Alexander Nitchuk

Biography

Alexander Nitchuk was born 2 March 1907 in Winnipeg. Nitchuk graduated from University of Manitoba Faculty of Architecture in the 1930s, entering the profession at a time of a forbidding economic climate. At the University of Manitoba, he had studied with the program’s first two chairs, A. A. Stoughton and Milton Osborne. Nitchuk’s career became established in the post-war years, when he worked in private practice, completing such projects as the Lodge Theatre (2145 Portage Avenue) of 1952 and the West Kildonan Bowling Lanes (1735 Main Street, since demolished) 1954. The first of these represented a strain of modern architecture that was attuned to user comfort and commercial function. A similar approach, the combination of elements of modernism with other architectural forms, characterizes much of Nitchuk's work. Nitchuk was employed by Green Blankstein Russell Architects until his retirement. He was an attendee of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, which he had designed in partnership with Bernard Brown, also of Green Blankstein Russell. Nitchuk was very active in sports, particularly basketball and baseball and is represented in the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame. He also occupied his leisure time with water colour painting, golf, and curling. Nitchuk passed away at age 83 on 30 March 1990.