Memorable Manitobans: Charles Henry Wheeler (1838-1917)

Charles Henry Wheeler Click to enlarge

Architect, music critic.

Born at Lutterworth, North Leicestershire, England on 23 April 1838, little is known about his early life and education except he was married to Annie Wakefield of Fairford, Gloucester in 1858. It is believed that he studied architecture and music in Birmingham, England in this same period. He continued his pursuit of his architectural career in this city and later in London for approximately twenty years.

Early in the 1880s, he began to hear favourable accounts of life in the Canadian West and decided to seek his fortune in this area. Wheeler arrived in Winnipeg with his wife and six children in February 1882. He must have been a remarkable man at age forty-four and with a large family to leave England and an established career to move to an unknown boom-town like Winnipeg. Once here, he began to work for the architectural firm of James Chisholm.

It was not long before Wheeler began to distinguish himself in his new homeland and city. In 1883, his plans for the new Holy Trinity Anglican Church (located at the corner of Graham Avenue and Donald Street) were chosen from over forty submitted sets in an international competition as the Winnipeg design for the new building. Soon afterward, Wheeler established his own firm and had many valuable architectural contracts in Winnipeg and throughout the prairie region. He also contributed to the formalization of architectural practice in Manitoba, serving in 1906 as a founding Vice-President of the Manitoba Association of Architects.

However, his successes as an architect did not detract from his other great interest, music. He was choirmaster at Knox and Zion churches and involved in several other musical pursuits in the city. In later life, he retired from his architectural career to devote himself to his love for music. Wheeler eventually became the music and drama critic for The Winnipeg Tribune, a post that he held until his death.

Wheeler died at the Winnipeg General Hospital on 7 January 1917 as a result of injuries sustained from falling on an icy sidewalk. He was buried in the St. James Cemetery.

Some of his architectural work in Manitoba included:

