September 29th 1864 a Brandon Businessman was born
9/29/2009 at 8:17 AM
Walter Henderson Shillinglaw (1864-1957) Brandon Engineer, and Architect.
He was born on 29th September 1864 near Stratford, Ontario, but his father farmed in Missouri before moving to Brandon in 1882 after spending two years at Portage la Prairie.
He was Educated at Albany Missouri, Portage la Prairie, Brandon University, the University of Manitoba, and the School of Science in Toronto taking Civil Engineering.
His Father was James Shillinglaw, (From Edinburgh, Scotland) and his Mother was Elizabeth Deans, (From Hawick, Scotland). His Father emigrated to Canada in 1840, and his Mother in 1842.
His father was a builder, and together they erected their home in the east end of Brandon, (It was the first house in Brandon built with a stone basement) where he lived all his life.
Shillinglaw returned to Brandon in 1888, and began designing buildings. From 1906 to 1910, he was Civic Engineer for the City of Brandon, and designed the First, and Eighteenth Street bridges.
Returning to his private practice, he joined David Marshall in the architectural firm of Shillinglaw, and Marshall, which was responsible for the design of many important buildings in Brandon, including the exhibition buildings for the 1913 Dominion Fair.
In 1913 Mr. Shillinglaw was a City of Brandon Alderman loosing his seat to Dr. J. F. Fisher in 1914.
After military service in World War One, he designed the First Presbyterian Church (1928), and the Federal Building (1930). He was a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the Civil Engineering Society of Canada, the Liberal Party, the Presbyterian Church, and the Curling Club of Brandon.
In 1899 he married Elizabeth Monteith, the daughter of William Monteith of Greencastle, Ireland.
Walter Shillinglaw ranks as Brandon’s most important early architect as well as its longest-lived practitioner.
He died on 20 November 1957, at the age of 93.
Source: The History of Manitoba by Geo. Bryce, (1906)
http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/hrb/mun/m249.html http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/hrb/prov/p013.html