WEBSTER, John Chamberlain (1911-1981), the son of David Webster, was born in Saskatoon on 15 April 1911 and studied building trades and engineering at the Univ. of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. In 1930 he moved to Winnipeg to enroll at the School of Architecture at the University of Manitoba, and studied there for three years. During the summer periods, he would return to his hometown and worked as a junior assistant in his father’s firm of Webster & Gilbert. After graduation in 1933, he spent five years articling with his father at Webster & Gilbert and joined the Sask. Association of Architects as a full member in June 1938. When his father was appointed as Deputy Minister of Public Works in Regina in April 1939, John C. took the place of his father in the Saskatoon office, but the firm retained the same name, and John C. collaborated with Edward J. Gilbert for the next twenty years. The arrival of John C. in that office ushered in a new era of progressive modernist architecture best seen in their commercial and institutional work such as Queen Elizabeth School in Prince Albert (1944), the Modern Press Building in Saskatoon (1949), and the Lutheran Seminary in that city (1949). Their best known commissions include the Saskatoon City Hall (1954-55) and the Saskatoon Court House (1955-58).
Webster later served two terms as President of the Sask. Association of Architects in 1950-53, and again in 1957-58. He was nominated as a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Inst. of Canada in 1959. When E.J. Gilbert retired from the firm in 1958, their office was renamed Webster, Forrester & Scott, Architects and it remained active until the retirement of J.C. Webster from the profession in January 1967. Webster later died in Saskatoon on 23 October 1981 (obituary Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 26 Oct. 1981, D4; inf. from Saskatchewan Assoc. of Architects, Regina)
J.C. WEBSTER & GILBERT
(works in Saskatoon unless noted)
O.K. ECONOMY STORES LTD., 1942 (C.R., lv, 29 July 1942, 28)
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, 25th Street East at 4th Avenue, 1943-45 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiii, March 1946, 68, illus.)
PRINCE ALBERT, SASK., Queen Elizabeth Public School, 1944 (C.R., lix, Sept. 1946, 16, illus. in advert.)
BROADWAY THEATRE, Broadway Avenue, 1946 (Tim Morawetz, Art Deco Architecture Across Canada, 2017, 261, illus. & descrip.)
WATROUS, SASK., Union Hospital, 1946-47 (C.R., lix, Nov. 1946, 106)
PRINCE ALBERT, SASK., addition to collegiate 20th Street West at Central Avenue, 1947 (C.R., lx, July 1947, 106)
MODERN PRESS BUILDING, 2nd Avenue North, 1947 (C.R., lxii, May 1949, 6, illus. in advert.; Tim Morawetz, Art Deco Architecture Across Canada, 2017, 49, illus. & descrip.)
BRUNSKILL PUBLIC SCHOOL, Wiggins Avenue at Aird Street, 1949-50 (inf. Saskatchewan Public School Board)
MID CITY MOTORS LTD., 4th Avenue at 20th Street, warehouse and showroom, 1949 (C.R., lxii, March 1949, 140)
LUTHERAN SEMINARY, 8th Street East at Cumberland Avenue, 1949 (C.R., lxii, May 1949, 6, illus. in advert.)
NORTH BATTLEFORD, SASK., major addition to Notre Dame Roman Catholic Hospital, 1948-49 (Canadian Hospital [Toronto], xxvi, March 1949, 36, illus. & descrip.)
NORTH BATTLEFORD, SASK., St. Thomas College, 1949 (C.R., lxii, May 1949, 162)
CITY HOSPITAL, Queen Street at 7th Avenue North, major addition to Nurse's Residence, 1949-50 (C.R., lxiii, June 1950, 126)
LION'S CLUB HOME FOR THE BLIND, 1949 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvii, June 1950, 200, illus.)
YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION., Spadina Crescent at 20th Street East, major addition and alterations, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, Feb. 1950, 130)
ROSTHERN, SASK., Civic Hospital, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, March 1950, 132)
SHEPTYCHY COLLEGE, for the Ukranian Catholic students, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, June 1950, 126)
MELFORT, SASK., High School, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, Nov. 1950, 118)