BARNET, James M. (1865-1932) was born in Sydney, Australia on 13 February 1865. His father was Colonial Architect of New South Wales and Barnet may have trained under him before joining the office of W.G. Kemp, Architect for Public Schools in the Sydney area. He came to Canada in 1905 and established his office in Vernon, B.C. in early 1908. There, he was one of three architects who entered the competition for the Jubilee Hospital and he won the commission; built 1908; hospital later demol.; and that same year he worked as local supervising architect to Dalton & Eveleigh for the design of St. James Roman Catholic Church, Mara Avenue, Vernon, built 1908-09. He moved to Spokane after 1910 but returned to Trail, B.C. in 1916 where he designed several buildings for the Consolidated Mining & Smelting Co. (now Cominco Ltd.), including offices for the company, the Managing Director's residence, the public school and the Roman Catholic Church. Barnet died in British Columbia in December 1932 (death notice Vancouver Sun, 9 December 1932, 20; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 452, 491; inf. from Architectural Inst. of British Columbia, Vancouver)
VERNON, B.C., Jubilee Hospital, 32nd Street, 1908; demol. (Vernon News, 6 Feb 1908, 1; C.R., xix, 12 Feb. 1908)
(with Dalton & Eveleigh) VERNON, B.C., St. James Roman Catholic Church, Mara Avenue, 1908-09 (Vernon News, 21 May 1908, 5; and 29 April 1909, 5; C.R., xxii, 17 June 1908, 29)
TRAIL, B.C., Consolidated Mining & Smelting Co., several buildings including offices for the company, the Managing Director's residence, the public school and the Roman Catholic Church (inf. Donald Luxton, Building The West, 2003, 491)