MITCHELL, Charles Alexander (1877-1953), active in Montreal, Que. in the following partnerships and firms:
Mitchell & Crighton, Montreal, 1905-09
Mitchell & Ogilvy, Montreal, 1910-11
C.A. Mitchell, Montreal, 1912- c. 1940
Born in Montreal on 5 September 1877, he attended Montreal High School and served an apprenticeship with Robert Findlay from 1895 to 1899. His skill as a delineator was already evident by 1896 when his perspective drawing, signed “C.A. Mitchell”, was published in the Canadian Architect & Builder, and illustrating Findlay’s design for the Miller House on Stanley Street (C.A.B., ix, Dec. 1896, 199 & illus. plate). Mitchell worked briefly for Edward Maxwell, then moved to New York City and obtained valuable experience in the office of Ernest Flagg. While there, he entered a design competition sponsored by The Brickbuilder magazine, and was awarded Second Prize for his impressive drawing for "A Ticket Window in The Vestibule of a Theatre" (Brickbuilder [Boston], x, Nov. 1901, 229-232, plate illus. and jury comments by C. Howard Walker, Architect; inf. Robert Hamilton, Hamilton, Ont.). He also held the position of Instructor of Architecture at the Cooper Institute (now Cooper Union) for four years, returning to Montreal in 1904.
He invited Daniel J. Crighton to form a partnership with him in 1905, and after the dissolution of their firm in late 1909, Mitchell collaborated briefly with David Ogilvy, but within a year their business had ended, and both partners opened separate offices. Mitchell commenced practise under his own name in late 1911, and continued to work alone for the next thirty years. He took a particular interest in commercial and industrial architecture, and his early design for the six storey Jacobs Building held the title as the largest reinforced concrete building in Canada when completed in 1909. This was superseded in 1927 with his plans for the immense Mayor Building (1927), designed in consultation with Louis A. Amos. This eleven storey reinforced concrete loft building was entirely fireproof, and the high ceilings and the broad expanse of steel sash windows permitted natural light to penetrate to the centre of each floor where light manufacturing was conducted. Mitchell remained active in Montreal until 1937, but no references to his work after this date have been found. He died in Montreal on 21 March 1953 (obit. Gazette [Montreal], 25 March 1953, 29; inf. Province of Quebec Association of Architects, Montreal). His name should not be confused with another Montreal architect, Charles R. Mitchell, who was active in Montreal during the period from 1902 to 1911.
C.A. MITCHELL
COLONIAL AVENUE, at Prince Arthur Street, row of three tenements for John Johnston, 1905 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], 1905, Week No. 24, 61)
ST. URBAIN STREET, near Duluth Street, chapel for Rev. J.A. Gordon, 1905 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], 1905, Week No. 46, 60)
MITCHELL & CRIGHTON (works in Montreal unless noted)
BISHOP STREET, near Ste. Catherine Street West, residence for Dr. E. J. O'Connor, 1906 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], xx, 1906, Week No. 20, 46)
W.H. ULLEY MFR. CO., Bleury Street near Jurors Street, store and residence, 1907 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], 1907, Week No. 20, 40)
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, Sherbrooke Street West at Union Avenue, 1907 (C.R., xviii, 29 May 1907, 8; Montreal Daily Star, 5 Oct. 1907, 11, illus. & descrip.)
LORNE CRESENT, near Oxenden Avenue, tenement for W.H. Frazer, 1908-09 (C.R., xxii, 22 Nov. 1908, 28)
LYMAN'S LTD., St. Paul Street, a 6 storey warehouse, 1908-09 (Montreal Daily Star, 4 July 1908, 28, illus. & descrip.; Const., ii, Dec. 1908, 60, illus. & descrip.; March 1909, 56, illus.; C.R., xxiii, 3 March 1909, 22; Montreal, Architecture Industrielle, 1982, 18-19, illus.)