Building	Location	Year	Status
Holy Trinity Church	256 Smith Street, Winnipeg	1883-1884
Galt Building	103 Princess Street, Winnipeg	1887
James Robertson & Company Warehouse	179 Pacific Avenue, Winnipeg	1887	Demolished (?)
George D. Wood & Company Warehouse	22-24 Alexander East, Winnipeg	1887	Demolished (?)
Stephenson House (E. F. Stephenson)	11 Osborne Street, Winnipeg	1888	Demolished (?)
Home for the Incurables	Portage la Prairie	1889	Demolished (?)
Shaarey Zedek Synagogue	King & Henry, Winnipeg	1890	Demolished (?)
Home for Incurables	3rd Street NE, Portage la Prairie	1890	Demolished (?)
Merchants’ Bank	11th Street & Rosser, Brandon	1890	Demolished (?)
A. C. Baskerville & Co. Warehouse	660 Main Street, Winnipeg	1890	Demolished (?)
Morden Methodist Church	Morden	1890	Demolished (?)
Mathewson House	432 Assiniboine, Winnipeg	1890
Sanford Building	291 Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg	1890
Deaf and Dumb Institute	Portage Avenue, Winnipeg	c1891	Demolished (?)
Maxwell & Co. Warehouse	Winnipeg	c1891	Unknown
Provincial Gaol	20 Third Street SE, Portage la Prairie	c1891
Brandon Asylum for the Insane (addition)	First Street, Brandon	1892-1893	Destroyed by fire (November 1910)
Foulds Block	546 Main Street, Winnipeg	1892	Demolished (?)
St. Mary St. Alban Anglican Church	Kaleida	1892
Galt House (John Galt)	Winnipeg	1892	Unknown
Bathgate House (R. D. Bathgate)	Winnipeg	1892	Unknown
Burridge House	99 George Avenue, Winnipeg	1893
Perkins House (J. Perkins)	Edmonton Street, Winnipeg	1893	Unknown
Kirkland House (George Kirkland)	McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg	1893	Unknown
Killam House (A. C. Killam)	Winnipeg	1893	Unknown
John Peck & Company Warehouse	33 Princess, Winnipeg	1893-1894
Court House	Kennedy Street, Winnipeg	1893-1894	Demolished (?)
Bank of Ottawa Building (construction supervision)	363 Main Street, Winnipeg	1894	Unknown
Davis Block	Market Square, Winnipeg	1894	Demolished (?)
Water Works Company’s Station	Armstrong’s Point, Winnipeg	1894	Demolished (?)
Union Bank (alterations)	Main & Bannatyne, Winnipeg	1894	Unknown
Macdonald House	61 Carlton Street, Winnipeg	1895
Campbell Block	532-534 Main at James, Winnipeg	1895	Demolished (?)
Argyle School No. 2	corner Argyle & Henry, Winnipeg	1896	Demolished (?)
Cauchon Block (restoration, alterations, addition)	171-181 Main Street, Winnipeg	1896	Demolished (1982)
Dufferin School No. 2	Park corner Logan, Winnipeg	1896	Demolished (?)
Assiniboine Block (alterations)	173 Main at York, Winnipeg	1896	Demolished (1982)
Lennon House (D. T. Lennon)	195 Kennedy, Winnipeg	1896	Demolished (?)
Plaxton House (John Plaxton)	226 Vaughan, Winnipeg	1896	Demolished (?)
Taylor Warehouse (R. R. Taylor )	Winnipeg	1896	Unknown
Victoria Hall (renovations)	323-333 Notre Dame Avenue / 38 Adelaide Street, Winnipeg	1897	Destroyed by fire (23 December 1926)
Winnipeg Industrial Exhibition Grandstand	Dufferin & Sinclair, Winnipeg	1900	Demolished (?)
Deaf and Dumb Institute (addition)	Portage Avenue, Winnipeg	1900	Demolished (?)
Deloraine School No. 490	Deloraine	1902	Demolished (?)
Carman School No. 176	Carman	1902	Demolished (?)
Bacteriological Laboratory	Winnipeg	1906	Unknown
Brookside Quarantine Hospital	Brookside Cemetery, Winnipeg	1906-1907	Demolished (?)
Tees and Persse Block	285 Market Square, Winnipeg	?	Demolished (?)
Nanton House (A. M. Nanton )	Winnipeg	?	Unknown
Smart House (James Smart)	Brandon	?	Unknown
Taylor House (R. R. Taylor)	Middlechurch	?	Unknown
Rough House (W. Rough)	Winnipeg	?	Unknown

See also:

The Architectural Legacy of Charles H. Wheeler by Giles Bugailiskis
Manitoba History, Number 54, February 2007

The Early History of the Cauchon Block, Later the Empire Hotel by Randy Rostecki
Manitoba Pageant, Spring 1976, Volume 21, Number 3

Architect Wheeler Lives by Lillian Gibbons
Manitoba Pageant, Autumn 1978, Volume 24, Number 1

Charles Henry Wheeler, Dictionary of Canadian Biography XIV, 1,049-1,050.

Sources:

“New residences,” Winnipeg Tribune, 10 April 1893, page 8.

A History of Manitoba: Its Resources and People by Prof. George Bryce, Toronto: The Canadian History Company, 1906.

Death registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Chas. H. Wheeler dies in hospital,” Manitoba Free Press, 8 January 1917, page 5.

Buildings at the Brandon Mental Health Centre by David Butterfield and Randy Rostecki, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch, November 1988.

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.

We thank Nathan Kramer, Robert Hill, and Jordan Makichuk for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Giles Bugailiskis.

Page revised: 1 December 2024

Memorable Manitobans This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations. Search the collection by word or phrase, name, place, occupation or other text: Custom Search Browse surnames beginning with: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | Z Browse deaths occurring in: 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 Send corrections and additions to this page to the Memorable Manitobans Administrator at biographies@mhs.mb.ca Criteria for Memorable Manitobans | Suggest a Memorable Manitoban | Firsts | Acknowledgements Help us keep history alive!