SWAN, Hamilton Lindsay (1890-1938) was active as an architect and engineer in Penticton, B.C. from 1910 to 1920, then formed a partnership there with A.P. Augustine in 1920-21. Born in Gilford, Co. Down, Ireland on 29 August 1890, he was educated at the Crystal Palace School of Practical Engineering at Norwood, London, from 1906. After emigrating to Canada in 1910, he settled in Penticton and was appointed staff architect and chief draftsman of the Kettle Valley Railway Co. in December 1911, overseeing the design of all of their warehouses, station buildings and other industrial works. After serving overseas during WW1, he returned to Penticton and opened an office under his own name. His largest commission from this period was for a major addition to Central School at Cranbrook, B.C. (1922-23).
Swan appears to have abandoned the architectural profession after 1924; he became municipal engineer at Penticton, and later Resident Engineer for the provincial Dept. of Public Works, working on the Cariboo Highway. He was later assistant engineer at Merrit, at Cranbrook, and at New Westminster, and moved to Victoria after 1930 to become district engineer there. In April 1938 he was appointed administrator of the Highway Traffic Branch of the B.C. Public Works Dept. Swan died in Vancouver on 25 August 1938 (obit. Province [Vancouver], 26 Aug. 1938, 5; Daily Colonist [Victoria], 26 Aug. 1938, 3; Victoria Daily Times, 26 Aug. 1938, 3; biog. and port Canadian Engineer [Montreal], xxxix, 30 Dec. 1920, 660; D. Luxton, Building The West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 403, 519; inf. Architectural Institute of British Columbia, Application For Membership No. 16, 1920)
H.D. SWAN
PENTICTON, B.C., Kettle Valley Railway Station, Lakeshore Drive, 1912; demol. (A.I.B.C. Application, list of works)
PENTICTON, B.C., Kettle Valley Railway Engine House, 1912 (A.I.B.C. Application, list of works)
PENTICTON, B.C., warehouse for the B.C. Growers Assoc., 1919 (A.I.B.C. Application, list of works)
PENTICTON, B.C., Municipal Power House, 1919 (A.I.B.C. Application, list of works)
(with Bell & Curtis) PENTICTON, B.C., Bank of Montreal, 1920 (A.I.B.C. Application, list of works)
SWAN & AUGUSTINE
PENTICTON, B.C., Soldier’s Housing, a group of six houses for the City of Penticton, 1920 (C.R., xxxiv, 7 July 1920, 61)
PENTICTON, B.C., Maternity Hospital, 1920-21 (A.I.B.C. Application, list of works)
H.D. SWAN
CRANBROOK, B.C., major addition to Central School, 1922-23 (C.R., xxxvi, 19 July 1922, 51, t.c.; and 20 Sept. 1922, 52; Const., xvii, March 1924, 100-03, illus. & descrip.)
OAK BAY, B.C., residence for H.D. Swan, architect, McNeil Avenue, 1930 (D. Luxton, Building the West, 2003, 519, list of works)