LOWERY, Edward (1843-1893) of Winnipeg, Man. began his career as a builder and contractor before 1870 but by 1890 he had begun to advertise himself as an architect. Born in County Armagh, Ireland on 11 December 1843, he may have first emigrated to the United States before arriving in Canada and settling in western Ontario. His name appears in the 1871 Census of Canada as “carpenter”, living in Howick Township, Huron Co., just east of Wingham, Ont. Ten years later, in 1881, he was still living and working there as a carpenter, but by 1882 or early 1883 he had relocated to Winnipeg where he continued his career. He appears to have had a particular interest in ecclesiastical design; one of his best works is the substantial Gothic design for St. Paul’s Methodist Church in Boissevain, Manitoba (1893), adapted to a corner site and constructed entirely in local fieldstone with exterior walls measuring nearly two feet in thickness
He was recorded in partnership with his son William F. Lowery of Winnipeg in 1891, but his son died suddenly at the age of 19 years on 19 September 1893, at his father’s residence in Winnipeg (death notice Manitoba Free Press, 21 Sept. 1893, 7). Surprisingly, the very next day, on 20 September 1893, his father Edward died in Boissevain, Man. while supervising architectural projects in that town (obit. Winnipeg Tribune, 20 Sept. 1893, 4; obit. Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 21 Sept. 1893, 8). The Presbyterian Church of Canada published a “Design for a Small Town Church”, prepared by E. Lowery & Son, Architects of Winnipeg, in their handbook on church architecture in Canada entitled “Designs for Village, Town and City Churches”, 1893, 28-30, illus. & descrip. A copy of this handbook can be found at the United Church Archives, Toronto. The Winnipeg Public Library holds several bound volumes of American architectural periodicals which bear the inscription of Edward Lowery. These include the journals entitled Building: An Architectural Monthly [New York], Jan-Dec. 1884, and Carpentry & Building [New York], Volumes 1 to 5, 1879-1883, which may have been acquired by Lowery while he was working in Ontario.
WINNIPEG, MAN., McDougal Memorial Methodist Church, Main Street, 1891 (Neil Bingham, A Study of Church Buildings in Manitoba, 1987, 252, illus.)
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, MAN., Methodist Church, 1891; demol. (C.R., ii, 9 May 1891, 2; Manitoba, Early Architecture of Portage La Prairie, 1983, illus.)
BOISSEVAIN, MAN., St. Paul’s Methodist Church, South Railway Street at Johnson Street, for Rev. George H. Long, 1892-93; still standing 2015 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 29 April 1892, 5, t.c.; C.R., iv, 21 Jan. 1893, 1, t.c.; Neil Bingham, A Study of Church Buildings in Manitoba, 1987, 70, illus.)
BOISSEVAIN, MAN., public school, 1893, demol. (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 12 July 1893, 3, t.c.; C.R., iv, 20 July 1893, 1, t.c.)