CHAMBERS, Robert (1817-1872) was born in England and was active in Halifax N.S. where he superintended the reconstruction of Government House, Granville Street, HALIFAX, N.S. in 1855, for which '...a very large expenditure beyond the ordinary outlay has been necessary in consequence of the fire that occurred in the month of August 1854'. Chambers prepared the estimates for repairs and superintended the work in his capacity as architect (Nova Scotia, Journals of the House of Assembly, 1855, Appendix 25, Office of the Board of Works). In 1856 he was described as the 'Architect and Superintendent' of the Mount Hope Lunatic Asylum, Pleasant Street, DARTMOUTH, N.S. (Nova Scotian [Halifax], 16 June 1856, 3; 20 Oct. 1856, 3), but he may have been acting only in a supervisory capacity for Thomas Ustick Walter, the renowned architect of Philadelphia, Penn. to whom the design is credited in other source material. Chambers was, by all accounts, a knowledgeable and competent architect; in 1858, he was praised in the Provincial House of Parliament in Halifax by Thomas Goodge who stated that " I have known Robert Chambers since 1850, and it affords me pleasure to give this testimonial as to the general propriety of his conduct and character - his practical acquirements as an architect are of a very respectable order" [British Colonist [Halifax], 3 July 1858, p. 2).
His only other commission in the private sector appears to be that for St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, HALIFAX, N.S., 1866 (Halifax Express, 4 May 1866). Unfortunately, Chambers was '...addicted to the drinking of liquor and instead of rising to an honourable position in the community, he sank rapidly', and later died near Dutch Village, N.S. on 30 December 1872 (obituary in the Morning Chronicle [Halifax], 2 Jan. 1873, 3; biography in M. Rosinski, Architects of Nova Scotia: A Biographical Dictionary, 1994, 88)