HUNT, William Seymour (1861-1919), a prominent architect in Minneapolis, Minn. who was credited with the design of a large factory and warehouse for the Alberta Biscuit Co. Ltd. at Calgary, Alberta in 1906. This substantial two storey brick block, measuring 120 ft. x 112 ft., was completed in 1906, but two years later, the company was declared bankrupt and the building was sold to a new owner, and stood on the site in downtown Calgary until after 1960.
W.S. Hunt was born in Delavan, Wisconsin on 1 May 1861 and left that town at the age of 16 years and moved to Beloit , Wisconsin to study science and engineering at Beloit College where he graduated in 1880. He moved to Chicago to study for three years, then served an apprenticeship in the office of one of the most prominent architects in Chicago, and later moved to Minneapolis to open his own office in 1888. His career there spans more than 30 years, and he later died in Minneapolis on 12 August 1919 (obituary Minneapolis Journal, 13 Aug. 1919, 6; obit. Minneapolis Morning Tribune, 14 Aug. 1919, 9; biog W.H. Bingham, History of Minneapolis & Hennepin County Minnesota, 1914, 369; inf. Robert Hamilton, of Hamilton, Ont.)
CALGARY, ALTA., large factory and warehouse for Alberta Biscuit Co. Ltd., 4th Street West at 9th Avenue, 1906 (Canadian Patent Office Record [Ottawa], xxxix, 31 July 1906, p. 1919 and p. 1921; Minneapolis Journal, 10 June 1906, 9; inf. Robert Hamilton, of Hamilton, Ont.). A detailed description of this building appeared in the Calgary Herald, 18 June 1906, 1, but the name of the architect was not listed. A photo of the completed building was published in the Calgary Herald, 22 Feb. 1908, 24, illus.