JENNINGS, Stephen Alston (1857-1930) was active in Victoria, B.C. for a brief period in 1912-13, and worked under his own name and later in partnership with Pierre Jules Boulanger. In 1912 he submitted a design for an apartment house on Fort Street at St. Charles Street, VICTORIA, B.C., but it is uncertain if this was built (Colonist [Victoria], 21 Sept. 1912, 2, illus.). In 1913 Jennings & Boulanger developed several plans for residences for Modern Homes Ltd., a real estate development company active in the Oak Bay neighbourhood of Victoria. Two of these houses still stand today at 3280 Ripon Road, and 2625 Lansdowne Road, OAK BAY, B.C. (S. Stark, Oak Bay's Heritage Buildings, 1986, 113-14, illus.).
Jennings was born in Chicago, Ill. on 14 February 1857 and later graduated from the University of Illinois. He was active as an architect in Evanston, Illinois and maintained an office there from 1885 to 1897. One of his important works there was the mansion for H.W. Jones, President of the Plano Manufacturing Co., Ridge Avenue near Dempster Street, EVANSTON, ILL., 1894 (Daily Inter-Ocean [Chicago], 16 Sept. 1894, 16, descrip.). In late 1898 he moved west to Seattle, Washington and continued to practise there from 1899 to 1907. He then moved to Victoria, B.C. in 1912, where he and business partner Pierre J. Boulanger prepared residential designs for a local developer called Modern Homes Ltd. By 1914, their office had closed, and the partnership of Jennings & Boulanger had been dissolved. Jennings moved to Detroit and retired in 1918. He later died at Grosse Pointe, Mich. on 8 May 1930 (obituary Detroit Free Press, 9 May 1930, 7; Donald Luxton, Building The West - The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 344, 512).
JENNINGS & BOULANGER
VICTORIA, B.C., Uplands Gates, three monumental gates constructed of stone and iron, with bronze grillework and plaques, leading to the Uplands Estate & Subdivision, and located at the following intersections:
Beach Drive at Thorpe Place, 1912
Uplands Road at Cadboro Bay Road, 1912
Beach Drive at Cadboro Bay Road, 1912 (City of Victoria, Heritage Designation Statement; inf. Donald Luxton, Vancouver)
OAK BAY, B.C., residence at 2625 Lansdowne Road, for the Modern Homes Ltd., 1913 (Stuart Stark, Oak Bay's Heritage Buildings, 1986, 113, illus.)
OAK BAY, B.C., residence at 3280 Ripon Road, for Modern Homes Ltd., 1913 (S. Stark, Oak Bay's Heritage Buildings, 1986, 114, illus.)