McGUIRE, Edgar Dwight (1877 - c. 1936) held the position of staff architect of C.D. Howe & Co., an important engineering company responsible for the design of dozens of reinforced concrete grain elevator buildings in Port Arthur and Fort William, Ont. and in several other Canadian cities. Born in Orangeville, Ont. on 22 May 1877, he trained as an architect in Winnipeg in the office of S. Frank Peters & W.A. Peters from 1900 to 1910, then joined the office of W.W. Blair as a draftsman from 1911 to 1914. During this period, he obtained his first independent commission for the Royal Albert Hotel, an eclectic design combining Edwardian elements with a Moorish tile roof and ornamental iron fretwork. McGuire arrived in Port Arthur, Ont. after 1920, and joined the C.D. Howe Co. in February 1927 as a draftsman, and in May of that year he was appointed staff architect, overseeing the design and appearance of structures designed by the C.D. Howe Co. This included the Edwardian design for the Port Arthur Technical & Commercial High School (1928-29), later renamed Hillcrest High School, and still standing. He may also have made a contribution to the architectural profile and appearance of many of the iconic grain elevator silos and office and warehouse buildings at the Lakehead for which the C.D. Howe Company acted as engineering advisors and consultants. McGuire continued to work as an architect until 1935, and resigned from the Ontario Assoc. of Architects in December 1936 (inf. Ontario Assoc. of Architects).
WINNIPEG, MAN., stables for W.M. Hespeller, Nassau Street at Gertrude Avenue, 1910 (Winnipeg b.p. 3153, 1910)
WINNIPEG, MAN., Royal Albert Hotel, Albert Street, 1913 (City of Winnipeg, 1981-The Year Past, pub. 1982, 17-18, illus. & descrp.)
PORT ARTHUR, ONT., major addition to St. Joseph's Hospital, 1927-28 (Globe [Toronto], 22 Nov. 1928, 3)
PORT ARTHUR, ONT., Port Arthur Technical & Commercial High School, High Street North at Van Norman Street, 1928-29 (Port Arthur Technical & Commercial High School - Official Reception to Citizens 29 April to 2 May 1929, illus. and credited to “E.D. McGuire, Architect-in-Charge of C.D. Howe & Co., Architects”)