Wagg & Hambleton

Donald Wagg

Don Wagg articled with Ernest A. Newton in Manchester, England, and trained at the School of Art and the Technical College in that city. He qualified as a chartered architect A.R.I.B.A., became city architect of Peterborough, and then served in the Royal Engineers in WWII. He emigrated to Canada in 1948, locating in Nelson, BC, where he completed the design for Mount St. Francis Hospital. In 1950 he moved to Victoria, setting up a partnership with former provincial architect W. H. Whittaker. The firm specialized in hospital design, carrying out extensive additions to Jubilee and St. Joseph's hospitals, and completing many smaller hospitals for communities throughout British Columbia. Whittaker retired in 1954 and Wagg formed a partnership with Patrick Birley, who died prematurily in 1961. Birley had articled with John Teague. Numerous architects later in independent private practice worked in the Victoria office, notably David Hambleton (1958) and Brian Bartle (1965), who became partners in the firm of Wagg & Hambleton in 1966 and 1976 respectively. This list also includes Bob Baxter, Sid Flieschauer, Herb Kwan, Irvin Kew, Ben Levinson, Alan Lowe and David Warner. Wagg retired in 1979.

David Hambleton

Hambleton trained at the Regent Street Polytechnic where he was awarded the Sir Bannister Fletcher Scholarship. In London he worked in the offices of Sir Louis de Soissons and Sir Albert Richardson on the restoration and reconstruction of war-damaged historic buildings, then on redevelopment projects with Trehearne Norman Preston & Partners. In 1958 Hambleton emigrated to Canada, joining the Birley & Wagg partnership in Victoria. From 1966 the practice has been known as Wagg & Hambleton. Hambleton has chaired the Victoria Heritage Advisory Committee, the Advisory Design Panel and the Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum Society. He was president of the AIBC in 1975 and the RAIC in 1980.

Projects at UVic:

In Victoria: