John D. Atchison | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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John D. Atchison

John D. Atchison, architect (b at Monmouth, Ill 1870; d at Pasadena c1944). Atchison was the most prominent member of the "Chicago School" of architects who practised in Winnipeg.
Great-West Life Building
Great-West Life Assurance Building (courtesy Western Canada Pictorial Index)

John D. Atchison, architect (b at Monmouth, Ill 1870; d at Pasadena c1944). Atchison was the most prominent member of the "Chicago School" of architects who practised in Winnipeg. He worked in Chicago for William Le Baron Jenney and had his own firm there 1894-1904. He then moved to Winnipeg, remaining there until 1922 when he left for California.

During this Manitoba period he designed nearly 100 buildings in styles varying from the progressive Wardlaw Block (1905) to the historically eclectic Great-West Life Assurance Building (1911). A professional of high competence, Atchison brought Winnipeg a connection with the most progressive architectural centre in North America at that time, and helped advance the technical and stylistical level of building there.

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