Memorable Manitobans: Ewart Fitz Munn (1885-1968)

Architect.

Born at England in 1885, one of three sons of Alfred Munn (1850-1937) and Frances Jane Eversfield Munn (1851-1939), on 21 September 1907 he married Nellie Kathleen Munn (1888-1973) at Brighton, England. The couple moved to Winnipeg in 1910, resettling in St. Vital in 1918. They had three children: Desmond Wilfred Munn (1908-2007), Maurice Kenyon Munn (c1917-1989), and Shirley Munn (1918-2008, wife of Robert C. Waddington).

An architect by trade, he was active in the Manitoba Association of Architects serving as its President (1944) and multiple terms as Secretary-Treasurer / Secretary (1919, 1922, 1938-1939, 1950). He worked with W. Percy Over (1926-1940) and William A. Martin (?-?), and was a partner of the firm Smith Munn Carter and Katelnikoff. A significant amount of his work involved schools, especially within his local municipality. Out of province projects included a 1946 expansion to Alexander McKenzie School in Fort Frances, Ontario.

He died at the St. Boniface Hospital on 28 December 1968.

Some of his architectural works in Manitoba included:

Building

Location

Year

Status

Heaton House

30 West Gate, Winnipeg

1926-1927

 

St. Boniface Hospital School of Nursing Building

431 Avenue Taché, Winnipeg

1927-1928

 

Claratel Café (alterations)

341 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg

1938

Demolished (?)

St. Boniface Kiwanis Model Bungalow

Lyndale Drive, Winnipeg

1944

 

River Heights School

1350 Grosvenor Avenue, Winnipeg

1946-1947

 

Norberry School (expansion)

900 St. Mary’s Road, Winnipeg

1947

 

Tilston School

Tilston, Municipality of Two Borders

1947

 

Woodlawn School District No. 1499 / Woodlawn School (expansion)

1186 St. Mary’s Road, Winnipeg

1947

Demolished (?)

Woodlawn School District No. 1499 / Woodlawn School (improvements)

1186 St. Mary’s Road, Winnipeg

1948

Demolished (?)

Henderson School

911 Bond Street, Dauphin

1948

 

Weston School

1410 Logan Avenue, Winnipeg

1948

 

Glenlawn Collegiate

770 St. Mary’s Road, Winnipeg

1950

 

Marion School

619 Des Meurons Street, Winnipeg

1950

 

Prince Charles School

Third Street Southwest, Portage la Prairie

1950-1951

 

Mennonite Brethren Institute (gymnasium and auditorium)

Talbot Avenue, Winnipeg

1959

 

See also:

Manitoba Business: Smith Carter and Katelnikoff / Smith Carter Architects and Engineers / Architecture49

Sources:

Death registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Sussex men meet,” Winnipeg Tribune, 26 September 1914, page 5.

“The Manitoba Association of Architects Examinations,” Winnipeg Tribune, 6 March 1919, page 5.

“Architects elect,” Manitoba Free Press, 21 January 1922, page 15.

“Remodel cafe,” Winnipeg Tribune, 26 February 1938, page 20.

“Manitoba Architects elect Edgar Prain,” Winnipeg Free Press, 17 January 1939, page 2.

“Apple blossoms form setting for wedding,” Winnipeg Free Press, 20 May 1941, page 8.

[Photo caption, Mrs. R.C. Waddington], Winnipeg Free Press, 24 December 1941, page 10.

“Tenders wanted [St. Boniface Kiwanis Model Bungalow],” Winnipeg Free Press, 4 May 1944, page 15.

“Three rooms to be added to Fort Frances School,” Winnipeg Free Press, 23 September 1946, page 15.

“Tenders [Norberry School, six room addition],” Winnipeg Free Press, 23 January 1947, page 16.

“[Tenders - Tilston Consolidated School District],” Winnipeg Free Press, 1 March 1947, page 20.

“School District of Glenlawn No. 1499 [Woodlawn School; expansion],” Winnipeg Free Press, 19 March 1947, page 20.

“School District of Glenlawn No. 1499 [Glenlawn Collegiate; plumbing, heating, ventilation],” Winnipeg Free Press, 19 March 1949, page 34.

“Tenders [School District of Portage la Prairie No. 10, 18-room school and auditorium],” Winnipeg Free Press, 10 June 1949, page 23.

“5 tenders at Portage for school construction,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 June 1949, page 15.

“Portage schools’ money held up [Portage Central School],” Winnipeg Free Press, 13 August 1949, page 14.

“St. Boniface may get new 16-room school [Marion School],” Winnipeg Free Press, 1 September 1949, page 3.

“Trustee rap critic of school buildings,” Winnipeg Tribune, 21 October 1949, page 3.

“Architects study model home plans,” Winnipeg Free Press, 24 January 1950, page 4.

“St. Vital couple marks anniversary,” Winnipeg Free Press, 1 October 1957, page 18.

“New building at Thompson,” Winnipeg Tribune, 14 July 1959, page 26.

“St. Vital couple wed sixty years,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 September 1967, page 18.

St. Boniface estate file #10159, Wilfrid Ewart Munn, Archives of Manitoba.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 1 January 1969, page 30.

Obituary [Nellie Kathleen Munn], Winnipeg Free Press, 8 December 1973, page 41.

Obituary [Maurice Kenyon Munn], Winnipeg Free Press, 15 July 1989, page 39.

Obituary [Desmond Wilfred Munn], Winnipeg Free Press, 15 September 2007.

Obituary [Shirley Waddington], Winnipeg Free Press, 28 May 2008, page 34.

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

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

This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 5 April 2024

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