Turnbull, William | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada

TURNBULL, William (1842-1912) was described as 'the architect and superintendent' of the striking Second Empire style design for St. Anne's Roman Catholic Convent, NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., 1877 (Mainland Guardian [New Westminster], 6 June 1877, 3, descrip.; Daily Colonist [Victoria], 19 Aug. 1877, 3, descrip.). A native of Newcastle, England, he moved to Oakland, Calif. after 1870 and was active there as a builder. He arrived in British Columbia in 1876 and resided in New Westminster, but by 1879 he had moved to Victoria where his profession of 'architect' is consistently noted in Voters Lists from 1879 until 1890 (B.C., Sessional Papers, Voters Lists, Victoria, 1879, 29; 1890, 524). Turnbull died in New Westminster on 17 March 1912 (obituary Daily Columbian [New Westminster], 19 March 1912, 5; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 83, 522)