SAIT, Edwin George William (1867-1949), active in New Westminster from 1890 until his death in 1949. Born in South Stoneham, near Southampton, Co. Hampshire, England on 17 January 1867, he was educated and trained there and later emigrated to Canada in 1890. He settled in British Columbia, but no information can be found on early career as an architect in New Westminster. By 1899 he had formed a partnership with John M. Byrens, as Byrens & Sait, and together they won the competition for the rebuilding of Cary Castle, the Government House in Victoria (Peter Cotton, Vice Regal Mansions of British Columbia, 1981, 72-73). Despite having been awarded First Premium, their design for the reconstruction Cary Castle was never built, as the commission was later handed to Samuel Maclure and Francis M. Rattenbury
.
Sait opened his own architectural office in New Westminster in 1899, and was later in partnership with M.S. Williams, as Sait & Williams, in 1906-07 (Henderson’s Vancouver Directory, 1906, 712). After 1920 he moved to nearby Vancouver and continued to list himself as an architect on West 8th Avenue (British Columbia Directory, 1927, Vancouver listings, 1621-22). Sait died at Vancouver, B.C. on 14 April 1949 (death notice Vancouver Sun, 16 April 1949, 21; death notice British Columbian [New Westminster], 18 April 1949, 6; biog. in The Province [Vancouver], 18 Jan. 1901, 3; biog. and list of works in D. Luxton, Building The West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 240-41, illus., 516). His death notice refers to him as “former City Architect of New Westminster”, an indication that he may have had an official role with that City while living there from 1899 until after 1920.
E.G.W. SAIT (works in New Westminster unless noted)
DEPOT HOTEL, Columbia Street at 8th Street, for Bilodeau & Wise, 1899 (British Columbian Fire Supplement [New Westminster], 9 Sept. 1899, 2, and credited to “Mr. Sate [sic], Architect”; inf. Jim Wolf, Burnaby, B.C.)
ST. BARNABAS ANGLICAN CHURCH, a new Rectory for the church, Fifth Avenue at 10th Street, 1902 (Vancouver Daily World, 17 April 1902, 5; and 24 Sept. 1902, 4, descrip.)
CARNEGIE LIBRARY, Carnavon Street at Lorne Street, 1902-04; demol. (C.R., xiii, 9 July 1902, 2; D. Luxton, Building The West, 2003, 240, illus.)
B.C. ELECTRIC RAILWAY CO., streetcar maintenance shops, Columbia Street at the foot of Alexander Street, 1902 (Vancouver Daily World, 15 July 1902, 5; and 17 July 1902, 5, but incorrectly credited to "W.C. Fait" [sic] as the architect)
ROYAL COLUMBIAN HOSPITAL, Maternity Building and Nurses’ Home, 1907; Isolation Patients Buildings, 1908 (Vancouver Daily World, 23 May 1907, 7; C.R., xxii, I July 1908, 25; and 5 Aug. 1908, 24, t.c.)
6th STREET, residence for Dr. E.J. Rothwell, 1908 (C.R., xxii, 1 July 1908, 25)
CENTRAL LIVERY STABLES, 8th Street, for Samuel H. Thompson, 1908 (C.R., xxii, 1 July 1908, 25)
13th STREET, five houses for Martin W. Minthorne, 1908 (C.R., xxii, 7 Oct. 1908, 25)
4th AVENUE, ‘Eldora’, a residence for Herbert T. Kirk, 1908 (D. Luxton, Building The West, 2003, 241, illus.)
LAND REGISTRY OFFICE, Carnavon Street at Lorne Street, 1908 (C.R., xxii, 1 July 1908, 25; and 5 Aug. 1908, 24, t.c.; B.C., Sessional Papers, 1911, Public Accounts, 152; Jack Scott, Once in the Royal City - The Heritage of New Westminster, 1985, 94, illus.; orig. drawings at BCPA, Victoria, B.C.)
DEAN BLOCK, Columbia Street at Church Street, for Evans B. Dean, 1908-09 (Vancouver Daily World, 31 Dec. 1908, 10, descrip.; C.R., xxiii, 10 Feb. 1909, 22)
COLUMBIA STREET, at McKenzie Street, a new apartment block, on the site of the old Begbie Block, next to the Burr Block, 1909 (Vancouver Daily World, 9 July 1909, 13)
QUEEN’S PARK, Provincial Exhibition Grounds, Fisheries Building, 1909, altered and later relocated (D. Luxton, Building The West, 2003, 241, illus.)
LILLOOET, B.C., General Hospital, 1910 (British Columbian [New Westminster], 23 July 1910)
HOTEL FRASER, Front Street at Begbie Street, 1912; demol. (British Columbian [New Westminster], 13 March 1912)
3rd AVENUE, residence for Theophilus Barbaree, 1912 (Jack Scott, Once in the Royal City - The Heritage of New Westminster, 1985, 113, illus)
QUEEN’S PARK, Provincial Exhibition Grounds, Horse Show Arena, 1912; burned 1929 (Daily News [New Westminster], 1 Oct. 1912, 1; 2 Oct. 1912, 1; British Columbian [New Westminster], 28 Jan. 1913, 8; D. Luxton, Building The West, 2003, 241, illus.)
PUBLIC MARKET BUILDING, Lytton Square, 1920 (Vancouver Sun, 24 April 1920, 2)
PUBLIC MARKET BUILDING, Tenth Street, 1920 (Vancouver Sun, 24 April 1920, 2; and 1 Sept. 1920, 2)
T.J. TRAPP TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL, a conversion of the old Provincial Jail into an educational building, 1920 (Vancouver Sun, 3 May 1920, 7; and 4 Sept. 1920, 2, descrip.)
COMPETITIONS
COQUITLAM, B.C., Provincial Asylum for the Insane, 1908. Sait was a awarded the Second Premium of $500 by the Provincial Government for his design (Const., ii, Nov. 1908, 36; B.C., Sessional Papers, 1910, Public Accounts, 102). The winner of the competition was J.C.M. Keith.
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., Royal Columbian Hospital, East Columbia Street, 1909. There were two sets of plans sent in for new hospital buildings, one design from Sait, and the other from Gardiner & Gardiner. It is unclear who won the competition, but the scheme by Sait was described in the Vancouver Daily World, 20 Nov. 1909, 2.
BURNABY, B.C., Municipal Hall, 1911. Sait was one of several B.C. architects who submitted a design in this competition. His scheme was passed over in favour of the proposal submitted by Somervell & Putnam.