Walter William LaChance

Who was Walter William LaChance?

Walter William LaChance was a Canadian architect best known for his designs of rural schools, although he also designed numerous buildings of other types. His commissions were concentrated in Cleveland, Ohio, Hamilton, Ontario, Welland, Ontario, and various communities in Saskatchewan. While his practice was varied in terms of building type, he designed at least 16 schools for various Saskatchewan communities from 1906 to 1914. He was also the author of two books, Modern Schoolhouses and Schoolhouses and Their Equipment.

While LaChance received numerous commissions, some of them for large buildings, his career was marked by a lack of stability. He moved his architectural practice from city to city numerous times during his career, and was a partner in five different partnerships, all of them short-lived.