MacKINNON, Neil Gregory (1880-1953), an architect in Saskatoon, Sask. who arrived there during the building boom in that city before WWI. He was credited with the design of several commercial blocks and hotel buildings including the six storey Alexandra Hotel (1912), one of the first large commercial blocks to be constructed in the city utilizing a reinforced concrete structural frame. McKinnon was born in Tiverton, Bruce County, Ontario on 25 August 1880 and was trained in the building trades. In 1901 he was recorded as carpenter in Tiverton, but appears to have left Ontario after 1908 and moved to Saskatchewan where he became an architect and building contractor. His name can be linked to several residential and commercial projects in Saskatoon, but he appears to have left Canada after 1912 and moved to southern California. He later died at Port Huenema, Calif. on 27 June 1953 (obituary Ventura County Star-Free Press, 1 July 1953, 10).
(works in Saskatoon)
WESTERN CANADA SAW MILLS LTD., Manitoba Avenue, office and warehouse, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 5 July 1911, 63)
NUTANA, residence for William F. Watson, 12th Street East, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 5 July 1911, 63)
NUTANA, residence for Andrew Smith, Broadway North near 16th Street, 1911 (Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 5 Aug. 1911, 5)
NUTANA, apartment block with 7 units, for H.A. Cook, Temperance Street at 12th Street, 1911 (Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 14 Oct. 1911, 5, descrip.)
NUTANA, apartment block with 6 units, for H.A. Cook, Temperance Street at 14th Street, 1911 (Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 14 Oct. 1911, 5, descrip.)
NUTANA, Hotel Saskatchewan, Main Street, a major addition to the hotel for Denis McCann and Frank McCann, 1912 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 19 April 1912, 3, descrip.)
NUTANA, Dorr Block, Main Street, “…next to the Hotel Saskatchewan”, a 3 storey commercial block for W.E. Dorr, 1912 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 6 June 1912, 6, descrip.)
TURNER BLOCK, 20th Street, between Avenue E and Avenue F, a 3 storey block for R.J. Turner, 1912 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 6 June 1912, 6, descrip.)
ALEXANDRA HOTEL, 20th Street at Avenue F., for Alexander C. Hosie, of J.C. Roy & Co. Real Estate Ltd., 1912 (Saskatoon Daily Star, 1 June 1912, 3, descrip.; 28 Oct. 1912, 27, illus. & descrip.; Daily Phoenix [Saskatoon], 13 July 1912, 8)