HUNTER, William Egerton N. (1868-1947), a native of Hamilton, Ont., was born on 16 February 1868 and educated at Hamilton Collegiate Institute. He served an apprenticeship under the well-known Hamilton architect William A. Edwards, then moved to Buffalo, N.Y. to continue his training, and later moved to Detroit, Mich. where he was assistant to Mortimer L. Smith & Son for seven years, then worked for John Scott & Co., and for the leading firm of Mason & Rice. He relocated to Toledo, Ohio, but by 1900 he had returned to Detroit and opened an office there in partnership with Joseph G. Kastler (as Kastler & Hunter, 1900-1906). He later practised under his own name where he established a reputation as a talented ecclesiastical designer, with works in both the United States and Canada. His best known work in Ontario was for the commission he received in his home town of Hamilton for the elaborate Italian Renaissance Revival design of First Methodist Church, 1912-13 (burned 1969). Arranged in a cruciform plan, with a substantial circular dome nearly 60 feet in diameter, this monumental work can rightfully be considered one of most accomplished ecclesiastical works in eastern Canada in the early 20th C. This project by Hunter was a development of his earlier design constructed with a similar form, but on a smaller scale, for Central Methodist Church in Windsor, Ont. (1905-06) and still standing today.
Hunter retired in 1939 and moved to California in 1943, and later died in Los Angeles, Calif. on 4 February 1947 (obituary Detroit Free Press, 5 Feb. 1947, 4; obit. and port. Michigan Society of Architects Weekly Bulletin, xxi, 18 Feb. 1947; obit. National Architect, iii, March 1947, 15; biog. H. Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects, 1956, 312)
KASTLER & HUNTER
ST. CLAIR, MICH., The Hotel St. Clair, River Street, ".....opposite the City Hall", 1898-99 (Detroit Free Press, 6 Nov. 1898, 8, illus. & descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., a 3 storey commercial block, Canfield Avenue at Hastings Street, for T. Zolkowski, 1899 (Detroit Free Press, 1 Jan. 1899, 7)
DETROIT, MICH., block of 5 row houses for F.W. Garnsey, Putnam Avenue, 1899 (Detroit Free Press, 1 Jan. 1899, 7)
DETROIT, MICH., St. Josephat’s Polish Roman Catholic Church, Canfield Avenue at Hastings Street, 1899-1901 (Detroit Free Press, 23 July 1899, 9, illus. & descrip.; 4 Aug. 1901, 4, illus. & descrip.; U.S.A., National Register of Historic Places, Designation Statement, Dec. 1982)
GLENWOOD, MICH., St. Mary's Polish Catholic Church, 1900 (Detroit Free Press, 8 July 1900, 6)
DETROIT, MICH., large residence for T. Zoltowski, Forest Avenue at St. Aubin Avenue, 1900 (Detroit Free Press, 5 Aug. 1900, Section Two, p. 5, illus. & descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., Emergency Hospital, Second Street at Porter Street, 1901 (Detroit Free Press, 1 Dec. 1901, 6 & 11, illus. & descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., large residence for John A. Yates, Cass Avenue, between Selden Street at Alexandrean Street, 1902 (Detroit Free Press, 19 Oct. 1902, 1, illus. & descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., St. Francis of Assisi Polish Catholic Church, Wesson Avenue at Buchanan Street, 1903 (Detroit Free Press, 11 July 1903, 5, descrip.)
WINDSOR, ONT., Central Methodist Church, Ouellette Avenue near Wyandotte Street East, 1904-06; with addition of a Sunday School, 1912 (Evening Record [Windsor], 16 April 1904, 3, descrip.; 14 May 1904, 1, illus. & descrip.; 19 Oct. 1904, 1, illus. & descrip.; C.R., xxvi, 7 Feb. 1912, 62; inf. Robert Hamilton, Hamilton, Ont.)
DETROIT, MICH, The Glorinda Apartments, Canton Avenue near Kercheval Street, for F.G. Poli, 1905 (Detroit Free Press, 9 July 1905, 26, illus. & descrip.)
W.E.N. HUNTER
DETROIT, MICH., residence for W.E. Partridge, 1906 (Inland Architect [Chicago], xlviii, Aug. 1906, 24, illus.)
DETROIT, MICH., Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, East Grand Boulevard at Preston Avenue, 1907 (Detroit Free Press, 3 Jan. 1907, 7, descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., Methodist Episcopal Church, Campbell Avenue at McMillan Avenue, 1908 (Detroit Free Press, 1 July 1908, 14, descrip.)
HASTINGS, MICH., First Methodist Church, West Greca Street, 1910-11 (Kathyrn B. Eckert, Buildings of Michican, 1993, 272-3)
DETROIT, MICH., large residence for Charles H. Shaw, Arden Park Street at John R. Street, in North Woodward, 1911 (Detroit Free Press, 17 Sept. 1911, 4, illus.)
WALKERVILLE, ONT., large residence for Niels C. Ortved, Devonshire Road, near Cataraqui Street, 1911; still standing in 2021 (City of Windsor, Heritage Register, 27 Aug. 2007; dwgs. and specifications in the possession of Michael Robinson, Windsor; inf. Andrew Foot, Windsor)
HAMILTON, ONT., First Methodist Church, King Street East at Wellington Street, 1912-14; burned 1969 (C.R., xxvi, 10 April 1912, 64; Const., viii, May 1915, 174, 176-83, illus. & descrip.; P. Davis, Adventures in Faith: First Methodist Church, 1949, 10, 38, 42, illus. & descrip.)
TILLSONBURG, ONT., St. Paul's Methodist Church, Bidwell Street, 1912-13 (London Free Press, 12 Aug. 1912, 8, t.c.; C.R., xxvi, 14 May 1913, 74, t.c.; dwgs. at St. Paul's Church Archives, Tillsonburg; inf. Ian Mason, Sarnia)
DETROIT, MICH., Shaaray Zedek Jewish Synagogue, Willis Avenue at Brush Street, 1913 (Detroit Free Press, 19 Feb. 1913, 6, descrip.)
DETROIT, MICH., North Woodward Methodist Episcopal Church, [now called Metropolitan United Methodist Church], Woodward Avenue at Chandler Street, designed 1917; built 1922-26 (Detroit Free Press, 29 April 1917, Section One, p. 17, illus. & descrip.; American Architect [New York], cxxvi, 31 Dec. 1924, 654, illus.; U.S.A., National Register of Historic Places, Designation Statement, Aug. 1982)
GROSSE POINTE, MICH., Grosse Pointe Presbyterian Memorial Church, Lake Shore Road at Country Club Drive, 1923-26 (Detroit Free Press, 22 Dec. 1923, 11, illus. & descrip.; 5 April 1926, 3, list of works in advert.; U.S.A., National Register of Historic Places, Designation Statement, 1993)
PONTIAC, MICH., First Congregational Church, Mill Street, 1925 (Detroit Free Press, 2 Aug. 1925, Section Five, p. 1 and 3)
DETROIT, MICH., All Saints Episcopal Church, Seven Mile Road at Holmur Avenue, 1929 (Detroit Free Press, 16 June 1929, Gravure Illustrated Supplement, p. 6, illus.)
DETROIT, MICH., Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Gratiot Avenue at Rivard Street, 1930-31 (Detroit Free Press, 29 July 1930, 23; Kathyrn B. Eckert, Buildings of Michigan, 1993, 78)
DETROIT, MICH., St. Peter's Evangelical Church, Gratiot Avenue near Eight Mile Road, 1932-33 (Detroit Free Press, 5 Nov. 1932, 7, descrip.)