Born at Wingham, Ontario on 18 August 1866, son of John Elliott and Annie Irwin, he was educated at local schools and at Degolia, Pennsylvania, leaving school at the age of 15 to work for three years on the family farm. In 1886, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean to London, England in charge of a shipment of cattle, returning the next year to apprentice as a carpenter at Auburn, Ontario. He moved to Toronto in early 1889 then on to Chicago the next year. He worked for the Chicago Edison Light Company from 1891 to 1893 installing electric light equipment. While there he took a course in architecture at the Chicago Polytechnic Institute. Ill health compelled him to return to Canada.
In 1894 he went to New York City, taking a three-year course in architecture from the Pallace School of Architecture. He then opened an architectural practice at Anaconda, Montana, staying there until 1899 when he moved to Brandon and continued to work as an architect. A few years later, he opened a branch office at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. In April 1913, he was appointed an inspector for the new Legislative Building being constructed in Winnipeg.
On 9 November 1898, he married Hester Eldridge (1878-1946) at Anaconda, Montana. They had eight children: Egbert Eldridge Elliott (1899-1971), Lewis John Elliott (1901-1972), William Harris Elliott (1902-1990), Allegra Elliott (1903-1985), Stanley Hernedeen Elliott (1904-1968), James Alexander Elliott (1906-1982), Justus Henderson Elliott (1909-1982), and Myrtle Elliott (1911-2006).
During winters the family resided at 116 Eleventh Street, Brandon and in the summers they lived at the corner of Fourth Street and Richmond Avenue. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias and Methodist Episcopal Church, and was active in conservative politics in Brandon. He performed throughout Canada and the USA in an orchestra, with his wife and children, called “The Elliott Family Orchestra.”
He died at Vancouver, British Columbia on 2 April 1957 and was buried there.
Some of his architectural works in Manitoba:
Building
Location
Year
Status
Rapid City, RM of Oakview
1902
934 Rosser Avenue, Brandon
1902
940 Rosser Avenue, Brandon
1903
725-731 Rosser Avenue, Brandon
1903-1904
Demolished (1957)
1037 Lorne Avenue, Brandon
1903-1904
Brookdale, Municipality of North Cypress-Langford
1904
Destroyed by fire (25 December 1923)
Lorne Avenue, Brandon
1904-1905
Baldur, RM of Argyle
1905
Bank of Hamilton Building
Neepawa
1905
Merchants Bank Building
Napinka, Municipality of Brenda-Waskada
1905
Melita School No. 440 (expansion)
41 Ash Street, Melita
1905
404 Thirteenth Street, Brandon
1905
Clark Hall (Brandon University)
Eighteenth Street, Brandon
1906
Empire Brewing Company Bottling House and Warehouse
First Street, Brandon
1906
Demolished (?)
Odd Fellows Hall
Rapid City, RM of Oakview
1906
Second floor condemed and removed (1947)
446 Seventh Street, Brandon
1906
Louise Avenue, Brandon
1906-1907
Oak River, RM of Oakview
1906-1907
Destroyed by fire (1908)
Brandon Winter Fair Buildings
Eleventh Street, Brandon
1907
Demolished (?)
122 Main Street, Carberry
1907
47 Fifth Street West, Souris, Municipality of Souris-Glenwood
1907-1908
1104 Princess Avenue, Brandon
1908-1910
Rivers, Municipality of Riverdale
1909-1910
Fifteenth Street, Brandon
1909-1910
30-36 Tenth Street, Brandon
1910
Destroyed by fire (1981)
Sinclair, RM of Pipestone
1910
Demolished (?)
Trafalgar Hotel
Belmont, RM of Prairie Lakes
1910
Destroyed by fire (2 November 1919)
Elkhorn, RM of Wallace-Woodworth
1910
Demolished (?)
637 Princess Avenue, Brandon
1911
Newdale, RM of Harrison Park
1911
Demolished (?)
Thirteenth Street, Brandon
1912-1913
228 Wellington Street West, Virden
1911-1912
401 Third Avenue, Reston, RM of Pipestone
1917
107 Fourth Street, Wawanesa, Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa
1930
Rounthwaite, Municipality of Oakland- Wawanesa
?
908 Rosser Avenue, Brandon
?
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Elliott House (210 Thirteenth Street, Brandon)
Birth registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1911 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
The Story of Manitoba by F. H. Schofield, Winnipeg: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913.
“Two lives are lost in fire at Belmont,” Free Press Prairie Farmer, 5 November 1919, page 3.
Death registration, British Columbia Vital Statistics.
Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.
We thank Charmeyn Sinclaire, Nathan Kramer, Rob McInnes, Jordan Makichuk, and Lillian Howell for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 21 December 2024
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