McDiarmid, James

McDIARMID, James (1855-1934), active in Winnipeg, Man. where he was best known as a leading builder and contractor in that city. Born in Dunkeld, Co. Perthshire, Scotland on 9 March 1855, he was said to have been “engaged in the contracting business in the Old Country” before emigrating to Canada. No information can be found on his early education and training, and it appears that he did not have any formal education in the field of architecture. He arrived in Winnipeg, Man. in 1883, accompanied by his younger brother John McDiarmid, and together with him later established a general contracting company in Winnipeg in 1903. Their firm obtained lucrative contracts for the construction of many important buildings in Winnipeg including the Drill Hall on Broadway, the Winnipeg Public Library, the Playhouse Theatre on Market Street, the Science Building for the University of Manitoba, and the contract to complete the construction of the Manitoba Parliament Buildings (after the job had been taken out of the hands of Thomas Kelly). His company also built many of the Canadian Pacific Railway buildings between Fort William and Vancouver, including engine shops, warehouses, depots, round houses and freight sheds.

The name of McDiarmid first appears as “architect” in 1894 when he designed (and built) his own residence on Bell Avenue, and over the next twenty years he was credited as the designer (or as both architect and contractor) of commercial, industrial and ecclesiastical works in Winnipeg, southern Manitoba, and as far west as Edmonton, Alta. He favoured a heavily rusticated Romanesque Revival style for much of his commercial work, best seen in his elevational treatment of warehouse buildings like the Great West Saddlery Co. (1898), and the Merrick-Anderson Co. warehouse (1899). By 1912, he was employing innovative contruction techniques in reinforced concrete on large projects such as the sprawling Revillon Warehouse in Edmonton.
McDiarmid also served on the Winnipeg Parks Board for 18 years from 1914 onward, and an obituary article on McDiarmid notes that “many of the buildings in Winnipeg parks are also of his design, due to his accomplishments in draughtsmanship”, an indication that he may have possessed a natural proclivity towards architectural design and drawing, allowing him to offer the service of both architect and contractor. McDiarmid died in Winnipeg on 24 February 1934 (obit. and port. Winnipeg Tribune, 24 Feb. 1934, 1 & 2; 26 Feb. 1934, 2; obit. and port. Winnipeg Free Press, 26 Feb. 1934, 15; obit. Western Canada Contractor, March-April 1934, 22).

(works in Winnipeg unless noted)

BELL AVENUE, residence for the architect, 1894 (City of Winnipeg, 1986-The Year Past, 27-8, illus.)
ST. ANDREW'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Elgin Avenue at Ellen Street, manse for the church, 1893; and a new church, 1894 (Winnipeg Tribune, 6 June 1893, 8; 26 Jan. 1895, 5, descrip.; C.R., v, 12 April 1894, 2; Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 11 July 1894, 6; C.A.B., viii, Jan. 1895, 11)
J.T. SPIERS BAKERY, Fonseca Street at Maple Street, 1895-96 (Winnipeg Tribune, 7 Jan. 1896, 3, descrip.)
EMERSON, MAN., Presbyterian Church, 1896 (Winnipeg Tribune, 24 Aug. 1896, 4)
GREAT WEST SADDLERY, Market Avenue, 1898 (City of Winnipeg, 1990-The Year Past, 57-8, illus.)
MERRICK-ANDERSON & CO., Bannatyne Avenue, warehouse, 1899 (C.R., x, 21 June 1899, 2; Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 11 Nov. 1899, 6, illus. & descrip.; City of Winnipeg, 1980-The Year Past, 23, illus.; Leonard K. Eaton, Gateways Cities & Other Essays, 1989, 105-07, illus.)
BROADWAY, residence for Mark Fortune, 1899 (C.R., x, 21 June 1899, 2)
EMERSON, MAN., residence for George Pocock, 1899 (C.R., x, 21 June 1899, 2)
MARSHALL-WELLS CO., Bannatyne Avenue, warehouse, 1900 ((Winnipeg b.p. 386, 1900; City of Winnipeg, 1983-The Year Past, 1984, 19-20, illus.)
MANITOU, MAN., St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 1901 (N. Bingham, Study of Church Buildings in Manitoba, 1987, 153, illus.)
THOMAS SCOTT MEMORIAL ORANGE HALL, Princess Street, 1902 (Winnipeg b.p. 611, 1902)
NORTH WEST COMMERCIAL TRAVELER’S ASSOC., Lombard Avenue at Rorie Street, large commercial office block, 1902 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 8 May 1902, 7, descrip.; C.R., xiii, 14 May 1902, 2)
STEELE BLOCK, Portage Avenue at Carlton Street, an office and apartment block, 1903 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 23 March 1903, 10, illus. & descrip.; 12 Oct. 1903, 8, illus. & descrip.; Winnipeg b.p. 149, 9 April 1903)
WESTERN IMPLEMENT MFR. CO., Jessie Avenue, 1903 (C.R., xiv, 7 Oct. 1903, 2)
WINNIPEG PAINT & GLASS CO., Pioneer Avenue, factory, 1903; burned 1907 and rebuilt 1908; demol. 1984 (City of Winnipeg, 1984-The Year Past, 51-2, illus.)
MANITOBA HALL, Portage Avenue, 1903; demol. 1991 (City of Winnipeg, 1991-The Year Past, 49-52, illus.)
POINT DOUGLAS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Gomez Street, 1905 (C.R., xvi, 31 May 1905, 5; N. Bingham, Study of Church Buildings in Manitoba, 1987, 257, illus.)
THE CANADA BUILDING, Donald Street at Princess Street, 1910 (City of Winnipeg - Historical Buildings Committee Report, May 2003)
ST. STEPHEN'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Portage Avenue at Spence Street, enlargement and remodelling, 1910; St. Stephen's Church House, Young Street near Portage Avenue, men's hostel, 1913 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 19 April 1913, 13, illus. & descrip.)
EDMONTON, ALTA., Revillon Building, 104 Street at 102 Avenue, 1912; major addition, 1920 (C.R., xxviii, 18 March 1914, 333, illus. & descrip.; xxxiv, 28 July 1920, 51; City of Edmonton b.p. 176, 1920)
ST. JAMES PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Hampden Street near Portage Avenue, 1912 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 30 Nov. 1912, 13, illus.)
WINDSOR PARK, a golf club house for the Winnipeg Municipal Golf Course, 1925 (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 20 July 1925, 6; 30 May 1931, 21; inf. Robert Hamilton, of Hamilton, Ont.)
NORWOOD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Eugenie Street at Kenny Street, 1927 (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 17 Aug. 1927, 3, descrip., but erroneously credited to "J. McDermot [sic] architect")
CRESCENT UNITED CHURCH, McMillan Avenue at Aynsley Street, 1927 (inf. R. Rostecki, Winnipeg)