SEDGWICK, Charles Sumner (1856-1922), a successful architect in Minneapolis, Minn. who was among the first American architects to exploit the medium of printed newspapers to publicize and sell his plans for single family houses throughout the United States and Canada. He was a prolific designer, preparing plans for dwellings in the fashionable styles of American Colonial, Georgian Revival, English half-timber, the Bungalow style, and variants on the domestic Shingle Style. Rejecting the highly ostentatious Queen Anne style so popular a decade before, Sedgwick produced simple and modest designs during the period from 1900 to 1923 which appealed to middle class families in hundreds of cities and towns, and he was a tireless promoter, using syndicated articles in Canadian newspapers from 1907 onward which were published in Ottawa, Hamilton, Windsor, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton and as far west as Victoria, B.C. to illustrate and describe his proposals.
He also published several books of architectural designs, including “Sedgwick's Best House Plans”, a large book featuring “....120 original designs of of Beautiful Homes costing $350 to $5,000” This book, sold at $1 per copy, ran successfully through 12 separate editions from 1905 until 1921. By 1906 he had also published A Book of Stores, Banks, Lodges & Churches, a separate Book of Residences, and a Small Book of Houses, and he marketed these through local newspapers in his hometown in Minnesota (see the Minneapolis Morning Tribune, 18 Feb. 1906, p. 20, advert.). His formula for success was to offer packages of plans by mail order, at $15.00 per set, bypassing the need to hire a local architect, and eliminating the costs of a much higher fee charged by a local architect.
The Canadian examples of his work have been virtually impossible to locate, since building permit records never recorded the name of Charles Sedgwick. However, recent research conducted by Robert Hamilton, an architectural historian in Hamilton, Ont. has now made it possible to pinpoint the location of several of his commissions in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia. Sedgwick established a relationship with a local weekly construction journal in Minneapolis called The Improvement Bulletin to list details of each of his new projects, including those in Canada (see list below). Information in this journal on his Canadian works included the name of the client, a description of the house, the materials used, and the cost of the dwelling.
Sedgwick was born in Castile, New York on 9 May 1856 and trained under Isaac G. Perry, a prominent architect in Binghamton, N.Y. from 1872 until 1883. He moved to Minneapolis in 1884 and opened his own office there. One of the draftsmen in his office in 1900 was Glenn L. Saxton (1877-1958), with whom he formed a partnership in 1903 until 1906. Sedgwick then continued to work under his own name in Minneapolis until his death there on 12 March 1922 (obituary and photo port. Minneapolis Morning Tribune, 14 March 1922, 11; obit. Minnesota Daily Star, 13 March 1922, 2; biog. in Alan K. Lathrop, Minnesota Architects – A Biographical Dictionary, 2010, 190-91; inf. Robert Hamilton, Hamilton, Ont.).
SEDGWICK & SAXTON (works in Canada)
WINNIPEG, MAN., residence for Percy Cook, 499 Alexander Street, 1903 (Improvement Bulletin [Minneapolis], xxvii, 5 Sept. 1903, 17)
WINNIPEG, MAN., residence for Arthur W. Puttee, 317 College Avenue, 1904; demol. (Improvement Bulletin [Minneapolis], xxix, 24 Sept. 1904, 17)
NEW GLASGOW, N.S., residence for J.D. Church, 1905 (Improvement Bulletin [Minneapolis], xxx, 4 Feb. 1905, 18)
CHARLES S. SEDGWICK (works in Canada)
LETHBRIDGE, ALTA., residence for Charles Lenard, 1905-06 (Improvement Bulletin [Minneapolis], xxxii, 2 Dec. 1905, 23)
SIMCOE, ONT., residence for F.W. Draper, 1908 (Improvement Bulletin [Minneapolis], xxxvi, 16 May 1908, 20)
SPRINGDALE, N.S., residence for Frederick A. Clark, 1909 (Improvement Bulletin [Minneapolis], 18 Sept. 1909, 19)
CALGARY, ALTA., a cottage for the Crown Lumber Co., 1910 (Improvement Bulletin [Minneapolis], xl, 9 April 1910, 19-20; and 14 May 1910, 20)
PORT ARTHUR, ONT., a group of 12 detached houses for Lt. Col. John James Carrick, east side of Hill Street South, between Bay Street and Cornwall Avenue, including one residence for Arnold J. Marin of Port Arthur at 99 High Street South, and another for J.E. Griffiths of Winnipeg, at 140 High Street South, 1914 (C.R., xxviii, 28 Jan. 1914, 121; Improvement Bulletin [Minneapolis], xlvii, 14 March 1914, 15). These houses are located in the large residential tract called Mariday Park, bounded by High Street South, John Street, Marlborough Street, and Red River Road.
PORT ARTHUR, ONT., large residence at 90 Summit Avenue, near Bay Street, c. 1910; still standing in 2024 (inf. Robert Hamilton)
PORT ARTHUR, ONT., large residence at 126 Winnipeg Avenue, near Cornwall Avenue, c. 1910, still standing in 2024 (inf. Robert Hamilton)
YORKTON, SASK., residence for A.V. Whitman, 1913 (American Contractor [Chicago], 1 March 1913, 89; inf. Robert Hamilton, of Hamilton, Ont.)
WINNIPEG, MAN., residence for William W. Barr, 105 Hart Street, 1914 (Improvement Bulletin [Minneapolis], xlvii, 11 April 1914, 13)
MONTREAL, QUE., residence for Fred H. Miller, 1914 (American Contractor [Chicago], xxxv, 26 Sept. 1914, 67)