MELLISH, Frederick William (1860-1928) of Galt, Ont. was the son of Robert Mellish, a painter & glazier in Galt, and was born there on 11 April 1860. He was educated at private schools and at Galt Collegiate Institute and later received training as a carpenter and builder. In 1888 he opened an office in Galt and during the course of the next two decades he obtained several important commissions for institutional buildings and commercial blocks in that town. Mellish was adept at working in a variety of styles, ranging from a simplified Scottish baronial, evident in his design for the Galt Hospital, 1889, to the monumental Beaux-Arts style, employed in his scheme for the Carnegie Library in Galt in 1903. He was among the first architects in Western Ontario to introduce the classical vocabulary of the Beaux-Arts style to public architecture in that region of the province. In 1909 Mellish moved to British Columbia and opened an office in Vancouver, perhaps to capitalise on the rapid development of that city, but only a few references to his work there have been found. He died in Vancouver on 16 April 1928 (death notice in the Vancouver Sun, 16 April 1928, 12; biography in M. Bixby, Industries of Canada: London, Owen Sound, Collingwood, Barrie...., 1890, 107; biography and port. in W. Cochrane, The Canadian Album-Men of Canada, ii, 1893, 154; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 477, 512)
Frederick W. MELLISH (works in Galt unless noted)
SCOTT BLOCK, Main Street, c. 1888 (list of works in M. Bixby, Industries of Canada: London, Owen Sound, Collingwood..., 1890, 107)
GALT GENERAL HOSPITAL, St. Andrew's Street at Borden Street, 1889; addition, 1896; Nurse's Residence, 1899; hospital demolished in 1993; (Galt Reporter, 26 July 1889, 1; and 30 Nov. 1899, 6, descrip.; C.A.B., ii, Aug. 1889, 95; C.R., vii, 7 May 1896, 1)
PRESTON, ONT., commercial studio and gallery for James Esson, Photographer, 1891 (C.R., ii, 21 March 1891, 2)
HESPELER, ONT., St. James Anglican Church, Ellis Road near Cooper Street, 1892; still standing in 2022 (Galt Reporter, 16 Sept. 1892, 1 & 2, t.c.)
GORE BLOCK, for the Gore Mutual Insurance Co., Main Street at Ainslie Street, 1893-94; demol. (Galt Reporter, 4 Aug. 1893, 2, t.c.; and 1 Feb. 1895, 3, descrip.)
unnamed street, residence for J. McKenzie, 1893-94 (C.R., iv, 7 Dec. 1893, 2)
MAIN STREET, commercial block for R.G. Struthers, 1893-94 (C.R., iv, 7 Dec. 1893, 2; Galt Reporter, 16 March 1894, 1)
unnamed street, four houses for Dr. Lowry, 1893 (C.R., iv, 7 Dec. 1893, 2)
HOTEL IROQUOIS, Main Street at Wellington Street, 1894; addition, 1897 (C.R., v, 3 May 1894, 1; Galt Reporter, 6 July 1894, 4, t.c.; and 18 March 1897, 1)
DICKSON SCHOOL, addition and alterations, 1894 (Galt Reporter, 25 May 1894, 4, t.c.)
LANSDOWNE AVENUE, residence for Frederick Mellish architect, 1895 (Galt Reporter, 12 April 1895, 1)
LANSDOWNE AVENUE, residence for Hugh Wallace, 1895 (Galt Reporter, 12 April 1895, 1)
PRESTON, ONT., Swimming & Mineral Bath House, adjacent to the Hotel Kress, for C.R. Hanning, 1895-96 (Galt Reporter, 19 July 1895, 1)
GALT PUBLIC MARKET, Dickson Street, an addition to the Vegetable Market Building, 1896 (Town of Galt, Council Minutes, 29 Dec. 1896)
MAIN STREET, two stores for Mr. Bernhardt, adjacent to the Hotel Iroquois, 1897 (Galt Reporter, 15 April 1897, 1, descrip.)
C. TURNBULL CO., Queen Street, a large 4 storey factory, 1898 (C.R., ix, 20 April 1898, 3; Berlin News-Record (Kitchener), 7 May 1898, 5, descrip.; C.A.B., xii, Jan. 1899, 5)
GALT OPERA HOUSE, Main Street, a major reconstruction of the Victoria Block for John Scott, 1898-99 (Galt Reporter, 27 Oct. 1898, 2, descrip.; and 26 Jan. 1899, 2, descrip.)
GALT FIRE HALL, Dickson Street near Wellington Street, 1898; still standing in 2022, and now called The Fire Hall Museum (Galt Reporter, 3 Nov. 1898, 3, descrip.)
KAY STREET, residence for John A. MacDougall, 1899 (C.R., x, 19 April 1899, 3)
LANSDOWNE AVENUE, residence for James E. Bond, 1899 (C.R., x, 19 April 1899, 3)
LANSDOWNE AVENUE, residence for Edward Koeppel, 1899 (C.R., x, 19 April 1899, 3)
MAIN STREET WEST, residence for A.J. Oliver, 1899 (C.R., x, 19 April 1899, 3)
ALBERT STREET, residence for William McBride, 1899 (C.R., x, 19 April 1899, 3)
SOUTH WATER STREET, commercial block for John Sloan, 1899 (Galt Reporter, 28 Sept. 1899, 1)
GALT REPORTER PRINTING CO., North Water Street, commercial block, 1899 (Galt Reporter, 14 Dec. 1899, 6, descrip.)
SKATING & HOCKEY ARENA, 1901 (C.R., xii, 3 July 1901, 2)
PRESTON, ONT., factory for Clare Brothers & Co., 1901-02 (C.R., xii, 4 Dec. 1901, 4)
MORRISTON, ONT., additions and alterations to I.O.F. Hall, 1902 (C.R., xiii, 2 April 1902, 2, t.c.)
CARNEGIE PUBLIC LIBRARY, North Water Street at Dickson Street, 1903-04; still standing in 2022 (C.R., xiii, 4 Feb. 1903, 1; Brantford Daily Expositor, 8 Dec. 1904, 1; M. Beckman, The Best Gift, 1984, 75, 169, illus.)
CENTRAL PUBLIC SCHOOL, addition and alterations, 1905 (C.R., xv, 22 Feb. 1905, 4)
Frederick W. MELLISH (works in Vancouver, B.C.)
VANCOUVER, B.C., St. Savior's Anglican Church, Semlin Drive near First Avenue East, 1909; new altar and fittings, 1911; with addition of Parish Hall, 1920; all still standing in 2022 (Vancouver Daily World, 31 March 1910, 9 & 10; and 3 Jan. 1911, 2, descrip.; and 14 Oct. 1920, 9, descrip.; dwgs. at the Vancouver City Archives)
VANCOUVER, B.C., factory for A.R. William Machinery Co., Railway Street at Jackson Avenue, 1909 (dwgs. at the Vancouver City Archives)
VANCOUVER, B.C., several residences at Talton Place, West 15th Avenue near Arbutus Street, a tract of houses developed by Thomas Talton Langlois, 1910-14 (H. Kalman, Exploring Vancouver, 1978, 221, illus.)