HENDERSON, William (1837-1931), active in Regina, Sask. and in Victoria, B.C. as the resident architect for the federal Dept. of Public Works in Ottawa. Born in Dundee, Scotland on 26 February 1837, Henderson was educated there and emigrated in Canada in 1858, settling in Ottawa, Ont. where he found work as a stonemason on the construction of the new Parliament Buildings in 1860-61. He moved back home to Aberdeen, Scotland in 1862 and remained there for ten years, then returned to Ottawa in 1872, taking the post of assistant clerk-of-works for the Dept. of Public Works. In 1879 he was transferred to Winnipeg, NWT, and then to North Battleford, NWT, serving the federal Dept. of Public Works and remaining with the Government until 1887 when he started a general construction business. It was during this period that he completed several independent commissions for new buildings in Qu’Appelle and Regina. In 1896 he was appointed to the post of Resident Architect for the Territories, and on 1 June 1897 he moved to Victoria, B.C. after accepting the new position as Resident Architect for the Dept. of Public Works for British Columbia.
Henderson held this position until his retirement in 1925, and was responsible for acting as local site supervisor and co-ordinator for the construction of all federal buildings in the Province which had been designed by the architectural staff of the Dept. of Public Works in Ottawa. However, his name was also connected with several federal buildings which he designed under his own name in his office in Victoria, and he also completed several independent commissions for buildings in the Oak Bay area of Victoria (see list below). While residing in Oak Bay, he served a term as an alderman, then as Reeve for the Oak Bay Municipal Council.
Henderson died in Victoria, B.C. at the age of 94 years on 24 September 1931 (obituary with port. Victoria Daily Times, 25 Sept. 1931, 1 & 2; editorial tribute Daily Colonist [Victoria], 25 Sept. 1931, 4; obit. Daily Province [Vancouver], 25 Sept. 1931, 13; obit. Ottawa Journal, 25 Sept. 1931, 26; biog. Who’s Who & Why in Canada, 1913, 336; biog. E.O.S. Scholefield, British Columbia - From The Earliest Times to the Present, 1914, Vol. 3, 931-32; biog. and port. D. Luxton, Building The West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 237, 504). The British Columbia Provincial Archives in Victoria hold a group of four diaries kept by Henderson from 1916 to 1919 (BCPA, MSS 547) .
(works by William Henderson)
QU’APPELLE STATION, SASK., St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Walsh Street, 1885 (Qu’Appelle Vidette [Indian Head], 2 July 1885)
MOOSE JAW, SASK., public school, 1890, with major addition, 1895 (The Times [Moose Jaw], 19 Sept. 1890, 3; Moose Jaw Times, 19 April 1895, 8)
QU’APPELLE, SASK., large 2 storey commercial block for Alexander McKenzie, baker, Main Street, 1893; demol. (Qu’Appelle Progress, 31 Aug. 1893, 2; and 9 Nov. 1893, 4, descrip.; inf. Marg Hryniuk)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., a new Parish Hall for Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral, Church Street at Carnavon Street, 1902-03; demol. 1958 (Memoirs of a Cathedral: A Century of Christian Activity, 1959, 43)
LETHBRIDGE, ALTA., Hotel Lethbridge, rebuilding of the remaining portion of the hotel, with new three storey brick and steel structure, 1903 (Lethbridge News, 27 Aug. 1903, 3, t.c.)
OAK BAY, B.C., residence for William Henderson, architect, Oak Bay Avenue near Yale Street, 1910 (Stuart Stark, Oak Bay’s Heritage Buildings, 1986, 93, illus.)
OAK BAY, B.C., St. Columba Presbyterian Church, Granite Street at Mitchell Street, 1914; still standing in 2022 (Daily Colonist [Victoria], 22 March 1914, 5; Stuart Stark, Oak Bay’s Heritage Buildings, 1986, 99, illus.)
(buildings designed by William Henderson for the Federal Dept. of Public Works)
WILLIAM HEAD, B.C., Quarantine Station, 1905, including Electrician’s Residence, Guard’s Quarters, bath house for First Class Passengers, and stables, all designed by William Henderson (Canada, Sessional Papers, 1906, Vol. 40, No. 19, Report of the Chief Architect, 36)
OSOYOOS, B.C., Customs House , 1906-07, designed by William Henderson (C.R., xvii, 28 Nov. 1906, 2, t.c.)
VICTORIA, B.C., Detention Building, 1907-08, designed by William Henderson (C.R., xviii, 13 Nov. 1907, 18-19)
REVELSTOKE, B.C., Post Office and Government Offices, 1911, designed by William Henderson (C.R., xxv, 26 July 1911, 59)
DUNCAN, B.C., Post Office & Indian Affairs Building, Craig Street, 1912-13, designed by William Henderson (Saturday Sunset (Vancouver), 30 Nov. 1912, 10)
UNION BAY, B.C., Dominion Public Building, 1913, designed by William Henderson (The Islander [Cumberland], 22 March 1913, 5, t.c.; Canada, Sessional Papers, 1915, Vol. 50, No. 19, Report of the Chief Architect, 62-3)
PORT ALBERNI, B.C., Dominion Public Building, Third Avenue at Angus Street, 1914-15, designed by William Henderson (Canada, Sessional Papers, 1916, Vol. 51, Part 19, Report of the Chief Architect, 103, descrip.)