EDWARD J. BALTRUSAITIS HOUSE
Firm: Clayton Bond and Mogridge
Address: 2432 Sovereign Crescent SW
Date of final plans: August 1956
Status: demolished in August 2018
Ed Baltrusaitis's house sat on a spectacular lot on the edge of the Bow River valley. It's in a small section of Scarboro that was severed from the rest of the neighbourhood by Crowchild Trail and Bow Trail. The house looks like it belongs in California, with a front carport, a low-pitched roof, and large rear windows.
THE CLIENT
Edward Joseph Baltrusaitis (1910–1996) was born in Pittsburgh on 5 December 1910. In 1934 he graduated Bachelor of Science in mining engineering from the Carnegie Institute of Technology. For a brief period after graduation he worked for the U. S. Corps of Engineers. In 1937 Baltrusaitis was hired by Gulf Oil and spent the next 15 years working in various locations across the United States. In 1952 Gulf transferred him to the Canadian Gulf Oil Company, based in Calgary, where he was put in charge of exploration. At the end of 1953 he left Gulf and spent the next few years working for different consultancies. In 1956 Baltrusaitis joined Jack Gallagher at Dome Petroleum. For the next decade he helped lead Dome's Arctic exploration programme. Baltrusaitis retired from Dome in 1965, although he continued to do odd work until 1982.
Baltrusaitis married Rose Mary Lucas (1911–2006). They had four children: Victor, Johanna, Rose Mary, and Edward Jr. He died in Calgary on 31 March 1996 at age 85.