, Nutana, c. 1912; burned 1982; and later rebuilt (Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 25 Sept. 1912, Section 4; Saskatoon Daily Star, 2 July 1912, 4, descrip.; and 28 Oct. 1912, 39, illus. & descrip.)
GREAT DOMINION LAND CO., Second Avenue North, office block, 1912 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 24 April 1912, 15, t.c.; Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 27 April 1912, Section Two, p. 1, descrip.; 25 Sept. 1912, Section Four)
WALMORE ROAD, residence for John Jackson, 1912 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 27 April 1912, 2, t.c.)
McFAYDEN APARTMENTS, Third Avenue, apartment block for Miss McFayden, 1912 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 27 April 1912, 2, t.c.; Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 27 April 1912, Section Two, p. 2)
QUEEN STREET, semi-detached house [or a pair of houses?], for D.A. Patterson, 1912 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 13 July 1912, Section Two, p. 6, t.c.)
BARRY HOTEL, West 20th Street at Avenue B South, for R.J. Barry, 1912-13 (Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 27 April 1912, Section Two, p. 1, descrip.; Saskatoon Daily Star, 31 May 1912, 15, t.c.; and 28 Oct. 1912, 32, illus. and descrip. written by G.B. Colthurst; C.R., xxvii, 8 Jan. 1913, 67; Morning Leader [Regina], 20 Sept. 1913, 24, illus. & descrip.)
EXHIBITION GROUNDS, Lorne Avenue at Ruth Street, new exhibit building, 1913 (C.R., xxvii, 9 July 1913, 69)

N.L. THOMPSON (works in Moose Jaw unless noted)

ELROSE, SASK., public school, 1916; later addition by J. Melrose Morrison, burned January 1927 (Saskatoon Phoenix, 27 May 1916, 15, t.c.; and 25 Jan. 1927, 10, illus.)
HOOSIER, SASK., public school, 1916-17 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 30 Sept. 1916, 23, t.c.; Morning Leader [Regina], 26 April 1917, 17, t.c.)
ST. LOUIS, SASK., Roman Catholic Convent, 1918 (C.R., xxxii, 26 June 1918, 43, t.c.)
SASKATOON, SASK., Vischer Auto Garage, Second Avenue South, near 19th Street, for D.E. Vischer, of Paris, France, 1919 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 11 April 1919, 3, descrip.)
SASKATOON, SASK., auto garage and service station for C.A. Gillespie of St. Louis, Missouri, First Avenue North, 1919 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 27 May 1919, 3, descrip.)
WADENA, SASK., Union Hospital, 1919-20 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 23 June 1919, 15, t.c.; and 26 Jan. 1920, 2, descrip.; Saskatoon Phoenix, 26 Jan. 1920, 3, descrip.)
BROCK, SASK., Royal Bank of Canada, 1919 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 23 July 1919, 13, t.c.)
ELROSE, SASK. Royal Bank of Canada, Main Street at 1st Avenue East, 1919; altered c. 2010 or earlier (Saskatoon Daily Star, 23 July 1919, 13, t.c.; and 4 Feb. 1920, 3; inf. Frank Korvemaker, Regina)
DODSLAND, SASK., Royal Bank of Canada, 1920 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 4 Feb. 1920, 3)
SASKATOON, SASK., Arthur Rose Dry Cleaning Co., 2nd Avenue North, commercial block, 1919 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 29 Oct. 1919, 3, illus. & descrip.)
(with Henry Hargreaves) ST. JOSEPH'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 3rd Avenue N.W. at Hall Street West, 1924 (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 18 April 1924, 3)
CANADIAN LEGION MEMORIAL HALL, High Street West, 1927 (dwgs. at Moose Jaw Engineering Dept., 68, 1927)
CENTRAL MOTOR CO. GARAGE, High Street West at 2nd Avenue N.W., 1928; demol. 1980 (C.R., xlii, 19 Sept. 1928, 52)
ROULEAU, SASK., Municipal Hall, c. 1930 (dwgs. at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Archives, Toronto, P 103)
(with Henry Hargreaves) TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL, Ross Street East, 1930 (dwgs. at Moose Jaw Engineering Dept. 295, June 1930; Sask. Assoc. of Architects Official Handbook, 1943, 61, illus.)
ST BARNABAS ANGLICAN CHURCH, Hochelaga Street East at 6th Avenue N.E., 1931 (Moose Jaw b.p., 17 April 1931)
(with Henry Hargreaves) NATATORIUM, Crescent Park near Fairford Street East, 1932 (C.R., xlvi, 2 March 1932, 49; Sask. Assoc. of Architects Offical Handbook, 1943, 101, illus.)

COMPETITIONS

SASKATOON, SASK., Alexandra Public School addition, Avenue G near 20th St., 1908. The office of Thompson & Murray of Saskatoon were one of at least six architects from Alberta and Saskatchewan who submitted a design for this major addition to Alexandra School (Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 24 April 1908, 6). Their proposal was set aside and the commission was awarded to David Webster of Saskatoon.
WINNIPEG, MAN., City Hall, 1913. Thompson, Daniel & Colthurst were one of 39 architectural firms from across Canada who submitted plans in this national competition, but they were not among the five finalists (City of Winnipeg Archives, Council Communications, 1913, Box A169, Item 9741, list of entrants). The winners were Clemesha & Portnall of Regina, but their scheme was never built.