Architect Charles Frederick Burden

Ontario Churches and Institutions Photograph Collection, “Exterior of Massey Methodist Church,” 90.162P1029, United Church of Canada Archives - Digital Collections, accessed April 27, 2018, http://uccdigitalcollections.ca/items/show/4061.

Submitted by Christine Miller

​My great uncle Charles Frederick Burden emigrated to Canada in 1900.  He arrived in Quebec on July 28th, having sailed from Liverpool on The Tunisian.   Burden’s wife Sophia remained in London with their five children while he settled in Massey.

He was an architect who had learned his trade on the building sites  in London and became a member of The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. 

He designed the public school in Massey in 1907 and the Methodist Church in Massey (now St. Andrew's United Church).

Between 1900 and 1911 he designed the Roman Catholic Mission Church at Cutler, the Methodist Church and the public school in Webbwood, and a bank and office block in Massey.
 
He never returned to England and his family never followed him to Canada. For many years he lived with the Hallett family, who were also originally from England.  As he became older he worked as a painter and decorator in the town.  

He died in December 1935 from heart disease and is buried in the cemetery at Massey.

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Ontario Churches and Institutions Photograph Collection, “Exterior of the Webbwood Methodist Church,” 90.162P1877, United Church of Canada Archives - Digital Collections, accessed April 27, 2018, http://uccdigitalcollections.ca/items/show/4108.

HELP US FILL THE BLANKS!

Please help us complete this story with more detail:

1) Which of the public schools did Burden design?  
2) Do you have a photo of Charles Burden?
3) Which cemetery is he buried in? 
4) Do you have a photo of the bank and office block mentioned in the article?
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Ontario Churches and Institutions Photograph Collection, “Interior of the Webbwood Methodist Church,” 90.162P1879, United Church of Canada Archives - Digital Collections, accessed April 27, 2018, http://uccdigitalcollections.ca/items/show/4110.

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