Rastrick, Edward Llewellyn

RASTRICK, Edward Llewellyn (1861-1931), the third son of the leading Hamilton architect Frederick J. Rastrick, was born in Hamilton on 5 January 1861 and likely trained under his father. Both he and his brother Francis R. joined their father in the new firm of F.J. Rastrick & Sons in March 1879, but Edward withdrew from the firm in 1886 and moved to Kingston, Ont. where he worked as a draftsman for an architect there, likely William Newlands, in order to gain more professional experience. When his father died in 1897 Edward and Francis R. Rastrick continued to practise using the earlier name of the firm Rastrick & Son (see list of works under Francis R. Rastrick). They remained active for the next thirty- three years, but suffered a major business setback in 1923 when all of the contents of their office were destroyed in a fire in the Lister Block. Their best known work was the Stoney Creek Battlefield Monument (1908-13), a picturesque Tudor Gothic landmark comprising a square base with battlements and turrets, surmounted by a 100-foot tall octagonal tower. A description of the completed monument was published in several Canadian newspapers including the Evening Record [Windsor], 24 May 1913, 6, descrip., and the Wainwright Star [Wainwright, Alta.], 9 July 1913, 3. No references to the work of the firm can be found after 1922. Edward L. died in Hamilton on 3 May 1931 (obit. Spectator [Hamilton], 4 May 1931, 28; biog. Dictionary of Hamilton Biography, iii, 1992, 172-3; inf. Stephen A. Otto, Toronto)