SEATH-SMITH, James (1864-1947) was active in Montreal, Que. for nearly fifty years and was credited with the design of large industrial buildings, moving picture theatres, apartment blocks, as well as ecclesiastical and residential works. Born in Scotland, he was the son of David Smith and Helen Seath of Couper, Fyfeshire, and he retained the hyphenated last name of Seath-Smith throughout his career. He was brought to Canada while still a boy, and educated and trained in Montreal, serving his apprenticeship in the office of John James Browne, a leading architect in the city. When Browne died in 1893, his son Fitzjames E. Browne formed a brief partnership with Seath-Smith before the latter moved to Ottawa to work as a staff architect for the federal Militia Department. He returned to Montreal and joined the P.Q.A.A. on 13 September 1898, and found work there as both an architect and as a builder and contractor. One of his best known works was the pair of stone townhouses, one of which served as his own residence, located at the northwest corner of Sherbrooke Street West and St. Mathieu Street, and now part of the Hotel Chateau Versailles.
In 1912 he was one of twenty architects who submitted designs in the competition for the new University of British Columbia Buildings and Campus in Vancouver (inf. Univ. of British Columbia Archives, list of competitors dated 14 Nov. 1912). His design was not premiated, and the First Prize was awarded to Sharp & Thompson of Vancouver. Seath-Smith remained active until after 1930, but his membership in the P.Q.A.A. lapsed in 1933. He died in Westmount on 23 March 1947 (obit. Gazette [Montreal], 25 March 1947, 19; obit. & port. Montreal Star, 25 March 1947, 18; biog. and port. in Betty Guernsey, L’Hotel Chateau Versailles: Un Histoire, 1979, 9-12; inf. Mrs. Getrude Seath-Smith, Town of Mount Royal, Montreal).
James SEATH-SMITH (works in Montreal unless noted)
ST. LUKE STREET, extension of a house for F. Gault, 1898 (C.R., ix, 23 March 1898, 3, t.c.)
HULL, QUE., two large factory buildings for Toronto Rubber & Shoe Mfr. Co., "...located below Tetreauville, near Hull", 1898 (C.R., ix, 18 May 1898, 3, t.c.; Evening Journal [Ottawa], 10 June 1898, 3, descrip.)
WESTMOUNT, villa for Rev. James Green, Cote St. Antoine Road near Belmont Avenue, 1898 (C.R., ix, 18 May 1898, 3, t.c.)
WESTMOUNT, cottage for John Stroud, Olivier Avenue, 1898 (C.R., ix, 18 May 1898, 3, t.c.; 1 June 1898, 4)
SHERBROOKE STREET WEST, at Durocher Street, tenement block for Mrs. A. McKay, 1899 (Gazette [Montreal], 21 Feb. 1899, 3; C.R., x, 1 March 1899, 3)
PORT DALHOUSIE, ONT., mill building for Toronto Rubber Mfr. Co., 1899 (C.R., x, 19 April 1899, 4, t.c.)
MOUNTAIN STREET, large two storey stables block for Joseph C. Wray, Undertakers, 1901-02 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], xxxii, 20 Dec. 1901, p. 1138)
SELKIRK STREET, near Guy Street, pair of four storey houses for Morton & Smith, 1904 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], Week No. 26, 1904, 58; Week No. 45, 1904, p. 47)
ST. LAWRENCE CURLING CLUB, St. Urbain Street near Cuthbert Street, 1904 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], Week No. 47, 1904, p. 55)
PRINCE ARTHUR STREET, near St. Hippolyte Street, tenement for H.A. Egan, 1904 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], Week No. 50, 1904, p. 51)
THE MAJESTIC APARTMENTS, Hope Avenue, near Dorchester Boulevard West, between Seymour Avenue and Sussex Avenue, pair of houses for I. F., Riepert, 1905 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], Week No. 21, 1905, p. 55; Montreal Daily Star, 4 Oct. 1905, 8, advert. for rentals)
BEAUDRY STREET, near Craig Street, two storey factory for James Young, 1905 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], Week No. 41, 1905, p. 55)
ST. LAURENT BOULEVARD, near Vitre Street, dry goods store for Glickman & Glickman, 1906 (C.A.B., xix, July 1906, 108; Le Prix Courant [Montreal], Week No. 27, 1906, p. 44)
STE. CATHERINE STREET WEST, near MacKay Street, row of six stores for James Robinson, 1906 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], Week No. 42, 1906, p. 42)
MacKAY STREET, near Ste. Catherine Street West, four storey apartment block with 17 units, for Robert C. Murray, 1907 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], Week No. 39, 1907, p. 46)
MOULIN ROUGE MOVIE THEATRE, Ste. Catherine Street East at Amherst Street, conversion of an existing building for George N. Ganetakos, 1908 (D. Lanken, Montreal Movie Palaces, 1994, 24)
CHARLES GURD CO., Bleury Street at Jurors Street, large 3 storey factory, 1908 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], Week No. 29, 1908, p. 40; C.R., xxii, 2 Sept. 1908, 25)
DORCHESTER BOULEVARD WEST, near St. Mathieu Street, row of three houses for Alexander MacKay, 1908 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], Week No. 34, 1908, p. 44)
KING EDWARD APARTMENTS, Oldfield Avenue near St. Mathieu Street, for Alexander MacKay, 1909 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], Week No. 49, 1909, p. 42; Const., ii, Dec. 1908, 66; C.R., xxiii, 6 Jan. 1909, 21)
THE MURRAY APARTMENTS, MacKay Street near Ste. Catherine Street West, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 14 April 1909, 21)
SHERBROOKE STREET WEST, at St. Mathieu Street, pair of houses, one of which was a residence for James Seath-Smith, architect, and now part of the Chateau Versailles Hotel, 1909-11; still standing in 2023 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], Week No. 23, 1909, p. 42; Betty Guernsey, L’Hotel Chateau Versailles: Un Histoire, 1979, 9-12)
MacKAY STREET near Ste. Catherine Street West, 4 storey tenement for R.C. Murray, 1909 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], Week No. 24, 1909, p. 48)
CHARRON STREET, near Paris Street, 3 storey tenement for Mme. T. McNeice, 1909-10 (Le Prix Courant [Montreal], Week No. 52, 1909, p. 41)
CHATEAUGUAY, QUE., St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Church Street at Dupont Street West, 1909; still standing in 2022 (C.R., xxiii, 9 June 1909, 22, t.c.; 14 July 1909, 21)
OUTREMONT, row of three houses for Pierre Cote, Querbes Avenue, 1909 (Outremont b.p. 201, 17 March 1909)
OUTREMONT, row of four houses for David Scott, St. Viateur Avenue, 1910 (Outremont b.p. 294, 26 March 1910)
OUTREMONT, pair of houses for John Black, McDougall Avenue, 1910 (Outremont b.p. 308, 21 April 1910)
CANADIAN AMUSEMENT CO. LTD., moving picture and vaudeville theatre, Ste. Catherine Street East, near Berri Street, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 1 June 1910, 27)
AMHERST PARK CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, De St. Valier Street near St. Zotique Street, 1912-13 (C.R., xxvi, 17 April 1912, 65; Montreal Daily Star, 4 July 1913, 2, but incorrectly credited to "James Seall Smith [sic], Architect")
STRAND THEATRE, Ste. Catherine Street West at Mansfield Street, 1912 (C.R., xxvi, 17 Jan. 1912, 72, t.c.)
MOVING PICTURE THEATRE, for J. Rosenthal & Sons, Ste. Catherine Street East at Dorion Street, 1912 (C.R., xxvi, 27 March 1912, 66)