McKEAN, Melville (1855-1931) was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia on 13 June 1855 and was credited with several works in the Pictou area from 1883 onward. He was the son of Adam McKean, and likely trained under his father, and earned his qualifications as both a civil engineer and as an architect. After 1905 he became a local supervising architect for the federal Dept. of Public Works, and he lived and worked in Moncton, N.B. and in Antigonish and North Sydney, N.S., supervising the construction of federal buildings designed by David Ewart, Chief Architect of the D.P.W. in Ottawa. He retired in 1920 and returned to Pictou to live. McKean died there on 20 June 1931 (obit. Pictou Advocate, 26 June 1931, 4; Canadian Engineer [Montreal], lxi, 7 July 1931, 34; biog. In M. Rosinski, Architects of Nova Scotia: A Biographical Dictionary, 1994, 249; inf. Garry Shutlak, Halifax).
(works in Nova Scotia)
PICTOU, N.S., High Street School, 1883 (Town of Pictou, Town Minute Book, 30 March 1883)
PICTOU, N.S., R. Tanner & Sons Store, 1892 (Colonial Standard [Pictou], 19 April 1892, 3; 3 May 1892, 2; 6 Dec. 1892, 2)
PICTOU, N.S., Public Market Building, 1894 (Town of Pictou, Town Minute Book, 2 Nov. 1894)
STELLARTON, N.S., a large brick school building, 1897 (Maritime Merchant, v, 27 May 1897, 30)
AMHERST, N.S., City Jail, 1902 (Amherst Daily News, 2 May 1902, 3; 3 May 1902, 4)
COMPETITIONS
PICTOU, N.S., City Jail, 1890. McKean was one of three architects who submitted drawings in June 1890 for this public building. Other entries were received from W.C. Harris, and from Adam McKean. Drawings from all three competitors survive and are now held at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia in Halifax.
OTTAWA, ONT., Departmental & Justice Buildings, 1907. McKean was one of 30 competitors who prepared drawings for this major complex near Parliament Hill. The chief juror, Edmund Burke of Toronto, ranked the McKean design in 27th place, with a very low score of 5 out of 100, because “..the drawings are in an unfinished condition, and do not conform to the conditions laid down for the competition” (Ontario Archives, Horwood Papers). The winner was E. & W.S. Maxwell of Montreal, but their design was never built.