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The name of Blakey is well
and favorably known throughout this province in connection with the
profession of architecture and William G. Blakey is ably sustaining the
reputation of the family in this respect, for he has designed many of
Edmonton's finest public buildings and his work has attracted much
favorable notice. He was born at Sunderland, in Durham county, England,
in 1885, and is a member of one of the old families of the mother
country, while his maternal ancestors were natives of Scotland. He is a
son of George Hudson and Mary Jane (Palm) Blakey, who are still residing
in Sunderland, where the father was born in 1850, but the mother is of
Scotch parentage.
William G. Blakey
attended the public schools of Sunderland and the Bede Collegiate School
and ill he became a student at a technical college of that place, being
graduated therefrom in 1905. During that period he was also an articled
pupil in the office of George T. Brown, a well known architect of
Sunderland, where he continued to reside until 1907. He then started for
Canada to join his brother, B. P. Blakey, now provincial architect of
Alberta, who had preceded him to Edmonton. Oil here William G. Blakey
secured a position with A. M. Jeffers, then serving as piovincial
architect, with whom he remained for a year, and then spent a similar
period in the office of another architect of Edmonton. Late in the fall
of 1915 he went to Ottawa, Quebec, and was connected with the inspection
department of the Imperial Ministry of Munitions until March, 1918, when
he was commissioned a lieutenant. He went overseas with the Canadian
Engineers, remaining in the service of his country until January, 1919,
when he returned to Edmonton, where he has since followed the profession
of architecture independently with gratifying success. His designs are
distinctive and his work is of high character and standard excellence,
while his integrity and thorough reliability commend him to the
confidence and support of the public. Among the most notable examples of
his handiwork are the Journal building, Memorial Hall, Viking Hospital
and the additions to Royal Alexandra hospital.
On the 27th of August,
1914, Mr. Blakey was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Arnold Thomas, a
daughter of George H. Thomas of Edmonton, and they have become the
parents of two sons: Norman George, who was born in 1915; and Arnold
Palm, whose birth occurred in 1920. Mr. Blakey is a Master Mason and is
also connected with the Edmonton and Kiwanis Clubs, while his religious
views are in accord with the tenets of the Anglican church. He has
gained an enviable reputation as an architect and his labors have been a
vital element in the adornment and upbuilding of the city, as well as in
the promotion of his own fortunes. |
