Frederick William Mellish

1860 - 1928  (68 years)

• Name	Frederick William Mellish
  Born	11 Apr 1860	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1, 2, 3, 4]
  Gender	Male
  Building	Cambridge Farmers' Market, 40 Dickson St., Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	designed building
  		Galt-Market-001-coloredpostcard.jpg
  		Galt-Market-002-postcard.jpg
  Building	Firehall - 56 Dickson St., Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  	designed firehall
  	Fire Hall Museum and Education Centre 56 Dickson St., Cambridge https://web.me.com/firehallmus.edcentre/museum/Welcome.html Architect: F.W. Mellish Year Built: 1898; addition c.1910 Housed in a magnificent nineteenth century, red brick fire hall, the Fire Hall Museum and Education Centre was built in the Romanesque Revival style. The four-storey, pyramidal-roofed hose tower set it apart from the crowd. Designed by local architect Fred Mellish and designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, the centre is one of the gems of the Cambridge civic square. Past Doors Open Waterloo Region Sites https://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/discoveringTheRegion/resources/DoorsOpenPastSites.pdf
  FindAGrave	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26297786
  Name	F. W. Mellish
  Residence	1871	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [3]
  	Church of England
  Occupation	1881	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  	Carpenter
  Occupation	1886	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [5]
  	carpenter
  Occupation	1891	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [4]
  	Architecht
  Residence	1891	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [4]
  	Anglican
  Occupation	1901	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  	Architech
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-153005
  Died	15 Apr 1928	Vancouver, , British Columbia, Canada
  Buried	Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, British Columbia
  Person ID	I153005	Generations
  Last Modified	26 Nov 2023

  
  

  Father	Robert Austine Mellish,   b. 4 Aug 1832, Worksop, , Nottingham, England ,   d. 2 Jan 1904, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 71 years)
  Mother	Louisa Baker,   b. 20 May 1840, , England ,   d. 19 Jan 1917, Vancouver, , British Columbia, Canada  (Age 76 years)
  Married	3 Oct 1859	, Wentworth Co., Ontario, Canada   [6]
  Family ID	F262725	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Helen Isabella Jukes,   b. CALC 17 Feb 1863, , Connecticut, USA ,   d. 2 May 1886, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age ~ 23 years)
  Married	13 May 1885	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [5]
  Children	1. Violet Helen Mellish,   b. 17 Apr 1886, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Last Modified	26 Nov 2023
  Family ID	F15612	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Agnes Cooper,   b. 3 Aug 1865, , England ,   d. 22 Jul 1939, Vancouver, , British Columbia, Canada  (Age 73 years)
  Children	1. John Frederick Mellish,   b. 24 Jun 1893, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 22 Feb 1957, Penticton, , British Columbia, Canada  (Age 63 years)   2. Winifred Agnes "Emma" Mellish,   b. 31 Mar 1897, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 30 Dec 1929, Vancouver, , British Columbia, Canada  (Age 32 years)
  Last Modified	26 Nov 2023
  Family ID	F17292	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  Frederick W. Mellish from Men of Canada 1893

  
  

