Weeks, Arthur LeBaron

WEEKS, Arthur LeBaron (1881-1962), a native of Saint John, New Brunswick who was born there on 7 March 1881 and received his primary education in that city. He later moved to Boston where he trained in several offices including that of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge (successors to Henry Hobson Richardson, who died in 1886). While working in that office, he met another young architect Ernest M. Machado, with whom he was to later form a partnership in Ottawa, Ont. Weeks was active in the following firms in Ottawa:

Machado & Weeks, Ottawa, Ont.; April -Sept. 1907 (with Ernest Machado)
Weeks & Keefer Ottawa, Ont.; 1908 - 1910 (with Alan Keefer)
A. LeBaron Weeks, Ottawa, Ont. 1911-1913
Weeks & Burgess, Ottawa, Ont. 1914 (with Cecil Burgess)

In April 1907, at the suggestion of Ernest Machado, a frequent visitor to the Ottawa area, they formed a partnership in April 1907, but their association ended abruptly in September of that year with the sudden death of Machado. Weeks then opened an office in partnership with Alan Keefer, and proved himself to be a talented and capable architect in his own right; together they obtained major commissions for commercial and institutional projects. Their best known work was the Rosenthal Building (1910), a six storey office block, and one of the first to employ a reinforced concrete structural frame and a complete exterior cladding system of architectural terra cotta.

Weeks worked under his own name in 1911-13, then formed another partnership with Cecil Burgess, who was formerly employed as an assistant in the office of Weeks & Keefer. Their association lasted only one year, and was terminated at the end of 1914. Weeks left Canada and moved to Detroit, Mich. in 1916. By 1921 he was employed as a staff architect with the Detroit Board of Education (City of Detroit Directory, 1921, p. 2000). In 1930 he was residing in nearby Birmingham, Michigan and still working as a professional architect (Directory of Birmingham, Mich., 1930, 174). By 1940, he had moved to Florida. He joined the American Institute of Architects in 1944 and remained as a member until 1954. He was also listed as a practising architect at Lake Worth, Florida (Florida Association of Architects Bulletin, viii, Sept. 1946). Weeks later died at Palm Beach, Fla. in April 1962.

WEEKS & KEEFER (works in Ottawa unless noted)

ST. PATRICK'S ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOLS, Nepean Street, major addition, 1908 (C.R., xxii, 19 Aug. 1908, 25, t.c.)
BANK OF MONTREAL, Bank Street at Somerset Street, 1908-09 (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 2 May 1908, 15, descrip.; The First Half Century of Ottawa, 1910, 58, illus.; Ottawa: A Guide to Heritage Structures, 2000, 79, illus.)
ASHBURY COLLEGE, Mariposa Avenue, in Rockcliffe Park, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 17 Feb. 1909, 20, t.c.; Martha Edmond, Rockcliffe Park - A History of the Village, 2005, 220-23, illus.)
MORRISBURG, ONT., Molson's Bank, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 21 April 1909, 22)
WILTON APARTMENTS, Laurier Avenue West, 1909 (Ottawa Citizen, 2 Oct. 1909, 13, list of works in advert.; inf. Robert Hamilton)
ROCKCLIFFE PARK, residence for James Ker, 1909 (Ottawa Citizen, 2 Oct. 1909, 13, list of works in advert.; inf. Robert Hamilton)
TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL, Merivale Road, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 28 April 1909, 19, t.c.; Lanark Era, 4 Aug. 1909, 4; Evening Journal [Ottawa], 15 Feb. 1910, 1, illus.; and 16 Feb. 1910, 3, descrip.)
FIRE HALL NO. 5, King Edward Avenue at York Street, 1909-10 (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 15 Dec. 1909, 5, descrip.; C.R., xxiii, 22 Dec. 1909, 22)
CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE CO., Sparks Street, 1909-10 (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 23 June 1910, 2, illus. & descrip.; Const., vi, May 1913, 173, 176-7, illus. & descrip.)
RENFREW, ONT., residence for J.A. Allan, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 13 April 1910, 28, t.c.)
FIRE HALL NO. 4, Cumberland Street at George Street, 1910 (Montreal Daily Star, 18 June 1910, 9; C.R., xxiv, 3 August 1910, 24, t.c.)
ROSENTHAL BUILDING, Sparks Street, for A. Rosenthal & Sons, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 27 April 1910, 40, illus. & descrip.; xxv, 10 May 1911, 35, illus. & descrip.; Const., iv, March 1911, 60, illus.; Evening Journal [Ottawa], 28 March 1910, 12, illus. & descrip.; and 24 June 1911, 17, illus. & descrip.)
RIDEAU STREET, at Little Sussex Street, stores for Dr. J.E. Taggart, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 10 Aug. 1910, 27)
BESSERER STREET, residence for Dr. J. Eugene Taggart, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 24 Aug. 1910, 25; Ottawa Journal, 15 Sept. 1910, 12)
CASINO THEATRE, Sussex Street at Besserer Street, 1910 (C.R., xxiv, 21 Sept. 1910, 27)
BIRKS BUILDING, Sparks Street, 1910 (Const., vi, May 1913, 172-5, illus. & descrip.)
OTTAWA HUNT CLUB, on the Rideau River, 1910 (Const., vi, May 1913, 180-81, illus. & descrip.)
HULL, QUE., Rivermead Golf Club House, Aylmer Road overlooking the Ottawa River, 1910-11 (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 1 Oct. 1910, 1 & 16, illus. & descrip.; Ottawa Citizen, 1 Oct. 1910, 17, illus. & descrip.; inf. Robert Hamilton)

