Title: Francis M. Rattenbury fonds

This record describes the Francis M. Rattenbury fonds.

Creator: Francis M. Rattenbury

Date: 1911-1913

Physical Description: ["241 architectural drawings", "2 textual record"]

History/Biography: Francis Mawson Rattenbury (1867-1935) was born in Leeds, England in 1867. Beginning in 1885, he trained as an architect at his uncles’ firm, Mawson and Mawson. In 1890, he was awarded the prestigious Soane Medallion by the Royal Institute of British Architects. Rattenbury immigrated to Canada in 1892. He settled first in Vancouver and then moved to Victoria in 1893, where he lived until he returned to England in 1930. In 1893, Rattenbury won the competition for the design of the British Columbia Parliament Buildings. Over the next two decades he designed prominent government buildings, banks, hotels, and private residences. He also engaged in land speculation and other business ventures. In 1898 he married Florence Eleanor Nunn (1870-1929) and had two children, Francis Burgoyne and Mary. Rattenbury worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). He was most notably commissioned by the CPR to design the Empress Hotel in Victoria (built 1904-1908). After breaking with the CPR in 1906, Rattenbury began to work for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP). In November 1906, he was commissioned by the GTP to design a hotel in Prince Rupert: a three-and-a-half storey gable frame building, the Grand Trunk Pacific Inn (built 1907). In October 1911, the intention to build a chain of hotels, including one at Prince Rupert, was announced at the GTP’s annual general meeting. Rattenbury was likely awarded the commission for the Grand Trunk Pacific Hotel Prince Rupert around this time - his first dated sketch of the hotel is dated September 4, 1911, and complete plans were finished in early 1912. Rattenbury’s plans went under revisions throughout 1912 and 1913, and in 1913 excavations for the hotel’s foundation began on 2nd Avenue. However, the hotel was never constructed as a result of economic downturn, the death of GTP President Charles Hays, and the onset of World War I. The same period saw the decline of Rattenbury’s fortunes and practice. In 1925 Rattenbury and Florence divorced, and he married Alma Victoria Pakenham (nee Clarke, 1892?-1935), with whom he had one son, John. They moved to England in 1930. In March 1935, Rattenbury was murdered by George Percy Stoner, the family’s chauffeur and Alma’s lover, in Bournemouth, England. A sensational trial followed; Stoner was found guilty, while Alma was acquitted and committed suicide shortly after.

Scope & Content: The fonds consists of architectural drawings of the planned Grand Trunk Pacific Hotel Prince Rupert. Contents include preliminary sketches on Union Club paper, and floor plans, elevations, and sections on tracing paper, linen, blueprints, and brownprints. The fonds also includes Alma Rattenbury's (nee Clarke) music certificate.

Name Access:
Rattenbury, Francis Mawson (1867-1935)
Grand Trunk Pacific Hotel Prince Rupert
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway

Subject Access:
Hotels
Architects
Architectural Drawings

Geographic Access:
Prince Rupert, B.C.

Accession Number: 2015.009

Record ID: 14326


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