• Notes

  Fred William Mellish was born in Galt on April 11, 1860, the first of the six children of Robert F. and Louisa Mellish. Fred Mellish received his early education in private schools and at the Galt Collegiate Institute. Possibly given an interest in the building trades by his father who was a painter, Mr. Mellish first trained as a carpenter and a builder with a view to eventually becoming an architect. It is unclear exactly when Mr. Mellish began his practice as an architect but he registered with the Ontario Association of Architects on March 21, 1891 at the age of 30. However, he was active in the profession prior to that date. He opened his offices in Room 23 in the Imperial Block on South Water St. in January 1890 but it is reported that previously he had designed and supervised the construction of quite a number of important buildings including, in 1890, the Scott Block. The list of Mr. Mellish's buildings erected after 1891, however, is impressive. It includes the Galt Hospital (1891), one of the few buildings he built of stone rather than brick; the Gore Mutual Insurance Company Head Office at Main and Ainslie (1895); the two-storey section of the Galt Market Building (1896); the Galt Fire Hall (1898); and the Galt Carnegie Library (1905). In addition he was responsible for a number of other commercial blocks in Preston and other towns in the area as well as a number of private residences, including a house on Main Street reportedly built for his bride Helen Isabel who sadly died at the age of 24 in May 1886 following the birth of her daughter. In 1908 Mr. Mellish moved to Vancouver where he was worked as an architect and contractor from 1909 to about 1920. In the west Mr. Mellish worked mainly as a designer of houses during the real estate boom of 1912-1913 but is known to have designed a warehouse and St. Saviour's church and parish hall. Upon retirement, he continued to reside in Vancouver and, in 1919, built a craftsman-style house for himself, his wife Agnes and their daughter Winnifred. He died in Vancouver on April 15, 1928 at the age of 68. Cambridge Hall of Fame (2023). Available at: https://www.cambridge.ca/en/learn-about/cambridge-hall-of-fame.aspx (Accessed: 27 May 2023). _______________________ MELLISH, Frederick William (1860-1928) of Galt, Ont. was the son of Robert Mellish, a painter & glazier in Galt, and was born there on 11 April 1860. He was educated at private schools and at Galt Collegiate Institute and later received training as a carpenter and builder. In 1888 he opened an office in Galt and during the course of the next two decades he obtained several important commissions for institutional buildings and commercial blocks in that town. Mellish was adept at working in a variety of styles, ranging from a simplified Scottish baronial, evident in his design for the Galt Hospital, 1889, to the monumental Beaux-Arts style, employed in his scheme for the Carnegie Library in Galt in 1903. He was among the first architects in Western Ontario to introduce the classical vocabulary of the Beaux-Arts style to public architecture in that region of the province. In 1909 Mellish moved to British Columbia and opened an office in Vancouver, perhaps to capitalise on the rapid development of that city, but only a few references to his work there have been found. He died in Vancouver on 16 April 1928 (death notice in the Vancouver Sun, 16 April 1928, 12; biography in M. Bixby, Industries of Canada: London, Owen Sound, Collingwood, Barrie...., 1890, 107; biography and port. in W. Cochrane, The Canadian Album-Men of Canada, ii, 1893, 154; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 477, 512) (works in Galt unless noted) SCOTT BLOCK, Main Street, c. 1888 (list of works in M. Bixby, Industries of Canada: London, Owen Sound, Collingwood..., 1890, 107) GALT GENERAL HOSPITAL, St. Andrew's Street at Borden Street, 1889; addition, 1896; Nurse's Residence, 1899; hospital demolished in 1993; (Galt Reporter, 26 July 1889, 1; 30 Nov. 1899, 6, descrip.; C.A.B., ii, Aug. 1889, 95; C.R., vii, 7 May 1896, 1) PRESTON, ONT., commercial studio and gallery for James Esson, Photographer, 1891 (C.R., ii, 21 March 1891, 2) HESPELER, ONT., St. James Anglican Church, Ellis Road near Cooper Street, 1892; still standing in 2022 (Galt Reporter, 16 Sept. 1892, 1 & 2, t.c.) GORE BLOCK, for the Gore Mutual Insurance Co., Main Street at Ainslie Street, 1893-94; demol. (Galt Reporter, 4 Aug. 1893, 2, t.c.; 1 Feb. 1895, 3, descrip.) unnamed street, residence for J. McKenzie, 1893-94 (C.R., iv, 7 Dec. 1893, 2) MAIN STREET, commercial block for R.G. Struthers, 1893-94 (C.R., iv, 7 Dec. 1893, 2; Galt Reporter, 16 March 1894, 1) unnamed street, four houses for Dr. Lowry, 1893 (C.R., iv, 7 Dec. 1893, 2) HOTEL IROQUOIS, Main Street at Wellington Street, 1894; addition, 1897 (C.R., v, 3 May 1894, 1; Galt Reporter, 6 July 1894, 4, t.c.; 18 March 1897, 1) DICKSON SCHOOL, addition and alterations, 1894 (Galt Reporter, 25 May 1894, 4, t.c.) LANSDOWNE AVENUE, residence for Frederick Mellish architect, 1895 (Galt Reporter, 12 April 1895, 1) LANSDOWNE AVENUE, residence for Hugh Wallace, 1895 (Galt Reporter, 12 April 1895, 1) PRESTON, ONT., Swimming & Mineral Bath House, adjacent to the Hotel Kress, for C.R. Hanning, 1895-96 (Galt Reporter, 19 July 1895, 1) GALT PUBLIC MARKET, Dickson Street, an addition to the Vegetable Market Building, 1896 (Town of Galt, Council Minutes, 29 Dec. 1896) MAIN STREET, two stores for Mr. Bernhardt, adjacent to the Hotel Iroquois, 1897 (Galt Reporter, 15 April 1897, 1, descrip.) TURNBULL CO., Queen Street, factory, 1898 (C.R., ix, 20 April 1898, 3; C.A.B., xii, Jan. 1899, 5) GALT OPERA HOUSE, Main Street, a major reconstruction of the Victoria Block for John Scott, 1898-99 (Galt Reporter, 27 Oct. 1898, 2, descrip.; 26 Jan. 1899, 2, descrip.) GALT FIRE HALL, Dickson Street near Wellington Street, 1898; still standing in 2022, and now called The Fire Hall Museum (Galt Reporter, 3 Nov. 1898, 3, descrip.) KAY STREET, residence for John A. MacDougall, 1899 (C.R., x, 19 April 1899, 3) LANSDOWNE AVENUE, residence for James E. Bond, 1899 (C.R., x, 19 April 1899, 3) LANSDOWNE AVENUE, residence for Edward Koeppel, 1899 (C.R., x, 19 April 1899, 3) MAIN STREET WEST, residence for A.J. Oliver, 1899 (C.R., x, 19 April 1899, 3) ALBERT STREET, residence for William McBride, 1899 (C.R., x, 19 April 1899, 3) SOUTH WATER STREET, commercial block for John Sloan, 1899 (Galt Reporter, 28 Sept. 1899, 1) GALT REPORTER PRINTING CO., North Water Street, commercial block, 1899 (Galt Reporter, 14 Dec. 1899, 6, descrip.) SKATING & HOCKEY ARENA, 1901 (C.R., xii, 3 July 1901, 2) PRESTON, ONT., factory for Clare Brothers & Co., 1901-02 (C.R., xii, 4 Dec. 1901, 4) MORRISTON, ONT., additions and alterations to I.O.F. Hall, 1902 (C.R., xiii, 2 April 1902, 2, t.c.) CARNEGIE PUBLIC LIBRARY, North Water Street at Dickson Street, 1903-04; still standing in 2022 (C.R., xiii, 4 Feb. 1903, 1; Brantford Daily Expositor, 8 Dec. 1904, 1; M. Beckman, The Best Gift, 1984, 75, 169, illus.) CENTRAL PUBLIC SCHOOL, addition and alterations, 1905 (C.R., xv, 22 Feb. 1905, 4) (works in Vancouver, B.C.) VANCOUVER, B.C., St. Savior's Anglican Church, Semlin Drive near First Avenue East, 1909; new altar and fittings, 1911; with addition of Parish Hall, 1920; all still standing in 2022 (Vancouver Daily World, 31 March 1910, 9 & 10; and 3 Jan. 1911, 2, descrip.; and 14 Oct. 1920, 9, descrip.; dwgs. at the Vancouver City Archives) VANCOUVER, B.C., factory for A.R. William Machinery Co., Railway Street at Jackson Avenue, 1909 (dwgs. at the Vancouver City Archives) VANCOUVER, B.C., several residences at Talton Place, West 15th Avenue near Arbutus Street, a tract of houses developed by Thomas Talton Langlois, 1910-14 (H. Kalman, Exploring Vancouver, 1978, 221, illus.) Mellish, Frederick William | Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada (2023). Available at: https://dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/node/695 (Accessed: 27 May 2023).

