FOWLER, Maj. Charles Busteed (1849-1941) was born in Cork, Ireland and educated at the School of Art at Cork in 1862-68. He articled to William Atkins, a pupil of Augustus Welby Pugin, and spent much of his early career in Wales overseeing the restoration of nearly forty churches as well as designing several new ecclesiastical works. He commenced practise in Llandaff in 1887 and was in partnership there with Frederick R. Kempson, as Kempson & Fowler. Fowler was nominated as a Fellow of the R.I.B.A. in 1897, but it is unclear why he gave up a successful career and emigrated to the United States in 1908. He later moved to Vancouver in 1913 where he was in partnership with Richard T. Perry, one of his students who had articled under Fowler in Cardiff, Wales (see list of works under Perry & Fowler). Fowler was, by all accounts, a talented delineator and draftsman, and in 1915 he prepared an elaborate watercolour perspective view of the Grandview Drill Hall in Vancouver. This drawing was placed on public display (Vancouver Sun, 15 July 1915, 3), and was credited solely to Fowler, of the firm of Perry & Fowler.
In 1922 Fowler designed the Oddfellow's Hall, West 8th Avenue near Hemlock Street, VANCOUVER, B.C., The drawings for this project survive and can be found in the Vancouver City Archives. Fowler died in Vancouver on 29 March 1941 (death notice, Vancouver Sun, 31 March 1941, 13; inf. Architectural Inst. of British Columbia; Directory of British Architects 1834-1900, 1993, 322; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 424-5, 499). A lengthy biography of Fowler, with a photographic portrait, was published in The Western Call [Vancouver], 14 May 1915, 6.
KEMPSON & FOWLER (works in Wales, U.K.)
GLYN TARREL [ST. ILLYTD], WALES, a new Mission Chapel for Breconshire, 1891 (Western Mail [Cardiff], 11 April 1891, 6, descrip.)
PENTRE, GLAMORGANSHIRE, WALES, St. Peter's Church, 1888-91 (Builder [London], lxi, 24 Oct. 1891, 312, descrip. & illus., with double page Plate illus.)
LLANTILLIO PERTHOLEY, WALES, restoration of St. Teilo Church, 1891 (Western Mail [Cardiff], 28 Nov. 1891, 5, descrip.)
CLARBESTON, PEMBROKESHIRE, WALES, restoration of the church, 1891-92 (Western Mail [Cardiff], 28 Dec. 1891, 6)
BARRY DOCK, WALES, St. Paul's Anglican Church, designed 1891; built 1892-93 (Builder [London], lx, 25 April 1891, 332-33, illus. & descrip.; Western Mail [Cardiff], 21 May 1892, 1, t.c.; 30 Nov. 1892, 6, descrip.)
CARDIFF, WALES, restoration and major additions to St. John's Church, 1891 (Builder [London], lxi, 11 July 1891, 30, descrip., with double page Plate illus.)
EBBW VALE, WALES, restoration and improvements to Christ Church, 1891 (Western Mail [Cardiff], 19 Oct. 1891, 6, illus. & descrip.)
MARCROSS, WALES, restoration of the church, located near Nash Point and St. Donat's Castle, 1892 (Western Mail [Cardiff], 8 June 1892, 6, descrip.)
LLANISHEN, WALES, addition, alterations and improvements to the parish church, 1893 (Western Mail [Cardiff], 11 May 1893, 6, descrip.)
COGAN, WALES, Church of the Holy Nativity, near Penarth, 1893 (Western Mail [Cardiff], 28 July 1893, 7, illus. & descrip.)
CARDIFF, WALES, major addition of new chancel and alterations to St. Catharines Church, King's Road, 1893 (Western Mail [Cardiff], 28 Sept. 1893, 7, descrip.)
CHARLES B. FOWLER (works in Wales, U.K.)
PONTYPRIDD, WALES, a large outdoor fountain in Penuel Square, 1895 (Western Mail [Cardiff], 4 Oct. 1895, 5, illus. & descrip.)
NEATH VALLEY, GLAMORGANSHIRE, WALES, restoration and rebuilding of the church tower for Saints Cattwg & Illtyds Church, 1898 (Building News [London], lxxiv, 6 May 1898, descrip.)