HOUSE, Austin (1832-1909), an architect and builder who lived and worked in Ancaster Township near Hamilton, Ont. His name can be linked to the design and construction of several churches in the region from c. 1865 to 1870. In 1867 he was recorded as “...the architect and builder” who prepared the Gothic design for the Wesleyan Methodist Church at Cainsville, Ontario (Christian Guardian [Toronto], 7 August 1867, p. 127), and he appears to have completed plans for at least two other churches in the nearby Town of Ancaster, and in Ancaster Township, including that of Bethesda Wesleyan Methodist Church located on Garner Road West. He is almost certainly the same person named David Austin House (1832-1909) who died on 19 August 1909 and whose grave site and tombstone are still located in the cemetery of Bethesda Church, a building which he designed and built, and to which he was likely a parishioner and member of the congregation.
CAINSVILLE, ONT., Wesleyan Methodist Church, 1867 (Christian Guardian [Toronto], 7 Aug. 1867, 127, descrip.)
ANCASTER TOWNSHIP, ONT., Bethesda Wesleyan Methodist Church, Garner Road West at Shaver Road, RR No. 1, 1867; still standing in 2020 (City of Hamilton, Hamilton's Heritage – Part A, Volume 7, by Sharon Vattay, Sept. 2007, 24, illus. & descrip.)
ANCASTER, ONT., Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, Book Road West near Alberton Road, 1868; closed in 1968 and converted to a private residence; still standing in 2020 (City of Hamilton, Hamilton's Heritage – Part A, Volume 7, by Sharon Vattay, Sept. 2007, 38, illus. & descrip.)