PANTER, John (1816-1891), a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, was an architect and builder active in Brookline, Massachusetts until 1838 when he moved to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and lived and worked there for the next two decades. In 1851 he prepared a Gothic design for the Congregational Church in the town of Milton, N.S., for which ".....much praise is due to Mr. John Panter, the spirited architect and builder who is deeply engaged in the advancement of ecclesiastical architecture in this province" (NovaScotian (Halifax), 8 Sept. 1852, 301).
During this period, he raised his son Charles W. Panter, and may have trained him in the building trades in Yarmouth. When John Panter moved back to Brookline, Mass. in 1859, his son remained in Yarmouth and later opened an office there. The untimely death of his son Charles in 1865, who was then travelling on a study tour in Italy, may have prompted John P. to remain in Brookline, Mass. for the duration of his career. He retired from the construction business in 1876, and later died in Nantasket Beach, Mass. on 7 October 1891 (obituary Boston Globe, 8 Oct. 1891, 10, and 10 Oct. 1891, 2; obit. Boston Transcript, 10 Aug. 1891, 5; biog. in M. Rosinski, Architects of Nova Scotia: A Biographical Dictionary, 1994, 104)
John PANTER (works in Nova Scotia)
LIVERPOOL, N.S., Church of the Puritans, 1851-52 (Yarmouth Herald, 2 Aug. 1851, 3, descrip.)
YARMOUTH, N.S., Tabernacle Congregational Church, 1851; burned 1891 (Yarmouth Herald, 19 July 1851, 3, detailed descrip.; Novascotian (Halifax), 28 July 1851, p. 234, col. 5)
MILTON, N.S., Congregational Church, 1851-52 (Yarmouth Herald, 19 July 1851, 3; NovaScotian (Halifax), 8 Sept. 1852, p. 301, descrip.)
LIVERPOOL, N.S., addition of a new building for Gorham College, 1851 (Yarmouth Herald, 19 July 1851, 3; NovaScotian (Halifax), 28 July 1851, p. 234, col. 5)
LIVERPOOL, N.S., Second Liverpool Baptist Church, Main Street at Summer Street, 1851-52; still standing in 2023 (NovaScotian (Halifax), 8 Sept. 1852, p. 301, descrip.)