SLATER, Henry Fitzgeorge (1847-1893), architect of Manchester, England was active in Winnipeg in partnership with W.R. Marshall (Winnipeg Times, 21 Sept. 1882, 7 advert.). In 1882 they prepared a Queen Anne style design for the residence of Alexander Bain, River Avenue, Winnipeg. In 1883 Slater was noted as the architect (likely with Marshall) of the Manitoba House Building & Portland Stone Mfr. Co., Gladstone Street near Point Douglas Avenue, Winnipeg. By May 1883 Slater had formed a new partnership with Neil D. Barker, and with him they were one of 7 architectural firms who submitted an entry in the competition for the Winnipeg City Hall (G. Brooks, Plain Facts about the New City Hall, 1884, 10, list of competitors). Their entry was not premiated and Barber, Bowes & Barber were later declared the winners.
Slater was born at Chorlton-on-Medlock, England in 1847 and likely trained with a local architect in Manchester. He opened an office under his own name in 1869, and continued to practise there until 1879, but in August of that year he declared financial insolvency, and this may have led to his decision to emigrate to Canada, and to the remote city of Winnipeg, Manitoba in late 1881. He was recorded there until 1883, but the dramatic downturn in the local economy likely precipitated his decision to return to England. He continued to work as an architect, but by 1890 he had moved to nearby Blackpool, England. Slater later died in Manchester on 19 April 1893. An obituary for Slater was published in the Manchester Evening News, 21 April 1893, 2, and noted that he "....was greatly addicted to drink ", and may have died by suicide by throwing himself under a heavy road cart near the Wellington Inn at Didsbury.
SLATER & MARSHALL (works in Winnipeg, Man. unless noted)
RIVER AVENUE, residence for Alexander Bain, 1882 (City of Winnipeg, 1987-The Year Past, 59-60, illus.)
BRANDON, MAN., a wood frame residence, for an unnamed owner, 1883 (Manitoba Daily Free Press [Winnipeg], 19 Jan. 1883, 3, t.c.)
MANITOBA HOUSE BUILDING & PORTLAND STONE MFR. CO, Gladstone Street near Point Douglas Avenue, 1883 (Manitoba Daily Free Press [Winnipeg], 8 March 1883, 8 descrip.)
H.F. SLATER (works in England)
MANCHESTER, Wesleyan Chapel, Palantine Road at Victoria Road, in Northenden, 1877; still standing in 2023 (Manchester Guardian, 10 July 1876, 7; British Architect & Northern Engineer, vii, April 1877, illus. plates; Manchester Evening News, 28 April 1877, 2)
MANCHESTER, Moss Side Conservative Club, Embeden Street at Moss Lane East, 1877-78; demol. (Manchester City News, 16 June 1877, 2; British Architect & Northern Engineer, viii, 28 Sept. 1877, 152, illus. plate)
MANCHESTER, Ardwick Conservative Club, Union Street at Higher Ardwick Street, 1878-79 (British Architect & Northern Engineer, x, 26 July 1878; Building News (London), xxxv, 2 Aug. 1878, 104; Manchester Guardian, 14 May 1879, 6, descrip.