IDEALOGRAPH PICTURE THEATRE, Notre Dame Street West near Guy Street, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 3 Feb. 1909, 22)
BLEURY STREET, near Ste. Catherine Street West, vaudeville theatre for the Blumenthal Estate, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 24 March 1909, 20)
GAIETY THEATRE, Ste. Catherine St. West at Aylmer Street, alterations to the former Montreal Auxilliary Bible Society, 1909 (D. Lanken, Montreal Movie Palaces, 1994, 40)
E.W. JACOBS & CO., Ste. Catherine Street West at St. Alexander Street, commercial block, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 4 Aug. 1909, 22; Const., iii, March 1910, 57-65, illus. & descrip.; iv, March 1911, 56, illus.; Montreal, Architecture Industrielle, 1982, 190-3, illus.)
GREEK CATHOLIC ORTHODOX CHURCH, Notre Dame Street East near Berri Street, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 5 May 1909, 19)
BLAU GAS CO. OF CANADA, St. Patrick Street, factory, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 25 Aug. 1909, 22)
COBALT, ONT., office block for J.A. Jacobs of Montreal, and A.M. Bilsky of Cobalt, Prospect Avenue at Silver Street, 1909 (Cobalt Daily Nugget, 7 Aug. 1909, 1 & 4, detailed descrip.; C.R., xxiii, 8 Sept. 1909, 21; Const., iii, Nov. 1909, 23, illus. in advert.)
COBALT, ONT., a 4 storey hotel, Silver Street, located "....just south of the Devlin Block", 1909-10 (Cobalt Daily Nugget, 13 Nov. 1909, 8, descrip.)
LORNE CRESCENT, near Oxenden Avenue, residence for Adolphe Lomer, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 13 Oct. 1909, 21)
MITCHELL & OGILVY (works in Montreal)
WESTMOUNT, semi-detached houses for A.H. Chave, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 1 June 1910, 26)
WESTMOUNT, residence for John Ogilvy, Sherbrooke Street West at Elm Avenue, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 23 March 1910, 24)
BLUMENTHAL BUILDING, Ste. Catherine Street West at Balmoral Street, 1910 (Montreal Herald, 13 April 1910, 2, illus.; La Presse [Montreal], 27 June 1910, 14, illus.; C.R., xxiv, 13 April 1910, 29; xxv, 15 March 1911, 32-5, illus. & descrip.; Montreal Daily Star, 11 Feb. 1911, 18, illus.; Montreal, Les Magasins Les Cinemas, 1985, 168-70, illus.)
C.A. MITCHELL (works in Montreal)
ROYAL GEORGE APARTMENTS, Bishop Street, a 9 storey apartment tower for O.L. Henault, 1912 (C.R., xxvi, 10 Jan. 1912, 63; Montreal Daily Star, Montreal, 15 Feb. 1913, 30, illus. & detailed architectural descrip.; Les Appartements, 1991, 62-5, illus.)
ST. LAURENT BOULEVARD, at Ontario Street, commercial block for Carl Rosenberg, 1912 (C.R., xxvi, 31 Jan. 1912, 64)
SHERBROOKE STREET WEST, near Marlowe Avenue, store and apartments for Thomas Coggins, 1913 (C.R., xxvii, 5 Nov. 1913, 71)
BETH JUDAH SYNAGOGUE, Duluth Avenue East near Laval Street, 1922 (C.R., xxxvi, 6 Sept. 1922, 52)
(with Louis A. Amos) MAYOR BUILDING, St. Alexander Street at Mayor Street, 1927 (C.R., xli, 22 June 1927, 633, illus. & descrip.; R.A.I.C. Journal, v, March 1928, xxvii, illus. in advert.; Const., xxi, June 1928, 207-08, 211, illus. & descrip.; Montreal, Les Hotels Les Immeubles de Bureaux, 1983, 196-8, illus.)
JOHN P. O'SHEA & CO., Perrault Lane, commercial block, 1931 (Canadian Hotel Review, viii, Nov. 1930, 34)
OUTREMONT, residence for S. Lazar, Pagnuelo Avenue, 1934-35 (Outremont b.p. 2981, 12 Nov. 1934)
VAN HORNE AVENUE, at Deacon Road, apartment house for Wilder-Norris Ltd., 1937 (C.R., l, 3 Feb. 1937, 27)