WORKMAN, Ernest Robert (1881-1965), an architect who operated his own office in Winnipeg, Man. in 1906. One of the staff in his studio at this time was his brother Wilburn Workman. Born in Heckston, Ontario on 1 May 1881, no information has been found on his education and training, but he arrived in Winnipeg in 1903 and his name first appears in local Winnipeg newspapers in June 1906 as an architect. He possessed a particularly unfortunate character trait that led him to engage in criminal activity. In 1907 he was arrested in St. Paul, Minnesota and charged with printing nearly $20,000 in counterfeit gold certificates which he had planned to bring back to Winnipeg (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 9 Nov. 1907, p. 1 & 11). The damage to his reputation from this event may have hastened his departure from Manitoba. He moved to Vancouver, B.C. after 1910 and was recorded as an architect there from 1911 to 1913 (Vancouver City Directory, 1912, p. 1332). By June 1915 he was living and working in nearby Victoria, B.C., but he appears to have moved to Chicago after 1920 where his professional title was listed as “inventor”. Workman died in Chicago in November 1965 (biog. The Globe [Toronto], 12 Nov. 1907, 9; inf. Andy Coupland, Vancouver).
(works in Winnipeg)
SIMCOE STREET, near Livinia Street, residence for E.H. O’Neill, 1906 (C.R., xvii, 27 June 1906, 4, t.c.)
BALMORAL STREET, an apartment house for an unnamed client, 1906 (C.R., xvii, 11 July 1906, 4, t.c.)
FURBY STREET, residence for David McDonald, 1907 (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 8 April 1907, 7)
HOME STREET, residence for Fred Hadwin, 1907 (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 8 April 1907, 7)
WINNIPEG ROWING CLUB, a Club House for the Winnipeg Rowing Club, in Norwood, at the junction of the Red River and the Assiniboine River, 1907 (Manitoba Morning Free Press, 6 July 1907, 31)
(works in Vancouver)
EAST 18th AVENUE, near Prince Edward Avenue, residence for the architect, 1911; demol. (City of Vancouver b.p. dated 26 June 1911)
ALBERT STREET, near Semlin Drive, apartment block for Amos M. Violet, 1911 (City of Vancouver b.p. dated 1 Sept. 1911)
CHARLES STREET, at Woodland Drive, apartment block for Fred S. Murray, 1912 (City of Vancouver b.p. 3045, dated 29 July 1912)
McLEAN DRIVE, near Charles Street, apartment block for Fred S. Murray, 1912 (City of Vancouver b.p. 3217, dated 19 Aug. 1912)
MURRAY HOTEL, Hornby Street near Helmcken Street, a four storey hotel and apartment block for Fred S. Murray, 1912 (Vancouver Sun, 26 Aug. 1912, 17, descrip.; City of Vancouver b.p. 3288, dated 26 Aug. 1912; dwgs at City of Vancouver Archives; inf. Patrick Gunn, Vancouver)
THE ANDREW ROOMS, Hornby Street, near Nelson Street, a 3 storey rooming house for David S. Baynes, 1912 (City of Vancouver b.p. 3648, dated 11 Oct. 1912)
LANSDOWNE AVENUE WEST, near Manitoba Street, warehouse for A. Brown, 1913 (City of Vancouver b.p. 4127, dated 3 Jan. 1913)