SMART, John Walker (1872-1941), a native of Perth, Scotland, was active in Winnipeg, Man. from 1911 to 1923. Born in Perth on 3 August 1872, he was the son of the local architect James Smart, and trained under his father in 1888-92. He then worked as an assistant to Peddie & Kinnear in Edinburgh (in 1892-93), and with McLuckie & Walker of Stirling (in 1893-94), and for his father James Smart in 1895-1903. When his father died in February 1903, John W. started his own firm in Perth called J. Smart & Son, Architects (The Architects & Surveyors Directory [London], 1907, 183, list of architects in Perth).
For unknown reasons, he decided to emigrate to Canada in late 1911 and settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He joined the Manitoba Association of Architects in 1911, but did not operate an independent office. Instead, he spent the next twelve years as an Associate in the office of J.H.G. Russell in Winnipeg, a leading architect in that city. In 1923, while ending his term as President of the Manitoba Association of Architects, he made a decision to leave Canada and moved to Alhambra, Calif., near Los Angeles (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 9 Jan. 1923, 4). He worked briefly in the offices of Walker & Eisen, Architects, and with Kenneth McDonald Jr., and then Smart opened his own architectural office there in October 1923 (Pasadena Evening Post, 27 Oct. 1923, 2, biog.). He had a successful career as an architect in the Los Angeles region, completing commissions for residential, commercial and educational buildings which he invariably designed in a Spanish Mission style. Smart continued to live and work in Alhambra, Calif. until after 1935, and later died there on 15 July 1941 (obituary Pasadena Post, 17 July 1941, 3; obit. Winnipeg Tribune, 22 July 1941, 18; obit. R.A.I.C. Journal, xviii, Nov. 1941, 192; biog. R.I.B.A. [London], Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, Vol. 2, 631).
(works in Scotland)
PERTH, SCOTLAND, St Mark's Mission Church, Feus Road, 1906 (inf. Dictionary of Scottish Architects [online]- entry for John Walker Smart)
PERTH, SCOTLAND, Reid's Buildings, 171-175 High Street, shops and flats for Daniel Reid, 1907-09 (John Gifford, The Buildings of Scotland: Perth and Kinross, 2007, 621, descrip.)
PERTH, SCOTLAND, a two storey commercial block at No. 8 South St. John's Place, 1910 (John Gifford, The Buildings of Scotland: Perth and Kinross, 2007, 637, descrip.)
(works in Alhambra, Calif.)
KELLOW-NAGEL BUILDING, Valley Boulevard at Garfield Avenue, commercial block of 10 stores and apartments for W.C. Kellow, 1924 (Pasadena Evening Post, 26 Jan. 1924, 3, illus. & descrip.; Los Angeles Times, 28 Sept. 1924, Section Five, p. 8)
EAST MAIN STREET, between Chapel Avenue at Almansor Street, commercial block for Judge William C. Mills, 1924 (Los Angeles Times, 29 June 1924, Section Five, p. 5, descrip.)
RYDER BUILDING, East Main Street, with retail stores including J.C. Penny Store, 1925 (Los Angeles Times, 1 March 1925, Section Five, p. 9, descrip.)
KESTER BUILDING, West Main Street near 5th Street, with stores and Fraternal Hall, 1925 (Los Angeles Times, 5 April 1925, Section Five, p. 6)
EARL LINDLEY MOTOR CO., East Main Street at Monterey Street, automobile showroom, 1926 (Los Angeles Times, 30 May 1926, Section Five, p. 8, descrip.)
AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, Valencia Street at East Main Street, 1927 (Los Angeles Times, 31 July 1927, Section Five, p. 8, descrip.)
E.W. McDANIELS & CO., East Main Street near Stoneman Avenue, food market, 1927-28 (Los Angeles Times, 13 Nov. 1927, Section Five, p. 2, descrip.)
HUNTINGTON DRIVE, at Garfield Avenue, large commercial block of stores and offices for J.T. Bradford, 1929 (Los Angeles Times, 17 March 1929, Section Five, p. 8, illus. & descrip.)
FIRE STATION, Sixth Street, between Valley Boulevard and Shorb Street, 1929-30 (Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 1929, Section Five, p. 6, illus. & descrip.)
ALHAMBRA POST-ADVOCATE NEWSPAPER LTD., South Stoneman Avenue, offices and printing plant, 1930 (Los Angeles Times, 27 Sept. 1930, Section One, p. 4, descrip.)
MEDICAL-DENTAL BUILDING, East Main Street, for Dr. L.T. Butka, 1930 (Los Angeles Times, 22 June 1930, Section Five, p. 7, illus. & descrip.)
MARGUERITA GRAMMAR SCHOOL, South Marguerita Avenue near Valley Boulevard, 1930 (Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 1930, Section Five, p. 5, illus.)
UNITED STATES POST OFFICE, South Garfield Avenue near Main Street, 1932-33 (Los Angeles Times, 13 Dec. 1932, Section Two, p. 6; 18 Dec. 1932, 1; 24 Feb. 1933, Section Two, 13)
(works elsewhere in Southern California)
ARCADIA, CALIF., Graves Rexall Drug Store, Huntington Drive, for Walter A. Graves, 1931 (Arcadia Tribune, 18 Sept. 1931, 1, descrip.; 30 Oct. 1931, 1, descrip.)