Born at Toronto, Ontario on 3 September 1874, son of Walter and Honoria Over, he was educated at public schools and the Toronto College Institute. He got architectural training by articling in the Toronto office of Darling, Curry, Sproatt, and Pearson. In 1890, he began working as an architect at Toronto, in the employ of the federal government.
He came to Winnipeg in 1902, taking charge of the Western Canadian office of the firm of Darling and Pearson. Known between 1902 and 1906 as Darling, Pearson and Over, before reverting to its original name in 1906, Over was involved in several major construction projects in Manitoba and Saskatchewan during this period. In 1909, he opened an architectural office in partnership with Lewis H. Jordan which continued until Jordan moved to Chicago in 1926. He then formed a partnership with Ewart Fitz Munn which continued in operation until 1940. He was the founding Secretary of the Manitoba Association of Architects, in 1906, and served a one-year term as President of the organization, in 1915.
In 1907, he married Edith Augusta Carruthers (1875-1964, daughter of George Frederick Carruthers) of Winnipeg. They had no children. He was a member of the AF & AM, Conservative Party, Anglican church, and Norwood Golf Club. He lived at 199 Colony Street (1911) and at 253 Kingsway Avenue at the time of his death.
He died at Winnipeg on 11 April 1944 and was buried in the St. John’s Cathedral Cemetery.
Some of his architectural works in Manitoba included:
Building
Location
Year
Status
360 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg
1903
Demolished (1941)
440 Archibald Street, Winnipeg
1905
Demolished (?)
1051 Coulter Avenue, Winnipeg
1905
1521 Logan Avenue, Winnipeg
1906
325 Nairn Avenue, Winnipeg
1906
Central Congregational Church (addition and alterations)
374 Hargrave Street, Winnipeg
1906
Demolished (1936)
Maycock Block (renovations)
586 Main Street, Winnipeg
1906
65 West Gate, Winnipeg
1907
Havergal College (addition)
122 Carlton Street, Winnipeg
1909
Demolished (1964)
511 River Avenue, Winnipeg
1910
646 Logan Avenue, Winnipeg
1910
Union Bank Building
588 Sargent Avenue, Winnipeg
1911
Demolished (?)
488 Burnell Street, Winnipeg
1912
Hampson Court
43-47 Kennedy Street, Winnipeg
c1920
Destroyed by fire (1965)
Broadway Baptist Church (expansion)
706 Honeyman Avenue, Winnipeg
1914
768-770 Preston Avenue, Winnipeg
1914
71 West Gate, Winnipeg
1914
Brandon Hospital for Mental Diseases, First Street, Brandon
1920-1923
Brandon Hospital for Mental Diseases, First Street, Brandon
1924
51 Smith Street, Winnipeg
1924
Demolished (1998)
30 West Gate, Winnipeg
1926-1927
431 Avenue Taché, Winnipeg
1927-1928
500 Riverton Avenue, Winnipeg
1930
Bank of Nova Scotia (addition)
254 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg
1930-1931
Claratel Café (alterations)
341 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg
1938
Demolished (?)
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Classified advertisement [Jordan and Over], Winnipeg Tribune, 21 August 1909, page 6.
“Permits pass the nine million mark,” Manitoba Free Press, 13 July 1911, page 3.
Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, edited by C. W. Parker, Vancouver: Canadian Press Association, 1911.
“Building permits $1,250,000 ahead of last year,” Manitoba Free Press, 24 August 1929, page 16.
“Fine school to replace Victoria,” Manitoba Free Press, 17 May 1930, page 27.
“New school in Glenwood to have eight large rooms,” Manitoba Free Press, 12 July 1930, page 24.
“Remodel cafe,” Winnipeg Tribune, 26 February 1938, page 20.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 12 April 1944, page 2.
Obituary [Edith Augusta Over], Winnipeg Tribune, 15 September 1964.
Buildings at the Brandon Mental Health Centre by David Butterfield and Randy Rostecki, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch, November 1988.
Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thank Nathan Kramer and Jordan Makichuk for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 19 July 2024
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