Pownall, Guy Frank

POWNALL, Guy Frank (1867-1939), active in Victoria, British Columbia where he practised in partnership with Thomas D. Sedger. Born in Pimlico, Central London, England on 3 May 1867, he was educated there and arrived in Canada in 1888. He settled in Victoria, B.C., but no information has been found on his early training. By 1906 he had been invited by T.D. Sedger to form a partnership (see list of works under Sedger & Pownall). They were active until early 1910, but by 1920 he appears to have abandoned the profession of architecture and was listed as a wireless operator in Victoria (City of Victoria Directory, 1920, 440). He later died in Oak Bay, Victoria on 19 November 1939 (obituary Victoria Times, 20 Nov. 1939, 11; death notice, 12). The Seattle architectural journal called The Pacific Building & Engineering Record recorded Pownall as the owner of his own house in Victoria West in 1906. The residence was named "Nuneham", and was located on Dickens Street [now Selkirk Avenue], off Craigflower Road, near Victoria Arm (Pacific Building & Engineering Record [Seattle], iv, 17 March 1906, 10). A subsequent article on the completed house states that this residence "....has been erected from plans drawn by Thomas D. Sedger, architect " (Victoria Daily Times, 20 July 1906, 5; inf. Jennifer Barr, Victoria).