  
  

• Sources

  [S259] Census - ON, Waterloo, Galt - 1901, Galt (Town/Ville) C-10 Page 8. [S336] Census - ON, Waterloo, Galt - 1881, Galt Division 1 Page 103. [S570] Census - ON, Waterloo, Galt - 1871, Div. 1, Pg. 48. [S1800] Census - ON, Waterloo, Galt - 1891, Section 2 Page 116. [S4] Vit - ON - Marriage Registration. Name: Fredk W Mellish Event Type: Marriage Event Date: 13 May 1885 Event Place: Galt, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Gender: Male Age: 25 Birth Year (Estimated): 1860 b.Galt Occ: carpenter - Galt Father's Name: Robrt Mellish Mother's Name: Lucile Mellish Spouse's Name: Helen J Jukes Spouse's Gender: Female Spouse's Age: 22 Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated): 1863 - Connecticut Res: Galt Spouse's Father's Name: Jas Jukes Spouse's Mother's Name: Elizabeth Jukes [S2488] aaa Vit - ON - Marriage Registration, marriage certificate. Name:Louisa Baker Age:19 Birth Year:abt 1840 Birth Place:Hamilton Residence:Hamilton Township Marriage Date:3 Oct 1859 Marriage Place:Wentworth, Ontario, Canada Father:William Baker Mother:Louisa Ruff Spouse:Robert Austine Mellish

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 11 Apr 1860 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Building - designed building - - Cambridge Farmers' Market, 40 Dickson St., Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Building - designed firehall - - Firehall - 56 Dickson St., Cambridge, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Church of England - 1871 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Carpenter - 1881 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Married - 13 May 1885 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - carpenter - 1886 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Architecht - 1891 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Anglican - 1891 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Architech - 1901 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - 15 Apr 1928 - Vancouver, , British Columbia, Canada Buried - - Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, British Columbia  = Link to Google Earth