Knechtel, Jonas

KNECHTEL, Jonas (1842-1894) of Berlin, Ont. (now Kitchener) began his career as a builder there but later in his career he ‘…got into architecture, in which he became highly proficient’ (obituary in the Waterloo County Chronicle, 20 Dec. 1894, 5). Knechtel opened his own office in Berlin before 1880 and appears to have been the only architect active in the Berlin/Waterloo region during the latter part of the nineteenth century (Waterloo County Gazetteer & Directory, 1884-85, 147). In 1886 he was joined by his son Charles Knechtel who continued to work with him until the death of his father in Berlin on 14 December 1894.


ELMIRA, ONT., school house, 1883; demol. 1973 (list of works in obituary in the Waterloo County Chronicle, 20 Dec. 1894, 5)

KITCHENER, ONT., Opera House, King Street, 1888 (London Free Press, 17 Nov. 1888, 12)

KITCHENER, ONT., St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Queen Street South, 1888-89 (100th Anniversary of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 1935, 36-7)

KITCHENER, ONT.,Waterloo County Court House & Jail, Queen Street at Duke Street, alterations, 1893 (C.R., iv, 8 June 1893, 1, t.c.)

KITCHENER, ONT., Walper House Hotel, King Street at Queen Street, 1893 (list of works in obituary in the Waterloo County Chronicle, 20 Dec. 1894, 5)

NEW DUNDEE, ONT., school house, 1894 (Waterloo County Chronicle, 22 Feb. 1894, 8, t.c.)

WATERLOO COUNTY, a chapel at the Industrial Farm for use by residents of the Waterloo County House of Industry, 1894 (Galt Reporter, 13 April 1894, 2, t.c.)