LANSDOWN, Frank (1880-1952) lived and worked in Edmonton, Alberta from 1909 to late 1922, but his later career in California was much more productive and successful. Born in the city of Lincoln, England on 24 September 1880, he studied at the Lincoln Technical School and served an apprenticeship there with Goddard & Son, Architects (from April 1898 to November 1900). He then trained in the office of W. Mortimer & Son in Lincoln in 1900-02, and with Briggs & Wolstenholme, architects of Liverpool (1902-03). Lansdown then returned to Lincoln and rejoined the firm of W. Mortimer & Son, supervising their branch office at Romford, Co. Essex.
Lansdown emigrated to Canada in early 1907 and from May 1907 to March 1908 he learned the building trades while working in Haileybury and Cobalt in northern Ontario for Arvid D. Pillar, a local contractor and carpenter. From there, he moved to Edmonton, Alta. in April 1908 and obtained a post as an assistant in the office of Barnes & Gibbs, a leading architectural firm in that city. In September 1909 Lansdown joined the Alberta Public Works Department as a draftsman, remaining there for the next ten years, and rising through the ranks to the post of Chief Draftsman, working under the direct supervision of Allan Jeffers, the Provincial Architect, and assisting him with construction and completion of the Alberta Parliament Buildings in Edmonton (built 1909-12). He also worked in the school planning division of that department, gaining valuable experience in the design of school buildings throughout Alberta during the period from 1912 to 1918. In 1919, Lansdown opened his own office in Edmonton, but only a few of his works in Alberta have been identified.
In January 1923, Lansdown left Canada and moved to southern California. He opened an office in Santa Ana, a suburb of Los Angeles, and his career flourished there, with dozens of commercial, residential and institutional commissions which he invariably executed in the popular Spanish Revival style. His significant works from the period include The Santora Building, Santa Ana (1928), a flamboyant retail and office complex with exuberant Churrigueresque details inspired directly by the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego in 1915. He also contributed to the design of the Bowers Memorial Museum, Santa Ana (1931-32; still standing in 2017). Lansdown died in Santa Ana on 9 March 1952 (obituary Los Angeles Times, 11 March 1952, 19; biog in John Blue, Alberta Past & Present, 1924, Vol. iii, 381-82; biog. R.I.B.A., London, Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, Vol. Two, 15).
(works in Alberta)
EDMONTON, ALTA., retail store for Mrs. F.M. Gunn, 108 Avenue, 1922 (City of Edmonton b.p. 126, 1922; dwgs. at Edmonton City Archives)
EDMONTON, ALTA., Mayfair Golf & Country Club House, Groat Road N.W. at Saskatchewan Drive N.W., 1922 (Edmonton Journal, 1 April 1922, 18, illus. & descrip.; City of Edmonton b.p. 145, 1922; dwgs. at Edmonton City Archives; inf. Robert Hamilton, of Hamilton, Ont.) )
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOUSE, ALTA., public school, 1922 (Edmonton Bulletin, 18 Feb. 1922, 2)
(works in Santa Ana, California)
SANTA ANA VALLEY HOSPITAL, Grand Avenue at Washington Avenue, designed 1924; built 1926-27 (Santa Ana Register, 7 Aug. 1924, 7 & 8, illus. & descrip.; 31 July 1926, 3, descrip.; 16 Nov. 1926, 10, descrip.)
FARMER’S & MERCHANT’S SAVINGS BANK (later called The Beem Building), North Broadway at West 4th Street, 1924-26 (Santa Ana Register, 19 Aug. 1924, 1 & 2, descrip.; 29 Jan. 1925, 11, illus. & descrip.; 3 June 1926, 9, descrip.)
FINE BROTHERS LTD., Fifth Street at Broadway, extensive alterations and remodelling of existing store, with seven new shop fronts adjacent, 1926 (Santa Ana Register, 21 Jan. 1926, 9, illus. & descrip.; 17 June 1926, 9)
RAITT’S SANITARY DAIRY BUILDING, East Fourth Street, 1926 (Santa Ana Register, 11 March 1926, 9 & 11, illus. & descrip.)
GOLDEN WEST FUR FARMS, North Main Street at Orange City limits, 1926 (Santa Ana Register, 8 April 1926, 12, illus.)
BROADWAY STREET, at Buffalo Street, a bungalow court of three - 4 family flats, with adjacent house for Russell Hennigar, and 15 car garage, 1927 (Santa Ana Register, 3 Feb. 1927, 9, descrip.)
DIAMOND TIRE CO., Bush Street, between 2nd and 3rd Street, for Herbert L. Miller, warehouse, 1927 (Santa Ana Register, 3 March 1927, 9, descrip.)
SANTORA BUILDING, North Broadway at West 2nd Street, 1928 (USA, National Register of Historic Places, listed as of 27 December 1982)
BUILDER’S EXCHANGE BUILDING, North Main Street at 8th Street, 1928 (USA, National Register of Historic Places, listed 1982)
PHILLIPS HUTTON BLOCK, 4th Street at Broadway, 1928 (USA, National Register of Historic Places, listed 1982)
SANTA ANA CAFÉ LOUNGE & BALLROOM, Sixth Street at Main Street, major addition, 1929 (Santa Ana Register, 6 April 1929, 12, illus. & descrip.)
CHARLES W. BOWERS MEMORIAL MUSEUM, North Main Street at West 20th Street, begun 1931-32; completed 1936 with W. Horace Austin, Associate Architect of Long Beach, Calif. (Santa Ana Register, 25 Aug. 1931, 11, descrip.; 11 Jan 1932, 16, t.c.; Los Angeles Times, 31 Dec. 1933, Section Two, 7, descrip.)
ROSSMORE HOTEL, 4th Street at Sycamore Street, rebuilding and restoration after an earthquake, 1933 (Santa Ana Register, 16 May 1933, 3, descrip.)
NORTH RIVERSIDE DRIVE, near North Flower Street, residence for George D. Gregg, 1937 (Santa Ana Register, 9 Aug. 1937, 11)
(elsewhere in California)
NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF., store and office block for B.K. Stone, Coast Boulevard at 21st Place, 1926-27 (Santa Ana Register, 30 Dec. 1926, 19, descrip.; 1 Jan. 1927, 12, illus. & descrip.)
IRVINE, CALIF., a new public school “…to be of Spanish architecture” in style, 1929 (Santa Ana Register, 31 July 1929, 4)
TUSTIN, CALIF., public school, 1934 (Santa Ana Register, 18 June 1934, 7)