MOBERG, Otto William [or Wilhelm] (1880 - 1961), active in Vancouver, B.C. from 1911 to 1913. Born in Ballefors, Sweden on 23 October 1880, he emigrated to the United States in 1905 and was living and working in the State of Washington during the period of c. 1908-10. He came to prominence in Canada in early 1911 when he won a major competition for new buildings in Stanley Park including several animal houses, a concert pavilion, a refreshment pavilion, and the layout of four acres in the park for recreational purposes. The Dining Pavilion (now called The Tea House), situated at the Georgia Street entrance to the Park, was designed in rustic timber style with accommodation for five hundred patrons. The largest and most substantial work by Moberg was the vast Transportation Hall at Hastings Park (1913), a commission won in a competition against 13 other architects (The Sun [Vancouver], 13 Feb. 1913, 4). This highly eclectic design was created for the display of motor vehicles produced by North American auto manufacturers. Moberg left Vancouver in October 1913, and moved to California where he was recorded in San Diego, and later in San Francisco. He appears to have returned to Sweden after 1940, and died on 1 September 1961 at Norrkoping Hedvig, Ostergotlands, Sweden (D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 478, 512).
(works in Vancouver)
STANLEY PARK, animal houses, a concert Pavilion, refreshment pavilion and park landscaping, 1911 (Vancouver Daily World, 18 Jan. 1911, 3, descrip., but incorrectly credited to " D. W. Muoberg" [sic]; Province [Vancouver], 20 Jan. 1911, 4, descrip.; and 27 Feb. 1911, 13, illus. & descrip.; C.R., xxv, 1 Feb. 1911, 33; and 8 Feb. 1911, 29; H. Kalman, Exploring Vancouver, 1993, 117, illus.)
STANLEY PARK, an outdoor grandstand, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 22 March 1911, 54, t.c.)
HAWKES STREET, at Keefer Street, store and apartment block for George Kirby, 1911-12 (C.R, xxv, 22 Nov. 1911, 66; and xxvi, 7 Feb. 1912, 68)
NORWEGIAN METHODIST MISSION, Cordova Street near Main Street, a 6 storey office and apartment block, 1912 (Province [Vancouver], 20 July 1912, 25, illus. & descrip.; Vancouver Sun, 29 July 1912, 16, illus. & descrip.)
WALSH HOTEL, West Pender Street, near Richards Street, a six storey hotel for William Walsh, originally planned as the Hotel Connaught, 1912-13 (Vancouver Daily World, 26 Oct. 1912, 12, descrip.; Province [Vancouver], 2 Nov. 1912, 32, illus. & descrip.)
HASTINGS PARK, Transportation Exhibition Hall, East Hastings Street, for the Vancouver Exhibition Association, a commission won in a competition, 1913; demol. (Province [Vancouver], 8 Feb. 1913, 23, illus. & descrip.)