LAIT, William Barnes (1855-1928), active in Winnipeg from 1892 until after 1906. Born in Folkestone, England on 30 May 1855, he was the son of William Lait, an architect active in the town of Warwick, Co. Warwickshire, and it was he who likely influenced his son to take up the study of architecture in 1872 when he sent him to Birmingham to serve his four year apprenticeship with a local architect there. Lait returned to Warwick in 1876 and worked as an assistant in his father’s office until May 1890 when he emigrated to Canada. He settled in Toronto and joined the office of David B. Dick, and was employed as his Clerk of Works, overseeing the construction of his major commission for Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto (1890-91). Their collaboration must have been a productive one; Dick would again hire Lait in 1898 to supervise the construction of his plans for the Bank of Hamilton in Winnipeg.
Lait moved from Toronto to Winnipeg, Man. in 1892 and for the next four years he was employed as superintendent and general assistant to George C. Browne, a leading architect in that city. Lait also spent a year in Chicago, and upon his return to Winnipeg he opened his own office there in April 1897 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 10 May 1897, 6). Much of his brief architectural career was devoted to residential and commercial work, but no references to his projects can be found after 1906, and he appears to have been employed as a building inspector and site supervisor during this period until after WWI. Lait died in Winnipeg on 8 March 1928 (obit. Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 9 March 1928, 3; biog. in Prof. George Bryce, A History of Manitoba: Its Resources and People, 1906, 498-99). A photographic portrait of Lait was published in Representative Men of Manitoba, 1902, 145.
(works in Winnipeg)
HUDSON BAY RESERVE, a terrace of five houses on the Reserve, with a frontage of 100 ft., 1898 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 20 May 1898, 8; C.R., ix, 25 May 1898, 4)
CARLTON STREET, near St. Mary Street, a terrace of three houses for Mr. Brownrigg, 1898 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 20 May 1898, 8)
EDMONTON STREET, addition and alterations to residence for J.G. Hargrave, 1898 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 20 May 1898, 8)
unnamed street, residence for J.G. Robertson ‘near St. John’s College’, 1898 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 20 May 1898, 8; C.R., ix, 25 May 1898, 4)
(with David B. Dick) BANK OF HAMILTON, Main Street at McDermott Street, 1898 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 20 May 1898, 8, illus. & descrip.; C.R., ix, 25 May 1898, 4)
EMERSON-HAGUE MFR. CO., Portage Avenue East, warehouse, 1902 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 21 July 1902, 13, descrip.; 14 Nov. 1903, 19, illus.; C.R., xiii, 30 July 1902, 2)
BALMORAL STREET, two houses for Frederick H. Welfley, 1902 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 13; C.R., xiii, 30 July 1902, 2)
EDMONTON STREET, residence for A. Reid, 1902 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 21 July 1902, 13)
SPENCE STREET, residence for Claude D. Bliss, 1902 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 21 July 1902, 13; C.R., xiii, 30 July 1902, 2)
SCOTT STREET, at Stradbrook Avenue, residence for John C. Graham, 1902-03 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 30 May 1903, 3; City of Winnipeg, 1989-The Year Past, 47-48, illus. & descrip.)
FORT ROUGE, residence for George G. Lennox, Roslyn Road at Osborne Street, 1902-03 (C.R., xiii, 20 Aug. 1902, 2, t.c.; Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 30 May 1903, 3)
ICELANDIC LUTHERAN CHURCH, Nena Street at Bannatyne Avenue, 1903 (C.R., xiv, 11 March 1903, 3; 8 April 1903, 2, t.c.; Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 7 March 1903, 5, illus. & descrip.; 21 Aug. 1903, 8, illus.; 14 Nov. 1903, 20, illus.)
CARLTON STREET, at St. Mary Avenue, pair of houses for Mr. Browning, 1903 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 11 May 1903, 12; C.R., xiv, 20 May 1903, 3)
DUFFERIN AVENUE WEST, residence for Harry Wise, 1903 (C.R., xiv, 6 May 1903, 4, t.c.; Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 11 May 1903, 12)
THE GLINES BLOCK, Portage Avenue, between Carlton Street and Hargrave Street, for G.A. Glines, 1904 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 7 May 1904, 17, illus. & descrip.; 10 Sept. 1904, 6, illus. & descrip.; Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 21 Dec. 1904, 19, illus. & descrip.)
BALMORAL STREET, residence for Walter G. Blyth, 1904 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 15 Aug. 1904, 10, t.c.)
THE STEELE APARTMENTS, Portage Avenue, between Carlton Street and Edmonton Street, 1905 (C.R., xv, 18 Jan. 1905, 2)
SONS OF ENGLAND BENEFIT SOCIETY, Rupert Street at Louise Street, a four storey block of offices and apartments, 1905 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 1 Feb. 1905, 15, descrip. C.R., xv, 8 Feb. 1905, 6)
LABOUR TEMPLE, a five storey block for the Winnipeg Labour Council, 1905 (Manitoba Morning Free Press [Winnipeg], 8 April 1905, Section Two, p. 9, descrip.; C.R., xvi, 19 April 1905, 6)
(works elsewhere)
KILLARNEY, MAN., two storey brick block for J.G. Treleaven, 1898 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 20 May 1898, 8, descrip.; C.R., ix, 25 May 1898, 2)
BOISSEVAIN, MAN., Land Titles Building, 1903 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 30 May 1903, 3)