KNECHTEL, Jonas (1842-1894) of Berlin, Ont. (now Kitchener) began his career as a builder there but later in his career he '...got into architecture, in which he became highly proficient' (obituary in the Waterloo County Chronicle, 20 Dec. 1894, 5). Born in Bavaria, Germany in 1842, he was brought to America by his parents at the age of five years, in 1847, and lived there until 1856 when the family moved to Mannheim, Ontario. Knechtel learned the building trades and moved to nearby Berlin, Ont. in 1878. He opened his own office in Berlin before 1880 and appears to have been the only professional.architect active in the Berlin/Waterloo region during the latter part of the nineteenth century (Waterloo County Gazetteer & Directory, 1884-85, 147). In 1886 he was joined by his son Charles Knechtel who continued to work with him until the death of his father in Berlin on 14 December 1894 (obituary, Daily Record [Berlin], 14 Dec. 1894, 1). The Region of Waterloo Archives in Kitchener, Ont. holds a collection of over 800 original drawings by Jonas Knechtel and by Charles Knechtel dating from 1893 to 1943 (Region of Waterloo Archives, Fonds: JCK Coll.).
ELMIRA, ONT., school house, 1883; demol. 1973 (list of works in obituary in the Waterloo County Chronicle, 20 Dec. 1894, 5)
KITCHENER, ONT., Opera House, King Street, 1888 (London Free Press, 17 Nov. 1888, 12)
KITCHENER, ONT., St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Queen Street South, 1888-89 (100th Anniversary of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1935, 36-7)
KITCHENER, ONT.,Waterloo County Court House & Jail, Queen Street at Duke Street, alterations, 1893 (C.R., iv, 8 June 1893, 1, t.c.)
KITCHENER, ONT., Walper House Hotel, King Street at Queen Street, 1893; later additions in 1913 and 1920 by George M. Miller of Toronto; all renovated and restored 2018-19 (list of works in obituary in the Waterloo County Chronicle, 20 Dec. 1894, 5; Globe & Mail [Toronto], 27 March 2020, H1, H4 & H5, illus. & descrip.)
NEW DUNDEE, ONT., school house, 1894 (Waterloo County Chronicle, 22 Feb. 1894, 8, t.c.)
KITCHENER, ONT., Margaret Avenue Public School, 1894 (Daily Record [Berlin], 3 March 1897, 2, payment of fees to the Estate of the late Jonas Knechtel, for preparation of plans in 1894)
WATERLOO COUNTY, a chapel at the Industrial Farm for use by residents of the Waterloo County House of Industry, 1894 (Galt Reporter, 13 April 1894, 2, t.c.)