STALKER, George Frederick (1845-1895), active in Ottawa, Ont. from 1883 until his untimely death there in 1895. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 11 March 1845, he was the son of Peter Stalker (1808-1886), an architect who served as the chief assistant, draughtsman and Inspector of Works in the office of Peddie & Kinnear (a leading architectural firm in Edinburgh), from c. 1851 until 1885. It is likely that George F. studied architecture under his father, and he worked as a young apprentice at the same office where his father was employed in the period of c. 1862-70. He was, by all accounts, a precocious delineator and draftsman. In 1862, at the age of 17 years, he received a commendation from the Architectural Institute of Scotland for his drawings which were exhibited in Edinburgh (Builder [London], xx, 5 April 1862, 240).
By 1871, George had moved to London to work as an architect there. His talent as a draftsman was again evident in 1874 when he was invited by the Royal Academy in London to exhibit his “Design for a Public Hall” (Algernon Graves, The Royal Academy of Arts, 1905, vii, 228, Exhibit Item 1114). By 1881 Stalker had relocated to Hornsey, England where he was recorded as an architect. In 1883, at the age of 38 years, he decided to emigrate to Canada, and settled in Ottawa where he obtained a position as a staff architect in the Dept. of Public Works. He remained there for one year, then opened his own office in 1884.
Stalker was a talented designer and skilled delineator, and a proponent of the Romanesque Revival style in his designs for public buildings and for ecclesiastical works. He employed this style in his competition drawings for the Quebec City Hall (1890), but his scheme was passed over in favour of the plans by Elzear Charest. That same year, he was commissioned to design an immense Fortress Hotel at Quebec City, costing $250,000, but his project was never built (Ottawa Journal, 20 March 1890, 4). In 1893 he used a similar style in his “Design for A Country Church”, one of a number of ecclesiastical plans published by the Presbyterian Church of Canada in their book entitled “Designs for Village, Town and City Churches” and printed by the Canadian Architect & Builder Press in 1893. That same year, he produced a remarkable Beaux-Arts design for the Concert Hall & College of Music in Ottawa which, had it been built, would have rivaled some of the masterpieces of 19th C. French architecture found in cities such as Paris, Lyon or Marseille.
He was also one of the few Canadian architects of the time who was articulate enough to write lengthy essays on the subject of architectural styles and the use of colour in architecture. Many of those essays were subsequently published in issues of the Canadian Architect & Builder [Toronto]. In his position as Headmaster of Drawing at the Ottawa School of Art, he lectured frequently on all aspects of architecture; a detailed summary of his lecture on the History of Architecture appeared in the Ottawa Journal, 10 Jan. 1887, 1. Stalker died unexpectedly in Ottawa on 23 August 1895 (obit. Ottawa Free Press, 24 Aug. 1895, 2, with editorial tribute 4; obit. Ottawa Journal, 24 Aug. 1895, 7; Ottawa Citizen, 24 Aug. 1895, 6; C.A.B., viii, Sept. 1895, 108).
(works in England)
WIGAN, LANCASHIRE, ENGL, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Chapel Lane, 1876 (Building News [London], xxx, 28 Jan. 1876, 105; The Architect [London], xv, 29 Jan. 1876, 74)
(works in Ottawa)
YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, O’Connor Street at Queen Street, 1886 (Ottawa Journal, 3 June 1886, 1, descrip.)
CONVALESCENT HOME, at Britannia, 1886-87 (Ottawa Journal, 14 Dec. 1886, descrip.)
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, a proposal for a new Art Museum dedicated to Queen Victoria, to serve as the new home to the National Gallery, formerly located in the old Supreme Court Building, 1886 (Ottawa Journal, 16 Dec. 1886, 1, descrip.)
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, major alterations to the existing church, 1887 (Ottawa Journal, 23 Aug. 1887, 4; 14 Nov. 1887, 4)
DOMINION METHODIST CHURCH, additions and a new organ gallery, 1888 (Ottawa Journal, 9 Jan. 1888, 1; C.A.B., i, Dec. 1888, 7)
W.C. GIBSON & SON, Bank Street at Albert Street, a commercial block of stores with apartments above, 1888 (Ottawa Daily Citizen, 20 Feb. 1888, 4, t.c.; Ottawa Journal, 20 Feb. 1888, 4)
BANK OF OTTAWA, Wellington Street, interior alterations and decoration, 1889 (Ottawa Journal, 16 May 1889, 4)
LISGAR STREET, at Bay Street, residence for John F. Maher, 1889-90 (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 28 Nov. 1889, 4)
RUSSELL HOUSE HOTEL, alterations and interior decoration of the Dining Room “in the style of Greco-Egyptian”, 1890 (Ottawa Journal, 14 Jan. 1890, 1, descrip.)
OPERA HOUSE, Sparks Street, running through to Wellington Street, west of Bank Street, 1892 (Ottawa Free Press, 20 Feb. 1892, 1, descrip.)
