SKILLINGS, Warren Porter (1860-1939) of Seattle, Wash. submitted an entry with James N. Corner (1862-1919) of Boston in the international competition for the British Columbia Parliament Buildings in Victoria in 1892. Their scheme, presented under the pseudonym 'Utility & Dignity', was among the finalists of the second round and received the Fourth Prize (Victoria Daily Times, 25 Aug. 1892, 5; and 11 Feb. 1893, 5; M. Segger, British Columbia Parliament Buildings, 1979, 51). Skillings had better luck in Chicago, Ill. where he was awarded First Premium in the competition for the Washington State Pavilion at the World's Columbian Exhibition in 1892 (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 18 Nov. 1891, 8, descrip.; and 17 April 1892, 8, illus. & descrip.). His scheme was selected by Daniel Burnham, chief architect and planner for the fair, from a field of 21 architects residing in the State of Washington.
Born in Portland, Maine on 11 May 1860, Skillings worked as a draftsman in Boston then moved to Seattle in 1889. In 1893 he formed a partnership with his former Boston colleague James N. Corner who had moved to Seattle earlier that year. In 1900 Skillings was recorded in Dawson City, Yukon where he had relocated in the hope of obtaining commissions during the building boom in that town. There, he designed St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 1901, and prepared the plans for the first brick building constructed in that town, the Dominion Warehouse Co. Building, 1901, as well as a commercial block on 2nd Avenue South near King Street, Dawson City, in 1902. Skillings left Dawson in late 1902 and moved to San Francisco to join the firm of Bliss & Flavelle. After 1928 he relocated in San Jose, Calif. and carried on an independent practice. He died there on 1 August 1939 (obit. Architect & Engineer [San Francisco], Aug. 1939, 53; biog. and list of works J.K. Ochsner, Shaping Seattle Architecture, 2014, 475; J.K. Ochsner and Dennis A. Andersen, Distant Corner: Seattle Architects and the Legacy of H.H. Richardson, 2003, 203-06, 228-9, 322-3, illus.; inf. H. Kalman, Vancouver)
(works in Dawson City, Yukon)
ST. ANDREW'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, and adjacent Manse for the church, 5th Avenue at Church Street, 1901 (Dawson Weekly News, 29 March 1901, 6, descrip.)
CANADIAN BANK OF COMMERCE, 1901 (Dawson Weekly News, 29 March 1901, 6, descrip.; and 24 May 1901, 6, illus. and extensive descrip.)
DOMINION WAREHOUSE CO., Third Avenue near Second Street, a large brick warehouse for T.G. Wilson, 1901 (Dawson Weekly News, 29 March 1901, 6, descrip.)
FOURTH AVENUE, at Third Street, residence for Dr. C.H. Wharton, 1901 (Dawson Weekly News, 29 March 1901, 6, descrip.)