Matheson, Peter John | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

MATHESON, Peter John (1887 - c. 1957), active in Toronto, Ont. where he held the position of Regional Architect to the Canadian National Railways in their Toronto headquarters from 1923 until after 1940. There, he can be credited with the design of many industrial buildings for the railway, as well as residential commissions executed independently. Born in Perth, Scotland on 24 March 1887, he studied architecture at the Edingurgh Art School, and took evening classes in design and building construction at Heriot Watt Technical College. He was a pupil of Edward C. Carse of Edinburgh (from 1904 to 1909), then emigrated to Canada in early 1910, settling in Toronto and working in the office of J. Wilson Gray (in 1910), and for George M. Miller (in 1911). He joined the Canadian Northern Railway as a staff architect in 1912, designing railroad industrial buildings until late 1914, and went overseas to serve with Canadian Expeditionary Forces during WWI. After his return to Toronto in 1919, he re-joined the railway company, then renamed the Canadian National Railways, and remained with the company until after 1940. He later resigned from the Ontario Assoc. of Architects in December 1957 (inf. Ontario Assoc. of Architects).