Evers, Cecil Louis C.

EVERS, Cecil Louis Calvert (1866-1936) was active in Seattle, Wash. where he was briefly in partnership with John Parkinson and with him designed the Calkins Hotel on Mercer Island, Wash., 1889-90 (J.K. Ochsner, Shaping Seattle Architecture, 2014, 58, illus.). By late 1890 Evers had formed a new partnership with a talented young British architect John C.M. Keith. In June 1892 the firm of Evers & Keith submitted an enty in the international competition for the provincial Legislative Buildings in Victoria, B.C., but their entry, signed 'Ad Referendum', was not among the finalists (M. Segger, British Columbia Parliament Buildings, 1979, 83). Later that same year the firm decided to enter the competition for the new Anglican Cathedral at Victoria. In order to qualify for this projejct, Keith quickly decided to move to Victoria to comply with competition rules limiting submissions to those architects residing in countries within the British Empire. Keith prepared all the drawings in Victoria and their sophisticated design in the '....pure Early Gothic' style was awarded First Prize (Victoria Daily Times, 31 May 1892, 5, detailed architectural descrip.; Vancouver Daily World, 6 June 1892, 4, descrip.; Daily Colonist [Victoria], 18 Sept. 1892, 8, illus.; and 1 Jan. 1893, 9, illus. & descrip.; American Architect & Building News [Boston], xli, 2 Sept. 1893, plate illus.). It would not be until 1924, however, that the actual construction of the Cathedral was begun, in conformance with a much altered plan later drawn by Keith who took up permanent residence in Victoria in 1893 while Evers remained in Seattle and continued to practice under his own name (D. Luxton, Building The West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 498).

Evers was born in London, England, son of the British architect Arthur Evers. He likely trained under his father, but emigrated to the United States in early 1888 and settled in Seattle, Wash. where he lived and worked for at least eight years. He later moved to the New York City area after 1896 and appears to have abandoned his career as an architect. He died in the Bronx, N.Y. on 14 July 1936 (biog. in J.K. Ochsner, Shaping Seattle Architecture, 2014, 436).

EVERS & KEITH, Architects of Seattle and Victoria

VICTORIA, B.C., "Hochelaga" a residence for Archibald J.C. Galletly, the Manager of the Bank of Montreal, Rockland Avenue, 1892 (Daily Colonist [Victoria], 1 Jan. 1893, 9; Victoria Heritage Foundation, This Old House: Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods, Vol. 3, 2021, 223-25, illus. & descrip.)
VICTORIA, B.C., residence for W.J. MacAuley, Belcher Street, 1892 (Daily Colonist [Victoria], 1 Jan. 1893, 9)
VICTORIA, B.C., two houses for Mrs. J.K. Greenwood, 1892 (Daily Colonist [Victoria], 1 Jan. 1893, 9)
NELSON, B.C., interior of the Bank of Montreal, 1892 (Daily Colonist [Victoria], 1 Jan. 1893, 9)
VERNON, B.C., interior of the Bank of Montreal, 1892 (Daily Colonist [Victoria], 1 Jan. 1893, 9)
BALFOUR, B.C., St. Michael's Anglican Church, Busk Road at Glady Street, 1892-93; church closed 2021; building still standing in 2023 (Daily Colonist [Victoria], 1 Jan. 1893, 9)
VICTORIA, B.C., major addition to the chancel of St. Mark's Anglican Church, Boleskin Road, 1893 (Daily Colonist [Victoria], 14 April 1893, 5, descrip.; Victoria Daily Times, 14 April 1893, 5, descrip.; and 21 June 1893, 5, descrip.)