Middleton, William | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

MIDDLETON, William (1864-1951) was active in Victoria, B.C. where he devoted much of his career to serving as Assistant Chief Architect at the Provincial Dept. of Public Works from 1911 until his retirement in 1931. Born in Devonshire, England in 1864 he studied architecture, design and construction at schools there, and was a headmaster of science and art at technical schools in England. Middleton arrived in Canada c. 1910 and settled in Victoria where he obtained a position of draftsman under Henry Whittaker, Chief Architect for the province. He assisted with the construction (and may have contributed to the design) of several provincial buildings including additions to the Land Registry Office, KAMLOOPS, B.C. (1911), an Industrial Home for the Dept.of the Attorney General at VANCOUVER, B.C. (C.R., xxxiii, 17 Sept. 1919, 47), the Court House, PRINCE RUPERT (c. 1920), and the Armstrong School and Boys Training School at COQUITLAM, B.C. (1920). Middleton retired from the Department in 1931 (Daily Colonist [Victoria], 24 April 1931, 5; C.R., xliv, 13 May 1931, 575). He died in Victoria on 12 February 1951 (obituary Victoria Daily Times, 16 Feb. 1951, 13; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 477, 512; inf. Architectural Inst. Of British Columbia). The Provincial Archives of British Columbia holds a manuscript collection of material from Middleton including correspondence, maps, photographs, paintings and books (PABC MSS 761).