WARBURTON, Joseph (1880-1944) was active in Saskatchewan from 1912 until 1941, at first under his own name, and later in partnership with William R. Reilly and Francis B. Reilly (see list of works under Reilly, Warburton & Reilly 1924-38). Born in Sutton-on-Trent, England on 27 July 1880, he was educated at Tuxford Grammar School and articled with Harry Gill (1858-1925), a prominent architect in Nottingham, from 1898 to 1901. He remained with Gill as his assistant from 1901 to 1908 while studying architecture at Nottingham University College & School of Art.
Warburton opened his own office in Beeston, near Nottingham, in 1908 and was credited there with the design of the Post Office Building, Chilwell Road at Foster Avenue, Beeston, NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND (c. 1910). He emigrated to Western Canada in late 1911 or early 1912 and settled at Swift Current, Sask. where he worked as assistant to William A. Whiddington from July 1912 to January 1913. He then tried his hand as a sole practitioner, but this venture appears to have not been a successful one, and he accepted a post as a draftsman for the City of Swift Current. By 1920 he had relocated to Regina, employed as a staff architect with the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association (in 1920), then as assistant in the office of Reilly, Dawson & Reilly (1921-23). He was made a full partner in that firm in 1924 after the departure of Dawson, and this office remained active until 1936. During this period, Warburton carried out two commissions independently, both for designs of Public Library branches in Regina, using an identical plan for both buildings, with each executed in a formal Edwardian style with a projecting stone-clad portico. After the death of William R. Reilly in March 1936, their office was renamed Reilly, Warburton & Crowther, but no works by this firm have yet been found. Warburton left Regina in 1941 and moved to Victoria, B.C. where he died on 16 September 1944 (death notice Victoria Daily Times, 18 Sept. 1944, 12; biog. Royal Inst. of British Architects, Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, Vol. 2, 910; inf. Saskatchewan Assoc. of Architects; inf. Ross Herrington, Regina).
REGINA, SASK., Albert Branch Public Library, Robinson Street at Eighth Avenue, 1927 (Morning Leader [Regina] 19 Nov. 1927, 17, illus. & descrip.)
REGINA, SASK., Connaught Branch Public Library, Elphinstone Street at 13th Avenue, 1931 (inf. Ross Herrington, Regina)