Macomber, William Kaluna | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

MACOMBER, William Kaluna (1888-1935), active in Vancouver, B.C. and in Edmonton, Alta. in partnership with William D. Van Siclen (see list of works under Van Siclen & Macomber). Born in Waichinu, Hawaii, he studied architecture at the Univ. of California where he won the Hearst Scholarship in International Architecture. In 1911 he formed a partnership in Seattle, Wash. with Van Siclen, and together they opened an office in Edmonton, Alta in 1913. The financial downturn in 1914 forced them to close that office, with Macomber relocating to Minneapolis, Minn. after 1920. In that city, his best known works include the Yeates Building, the First National Bank Annex, the Fridley Filtration Buildings, Eagles Lodge, the Cataract Temple, and the Sibley County Courthouse in nearby Gaylord, Minn., 1917, by Burner & Macomber (David Gebhard & T. Martinson, Guide to the Architecture of Minnesota, 1977, 235). Macomber died unexpectedly on 2 January 1935 at the age of 47 years (obit. Edmonton Journal, 3 Jan. 1935, 3; obit. Lethbridge Herald, 4 Jan. 1935, 4; Minneapolis Tribune, 4 Jan. 1925, 9; obit. Canadian Engineer [Montreal], lxviii, 22 Jan. 1935, 14; biography Alan Lathrop, Minnesota Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 2010, 147)