Born on 15 May 1943, one of four children of Henry Thomas Gathorne Burns and Margaret Burnet, his childhood was spent at Etobicoke, Ontario where he attended Sir Adam Beck School and the Alderwood Collegiate Institute. In the early 1960s, he studied Architecture at the University of Toronto and the University of Manitoba.
He worked as an architect for Graham Conrad Lount and briefly for Green Blankstein Russell and Associates, designing numerous structures around Winnipeg, including two senior housing complexes. In 1974, he was hired by Manitoba Housing and, within a year, became the manager of its Design and Construction Branch for the next 20 years, being responsible for numerous housing units and women’s shelters around Manitoba. After retirement in 1995, he collaborated with Corbett Sibinel Architects in the design of the first Red River College building in downtown Winnipeg. He was President of the Lester Beach Assocation.
He died unmarried at the Grace Hospital on 13 May 2025.
Some of his design works in Manitoba included:
Building
Location
Year
Kiltarton Towers
1712 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg
1968
55 Nassau
55 Nassau Street North, Winnipeg
1970
“Lester Beach waits for cleanup,” Winnipeg Free Press, 26 July 2005, page 7.
“A house for the times,” Winnipeg Free Press, 14 April 2002.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 31 May 2025.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 1 June 2025
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