GINGERICH [or GINGRICH], David W. (1836-1915) was one of the first professional architects to practise in the Waterloo County region from 1860 onward. Catering to the German-speaking community in Berlin, Ont. he succeeded in obtaining commissions for public, institutional and commercial buildings, as well as private residences, including the outstanding Italianate villa for James Livingston at Baden, Ont. (1877; extant 2010). Gingerich operated as both an architect and builder from his office and residence in Waterloo, Ont. (Mitchell's Canada Gazetteer & Business Directory, 1864-65), and advertised his services in newspapers in surrounding communities, offering to 'execute all kinds of plans for Buildings, Churches, Bridges etc. and to make Specifications' (Evening Mercury [Guelph], 12 Dec. 1872, 1, advert). After 1890 Gingerich left Canada and moved to Dayton, Ohio where his name appears in local directories (Williams Dayton Directory, 1892-93, 318; 1893-94, 339), and he appears to have practised architecture there for at least two years. He later returned to Waterloo County and remained there for the duration of his career. Gingerich died at New Hamburg, Ont. on 15 May 1915 and was buried at Riverside Cemetery (obit. Chronicle -Telegraph [Waterloo], 20 May 1915, 1; biog. Ezra Eby, Biographical History of Waterloo Township, 1895, 680-1)
WATERLOO, ONT., a public school house, 1861 (Galt Reporter [Galt], 12 April 1861, 2)
KITCHENER, ONT., the New Jerusalem Church, 1870, but the original design by William T. Thomas of Montreal proved too costly, and plans were modified by David Gingerich of Waterloo, 1871 (Daily Record [Kitchener], 4 Feb. 1921, 9)
WATERLOO, ONT., Town Hall, Albert Street at Erb Street, 1873-74 (Guelph Evening Mercury, 2 July 1873, 1)
BERLIN, ONT., residence for Henry Huber, 1873 (Guelph Evening Mercury, 2 July 1873, 1)
BADEN, ONT., 'Castle Kilbride', a residence for James Livingston, Snyder's Road West, 1877; still standing in 2023 (Dumfries Reporter [Galt], 24 Oct. 1877, 2; ACORN - The Journal of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, xix, No. 3, Summer 1994, 5-7, illus. & descrip.; Parks Canada, National Historic Site, designation statement 20 Nov 1993)
BERLIN, ONT., Waterloo County Gaol, additions and alterations, 1878 (Globe [Toronto], 23 Feb. 1878, 7, t.c.; Galt Reporter, 29 March 1878, 2; Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, 80 for 80: Celebrating 80 Years of the A.C.O., 2013, 110-11, illus. & descrip.)
BERLIN, ONT., residence for the Gaoler, at the Waterloo County Gaol, 1878; still standing in 2023 (Waterloo Historical Society Annual Reports, 1977, 63, 66; Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, 80 for 80: Celebrating 80 Years of the A.C.O., 2013, 110-11, illus. & descrip.)
WATERLOO, ONT., Ontario Mutual Life Assurance Co., commercial office block, 1879 (Galt Reporter, 20 June 1879, 3, t.c.; Mutual Life of Canada Archives, Waterloo, Ont., Minute Book of the Ontario Mutual Life Assurance Co., 18 June 1879, 192)