Charles Arnold Barber

Charles Arnold Barber (9 July 1848 – 22 September 1915) was born in Canada West and was an architect and an inventor although one whose business dealings gave him a somewhat unsavory reputation.

His inventions started seriously in Manitoba and, in 1901, he took his most successful projects, a fireproof door and safe, to Montreal.

His architectural work in Winnipeg had a definite influence on the face of that city during a period of rapid growth at the end of the 19th century.

His most famous work was Winnipeg City Hall, an eclectic structure said to be "almost beyond architectural description".

It survived until the 1960s, when it was replaced by the current, modernist civic centre.