MANUEL, John (1879-1933) was active in Manitoba and in Alberta from 1912 until his untimely death in 1933. Born in Hawick, Scotland on 18 June 1879, he articled with James P. Alison, FRIBA, of Hawick, Scotland, from 1894 to 1899. During this period he studied architecture at Heriot Watt College in Edinburgh, then worked as an assistant to Hippolyte J. Blanc, a leading architect in that city, from 1899 to 1904. From 1904 to 1907 he worked as an assistant in the office of Matear & Simon, headed by Frank W. Simon, who was to later win the international competition for the new Provincial Parliament Building in Winnipeg in 1913. Manuel moved to London in late 1907 and gained additional experience in the office of R. Weir Schultz, and with Porter & Elcock of Colwyn Bay, Wales, from 1909 to 1912. It was Frank Simon who likely persuaded his young assistant to move to Winnipeg where he became the local supervising architect on the commission for the Parliament Buildings from 1912 to 1915.
During this period, Manuel was also working independently, preparing the elaborate High Victorian Gothic design for the Waddell Fountain in Winnipeg, modeled after the Memorial to Sir Walter Scott in Edinburgh. He opened an office in Winnipeg in 1918 under his own name, and was elected as President of the Manitoba Association of Architects in 1926. He continued to work there until 1927 when he moved to Alberta to complete a commission in Banff, and to supervise the construction of the CPR hotels at Banff and at Lake Louise (designed by others). Manuel died in mysterious circumstances on 26 June 1933 when he fell nearly 270 feet from the roof of the Palliser Hotel in Calgary onto the railway tracks at grade level (obit. Calgary Herald, 26 June 1933, 9; biog. Royal Inst. of British Architects, London., Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, Vol. ii, 130).
WINNIPEG, MAN., The Waddell Fountain, Central Park, 1914 (City of Winnipeg, 1988-The Year Past, 1990, 25-6, illus.)
KENORA, ONT., Carnegie Library, Main Street East opposite McLellan Avenue, 1914; still standing in 2023 (M. Beckman, The Best Gift, 1984, 86, 184, illus.)
GLENELLA, MAN. [near Dauphin], public school, 1921 (Winnipeg Tribune, 21 June 1921, 6)
WINNIPEG, MAN., University of Winnipeg, major addition to the Science Building, 1922-23 (C.R., xxxvii, 28 March 1923, 294-5, illus. & descrip.)
WINNIPEG, MAN., St. John’s Telephone Exchange, Burrows Avenue, 1922 (City of Winnipeg b.p. 1501, 1922)
WINNIPEG, MAN., St. James Telephone Exchange, Rutland Street at Ness Street, 1925 (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 18 July 1925, 16, t.c.)
BANFF, ALTA., Rundle Memorial United Church, Banff Avenue at Buffalo Street, 1927; still standing in 2023 (Calgary Herald, 28 March 1927, 5, t.c.; and 9 Sept. 1927, 5, descrip.; list of works in Application Form from John Manuel to the Alberta Assoc. of Architects, dated 20 April 1927)
EDMONTON, ALTA., The Institute Building, 109th Street, 1929 (City of Edmonton b.p. 1145, 1929; dwgs. at Edmonton City Archives)