WILLIAMS, William T. (1875- c. 1940) was active in Detroit, Mich. and in Windsor, Ont. as a partner in the firm of Williams Brothers, Architects. Born in Bristol, England on 2 December 1875, he was brought to the United States by his family in 1885 and received his early education in Detroit. He studied architecture at Boston College and graduated in 1900, and returned to Detroit to practise in partnership with his brother Albert E. Williams from 1900. While Albert remained in Detroit to serve American clientele, William T. moved across the river to Windsor, Ont. and served Canadian clients in the Essex County area.
In 1905 William T. decided to move to Medicine Hat, Alta., a booming western town where he soon dominated the architectural scene for nearly a decade. In that year he won the competition for the design of the new Town Hall in Medicine Hat (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 27 May 1905, 29). He was "...the designer of a majority of the school houses and undoubtedly has planned more houses than any architect in this part of the province" (Medicine Hat Daily News, 15 Feb. 1913, Industrial Number, biog. and list of works). He left Canada in 1915 or 1916 and moved to Pasadena, Calif. where he continued to practise. He appears to have returned to the Detroit area by 1940 (biog. Archibald E. MacRae, History of the Province of Alberta, 1912, ii, 764-65; inf. Samuel Boisvert, Calgary). A photographic portrait of both William T. Williams and his brother Albert E. Williams was published in the Evening Record [Windsor], 15 Dec. 1903, 7. A biography and list of works by the Williams Brothers, together with photographic portraits of both, appeared in the Evening Record [Windsor], 17 Dec. 1904, 13.
In Medicine Hat, a biography and list of works by Williams from 1905 to 1912 located in both Lethbridge and in Medicine Hat was published in the Medicine Hat Daily News, 15 Feb. 1913, Industrial Supplement, Section Two, p. 13, and includes references to several projects which are not included in the list below.
William T. WILLIAMS (works in Windsor, Ont.)
YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, Ouellette Square facing London Street, 1896 (Evening Record [Windsor], 7 March 1896, 8, descrip.; 11 March 1896, 4, illus.)
William T. WILLIAMS (works in Medicine Hat, Alta.)
TORONTO STREET PUBLIC SCHOOL, remodelling of the school, 1905 (C.R., xvi, 21 June 1905, 2, t.c.)
CITY HALL, Main Street at 4th Avenue, 1905 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 27 May 1905, 29; and 3 July 1905, 10, descrip.; C.R., xvi, 7 June 1905, 2)
CITY MORGUE, 1906 (C.R., xvii, 16 May 1906, 4, t.c.)
ROSERY FLOWER CO., glass conservatories, c. 1907 (dwgs. at Glenbow Museum, Calgary, J, Langlands Coll. M8299)
MASONIC TEMPLE, Montreal Street, 1907 (Const., i, Nov. 1907, 70)
CYPRESS CLUB, 4th Avenue near Main Street, 1907-08 (Medicine Hat Daily News, 18 July 1907, descrip.; and 31 Oct. 1907, 7; and 16 July 1908 1, descrip.)
AMERICAN HOTEL, South Railway Street, major addition, 1908 (C.R., xix, 13 May 1908, 28)
COSMOPOLITAN HOTEL, South Railway Street at Montreal Street, major additions, 1908, 1911 (C.R., xix, 13 May 1908, 28; and xxv, 17 May 1911, 61; Medicine Hat News, 6 May 1911, 1, descrip.)
HIGH SCHOOL, 1908 (Medicine Hat News, 23 July 1908, 1)
CAMBRIDGE STREET, at 5th Avenue, residence for Samuel T. Hopper, 1908 (Medicine Hat News, 3 Sept. 1908, 4, t.c.)
ELM STREET PUBLIC SCHOOL, 1909; addition, 1911 (C.R., xxiii, 16 June 1909, 21, t.c.; xxv, 12 July 1911, 59)
ESPLANADE, residence for William B. Marshall, 1909 (Medicine Hat News, 15 July 1909, 1, illus.; C.R., xxiii, 11 Aug. 1909, 22)
ALBERTA CLAY CO., Toronto Street at the CPR tracks, three factory buildings, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 17 Nov. 1909, 22, t.c.)
HUTCHINSON BLOCK, Toronto Street, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 17 May 1911, 61)
BEVERIDGE BLOCK, Main Street, for the Bevridge Furniture Co., 1911 (C.R., xxv, 17 May 1911, 61)
MAIN STREET, commercial block for William H. Doty, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 17 May 1911, 61)
MEDICINE HAT PRINTING & PUBLISHING CO., Main Street at 4th Avenue, office block, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 24 May 1911, 62, t.c.)
EXHIBITION GROUNDS, a public Grandstand building for the Medicine Hat Agricultural Society, 1911 (Medicine Hat News, 29 May 1911, 4, t.c.)
NURSE'S HOME, Main Street near 1st Avenue, major addition, 1911 (Calgary Herald, 26 June 1911, 3, t.c.)
unnamed street, residence for Joseph A. McLean, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 5 July 1911, 60)
FIFTH AVENUE METHODIST CHURCH, 5th Avenue at Montreal Street, 1911-13 (C.R., xxv, 4 Oct. 1911, 58-9; Medicine Hat News, 19 May 1913, 1 and 2, illus. & descrip.; dwgs. at Canadian Architectural Archives, Univ. of Calgary, Stevenson Coll.)
READY & FINLAY, Main Street, bowling alley and pool hall, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 4 Oct. 1911, 61)
UNION BANK, Toronto Street at 4th Avenue, 1912 (Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 13 July 1912, 11, descrip.; Medicine Hat Daily News, 15 Feb. 1913, list of works)
CORUNA HOTEL, Ottawa Street near North Railway Street, c. 1912 (Medicine Hat Daily News, 15 Feb. 1913, list of works)
CONNAUGHT PUBLIC SCHOOL, Donovan Avenue near Kensington Street, c. 1912 (Medicine Hat Daily News, 15 Feb. 1913, list of works)
ALBERTA TELEPHONE EXCHANGE BUILDING, 1913 (Financial Post [Toronto], 28 June 1913, 16, descrip.)
William T. WILLIAMS (works elsewhere in Alberta)
TABER, ALTA., public school, 1910-11 (Taber Free Press, 21 April 1910, 8; and 14 July 1910, 5; Lethbridge Daily Herald, 25 April 1911, 1 & 8, descrip. & illus.)
BASSANO, ALTA., public school, 1910-11 (Bassano News, 7 Oct. 1910, 8; and 10 March 1911, 1; C.R., xxv, 22 Feb. 1911, 29, t.c.)
BASSANO, ALTA., Union Bank, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 16 Nov. 1910, 29)
LETHBRIDGE, ALTA., commercial block for the William Henderson Estate 'on the site of the Balmoral Hotel', 1911 (C.R., xxv, 15 March 1911, 55)
REDCLIFF, ALTA., public school, 1911 (Redcliff Review, 15 April 1911, 1)