A. Le B. WEEKS (works in Ottawa unless noted)

ACACIA AVENUE, residence for Wilson M. Southam, Rockcliffe Park, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 22 March 1911, 55)
CORNWALL, ONT., County House of Industry and Refuge, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 12 April 1911, 53, t.c.)
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, Florence Street at Kent Street, 1911-12 (Evening Citizen [Ottawa], 4 April 1911, 1, illus. & descrip.; C.R., xxv, 28 June 1911, 57; Evening Journal [Ottawa], 7 Dec. 1912, 20, illus.)
JOHN M. GARLAND & SONS, Queen Street at O'Connor Street, major addition for a warehouse, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 17 May 1911, 61, t.c.)
CLEMOW AVENUE, residence for John Angus McKenzie, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 28 June 1911, 58, t.c.)
McLEOD STREET, at Metcalfe Street, apartments for Ormond Higman, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 13 Sept. 1911, 59)
LAURENTIAN CLUB, Albert Street at Elgin Street, 1912-13 (C.R., xxiv, 14 Feb. 1912, 62; Ottawa Journal, 26 May 1913, 10, illus. & descrip.)
GLOUCESTER STREET, near O'Connor Street, apartment block for Edward R. McNeill, 1912 (C.R., xxiv, 27 March 1912, 68; Evening Journal [Ottawa], 19 Sept. 1912, 7, descrip., and 11, illus.)
WYLIE LTD., Slater Street, garage, 1912 (C.R., xxiv, 3 April 1912, 68)
AGUDATH ACHIM JEWISH SYNAGOGUE, Rideau Street, 1912 (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 29 June 1912, 1, illus.)
ELGIN STREET, apartment block for Samuel Caplan, 1913 (C.R., xxvii, 4 June 1913, 71)
BRYSON BUILDING, Queen Street, between Bank Street and O'Connor Street, a five storey office block with stores, for Charles Bryson Realty Co., 1913 (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 26 April 1913, 3, illus. & descrip.; 20 Sept. 1913, 17, illus.; C.R., xxvii, 3 Sept. 1913, 75)
ALBERT STREET, a new vaudeville and moving picture theatre for J.H. Ferguson, "....on the site of the old Nickel Theatre", 1913 (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 18 July 1913, 1, descrip.)
OTTAWA JOURNAL BUILDING, Queen Street near Bank Street, 1913-14 (C.R., xxvii, 23 April 1913, 72; Ottawa Journal, Greater Ottawa Edition, 28 April 1914, Section Two, 4-5, illus. & descrip.)

WEEKS & BURGESS (works in Ottawa)

SOMERSET STREET, stores and apartments for John Fixter, 1914 (C.R., xxviii, 17 June 1914, 74)

COMPETITIONS

WELLAND, ONT., a 150-bed hospital, for the Welland County Hospital Board, 1907. Weeks was one of five Ontario architects invited to submit plans for this new hospital (Daily Standard [St. Catharines], 11 Sept. 1907, 4). The winner was Langley & Howland of Toronto.