CONCERT HALL & COLLEGE OF MUSIC, Wellington Street, 1893-94, but not built (C.A.B., vi, Feb. 1893, plate illus.; C.R., iv, 23 Nov. 1893, 2)
BROUSE BLOCK, Sparks Street, between O’Connor Street and Bank Street, for H.A. Brouse, 1893 (Ottawa Journal, 22 Aug. 1893, 7, descrip.; Andrew Waldron, Exploring the Capital: An Architectural Guide to the Ottawa-Gatineau Region, 2017, 18-19, illus. & descrip.)
MARIA STREET, alterations to residence for Thomas Ahearn, 1893 (C.R., iv, 7 Sept. 1893, 2)
MacLAREN STREET, residence for Dr. Robert Bell, 1893 (C.R., iv, 7 Sept. 1893, 2)
MacLAREN STREET, residence for Thomas J. Gillelan, 1893 (C.R., iv, 7 Sept. 1893, 2)
THEODORE STREET, reconstruction of a residence for William Davis, 1893 (C.R., iv, 7 Sept. 1893, 2)
PORTER’S ISLAND, on the Rideau River, Isolation Hospital, with Administration Building and four cottages, 1893-94, but later replaced with new hospital by J. Albert Ewart (C.R., iv, 21 Sept. 1893, 2; 2 Nov. 1893, 2; C.A.B., vii, June 1894, 82; Ottawa Free Press, 12 Sept. 1893, 7, descrip.; Ottawa Journal, 9 Feb. 1894, 7, descrip.)
BANK STREET, at Gilmour Street, large hotel for Henry Cluff, 1895 (C.R., vi, 4 July 1895, 2)
CENTRAL RAILWAY STATION, for the Ontario, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway, designed in 1895, but not built (Ottawa Citizen, 23 Aug. 1895, 5, descrip.)
(works elsewhere)
SOUTH MOUNTAIN, DUNDAS CO., ONT., a rectory for Rev. A. Shaw, a pre-assembled building shipped by rail car from Ottawa to South Mountain (Ottawa Journal, 17 May 1888, 4)
ALYMER, QUE., summer hotel, 1892 (Ottawa Journal, 4 March 1892, 4)
WINCHESTER, ONT., St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, 1894-95 (Ottawa Journal, 27 Feb. 1894, 7, descrip.; C.R., v, 1 March 1894, 1; St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church 1857-1957 - Centennial Souvenir, 8, illus.)
COMPETITIONS
OTTAWA, ONT., Central Police Station, 1888. Stalker prepared a design for this project, but could not complete his drawings by the deadline due to an illness in his family. He asked the City Committee for more time, but was refused (Ottawa Journal, 13 July 1888, 4). The winner of the competition was E.A. Leprohon.
QUEBEC CITY, QUE., City Hall, 1889. Stalker was among several architects who submitted plans for this major public building in Quebec City. His drawings have survived and are now held at the City of Quebec Municipal Archives (CPH A15, Cote 352.11). The winner of the competition was Elzear Charest. Stalker later exhibited his drawings at the annual exhibition of the Royal Canadian Academy (E. McMann, Royal Canadian Academy Exhibitions & Members, 1981, 386).
OTTAWA, ONT., Public School, Elgin Street, 1890. Stalker submitted his design in early March, and then he left town. In his absence, another competitor, Moses C. Edey, was allowed to see the drawings and to alter them. Stalker protested publicly, describing this event as “..a disgraceful and palpable fraud” in a long Letter to the Editor published in the Ottawa Journal, 29 March 1890, 8. It is unclear who the winner was, or whether the school was built.
VICTORIA, B.C., Provincial Legislature Building, 1892. Under the pseudonym “Alma”, Stalker was one of 62 architectural firms from the United States and Canada who submitted drawings for this project (M. Segger, The British Columbia Parliament Buildings, 1979, 83, list). Stalker was not among the finalists, and F.M. Rattenbury was later declared the winner. The original drawings by
Stalker for this competition have survived, and are now held at the British Columbia Public Archives, Victoria (BCPA, Fonds PR 2275).
ESSAYS
“The Relation of the Architect Towards the Client”, in C.A.B., ii, Oct. 1889, 111-12.
“The Relation of the Architect Towards the Contractor” in C.A.B., ii, Nov. 1889, 124-25.
“Climactic Influences upon Architecture”, in C.A.B., iv, Dec. 1891, 105-06.
“Characteristics of Architectural Style”, in C.A.B., v, June 1892, 56-7; + Dec. 1892, 119-20, + Jan. 1893, 9.
“The Place of Architecture in National History” in C.A.B., vi, March 1893, 40-41.
“The Buildings of the Dominion Government”, in CA.B., vii, Jan. 1894, 14.
“The Application of Colour to Architecture”, in C.A.B., viii, April 1895, 58-59.