WELLS, Arthur Edward (1872-1940), son of Dr. James E. Wells of Woodstock, Ont., was born there on 14 November 1872 and came to Toronto to serve an apprenticeship with Samuel H. Townsend. He was an exceptionally gifted delineator and quickly made a reputation for himself by winning several design and drawing competitions sponsored by the Toronto architectural journal called Canadian Architect & Builder. Wells was elected Secretary of the Toronto Architectural Sketch Club in 1892 and moved to New York in August of that year to 'pursue the study of his profession' (C.A.B., v, Aug. 1892, 78). By September 1893 he had returned to Toronto and in 1898 opened his own office there. Within three years he had closed his office and then worked for other architectural firms outside Canada until 1915 when he was once again residing in Toronto and joined McGregor & McIntyre Steel Co. In 1928 this firm was amalgamated with Dominion Bridge Co. and Wells was employed by them until 1937 when he retired. He died in Toronto on 21 September 1940 (obituary in the Globe & Mail [Toronto], 23 Sept. 1940, 5)
TORONTO
Store and Office Front, for an unidentified client in Toronto, 1898 (Brickbuilder [Boston], vii, Sept. 1898, 197, illus.)
ELLIOT PAPER BOXES CO., Nelson Street near John Street, 1899 (Toronto b.p. 116, 9 June 1899)
GLEN ROAD, near Elm Avenue, residence for John Stark, 1899 (C.R., x, 11 Oct. 1899, 3)
COMPETITIONS
Design for a Bath Room, 1890, awarded Second Prize for a drawing signed 'Dado' (C.A.B., iii, Jan. 1890, 4, with protest from Wells in C.A.B., iii, Feb. 1890, 18)
A City House, 1891, First Prize drawing signed 'Soleil', 1891 (C.A.B., iv, Feb. 1891, 23, critique and illus. plate)
A Suburban Cottage, 1891, First Prize awarded to Wells by the juror Thomas Fuller (C.A.B., iv, Dec. 1891, 103, 106, illus.)
A Presbyterian Church, 1892, First Prize drawing signed 'John Nox' (C.A.B., v, Aug. 1892, 78, descrip. and illus. plate; Presbyterian Church of Canada, Designs for Village, Town and City Churches, 1893, 8-9, illus. & descrip.; Barry Magrill, A Commerce of Taste: Church Architecture in Canada 1867-1914, pub. 2012, 102-03, illus. &, descrip.)
Town House & Stable, 1894, First Prize drawing signed 'Gotham' (C.A.B., vii, Feb. 1894, illus.)
Fire Engine House, 1897, Second Prize in the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects competition (Architecture & Building [New York], xxviii, 8 Jan. 1898, plate illus.)
Entrance to a Terminal Railway Station, 1898, prepared for the 10th Annual Competition of the Architectural League of New York (C.A.B., xi, May 1898, illus.)
Design for a Cottage, 1898 (C.A.B., xi, June 1898, illus.)