CARVER, Ernest Edward (1879-1967) was among the first trained architects to practise in Lethbridge, Alta. Born in Walsall, Staffordshire, Engl. on 28 February 1877 he articled with H.E. Lavender of Walsall from 1897 to 1902, then moved to Birmingham and worked part-time while studying at the Science & Art Institute there. He then opened his own office in Walsall, but the economic recession of 1905 prompted him to emigrate to Canada and in March of that year he settled in Regina where he headed the branch office of William M. Dodd and supervised the construction of Dodd's plan for the City Hall (1906-08). Dodd described him as '..a thorough, practical and competent man, a good designer, neat draftsman and a practical and conscientious superintendent' (letter from W.M. Dodd to the R.I.B.A., London, dated 18 July 1910).
In November 1908 Carver moved to Lethbridge and opened his own office. He later opened a branch office in Medicine Hat, Alta. in November 1912 (Medicine Hat News, 22 Nov. 1912, 12). His best known work in Lethbridge was the Sherlock Block, one of the first reinforced concrete multi-storey buildings erected in Alberta. In 1914 he formed a partnership in Lethbridge with Frederick Oliver, but Carver had left the country by 1915, perhaps to serve with British Forces during WWI (biog. A. MacRae, History of the Province of Alberta, 1912, 781-2; Who's Who and Why in Canada, 1915-16, 807-08; R.I.B.A., Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, i, 343). He later died at West Vancouver, B.C. on 13 November 1967.
E.E. CARVER
INDIAN HEAD, SASK., residence for R.M. Napier, 1907 (Morning Leader [Regina], 27 July 1907, 10, t.c.)
LETHBRIDGE, ALTA., Sherlock Block, Third Avenue South at Seventh Street South, for Robert E. Sherlock, 1909; addition of two floors, 1911 (Morning Albertan [Calgary], 18 March 1909, 7, t.c.; C.R., xxiii, 2 June 1909, 22)
LETHBRIDGE, ALTA., two warehouses for Mr. Monarch, Smith Street, 'on a property south of City Hall', 1911 (Lethbridge Herald, 7 April 1911, 1, descrip.; C.R., xxv, 19 April 1911, 57)
LETHBRIDGE, ALTA., C. H. Bowman Block, Crabb Street, 1911 (Lethbridge Herald, 15 April 1911, 2, t.c.)
MAGRATH, ALTA., residence for the Manager of the Bank of Montreal, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 31 May 1911, 60, t.c.)
LETHBRIDGE, ALTA., store on Broad Avenue South for an unnamed client, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 9 Aug. 1911, 62)
GRAND FORKS, B.C., meat market and store for P. Burns & Co., First Street, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 11 Oct. 1911, 62)
LETHBRIDGE, ALTA., Hick-Sehl Hardware Co., Third Avenue South near Seventh Street South, commercial block for Fred Hick, located "...beside the Sherlock building", 1912 (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 24 Jan. 1912, 7, descrip., but incorrectly credited to E.E. Carrier [sic], Architect)
CARVER & OLIVER
LETHBRIDGE, ALTA., cold storage warehouse for Southern Alberta Cold Storage Co., 1914 (C.R., xxviii, 1 April 1914, 80)
COMPETITIONS
REGINA, SASK., Regina Civic Hospital, 14th Avenue, 1908. Eight architects from Canada and the United States prepared designs for this major civic building, including one from E.E. Carver of Regina (Leader [Regina[, 12 May 1908, 8, report on the competition). The winner was Storey & Van Egmond of Regina.
LETHBRIDGE, ALTA., Manual Training School, 5th Avenue South, 1911. Carver was one of four architects who submitted designs for this large institutional building (Lethbridge Herald, 23 March 1911, 3). His design was passed over in favour of the winning scheme by H.M. & W.A. Whiddington.