BERWICK, Robert Alexander Dean (1909-1974) was born in Shelburne, Ont. on 19 September 1909 and graduated from the Dept. of Architecture at the University of Toronto in 1936. He joined the office of Sharp & Thompson in Vancouver in 1936 where both he and Charles E. Pratt were made associates in the firm in 1939. Berwick then served during WWII with the Construction Engineering Branch of the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1942-45 and it was there that he perfected techniques for the use of plywood in building construction which he later adapted for use in innovative residential designs in a distinctive modernist idiom. After his return to Vancouver both he and Pratt were made full partners in the new firm of Sharp, Thompson Berwick & Pratt in 1946. Although he was an associate and later partner in this leading West Coast firm, many of his residential commissions listed below are credited in published sources to his name alone. He played a leading role in the firm designing many post-WWII schools in British Columbia using a new truss construction technique he developed to replace the more expensive beam support system (see list of his school designs under Sharp, Thompson Berwick & Pratt). From 1956 to 1968 he was partner in the firm of Thompson Berwick Pratt, and died in Vancouver on 7 August 1974 (obit. Vancouver Sun, 12 Aug. 1974, 15; Province [Vancouver], 12 Aug. 1974, 7; biog. & port. R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiii, June 1946, 152; inf. Architectural Inst. Of British Columbia).
WEST VANCOUVER, residence for Leslie T. Willoughby, Hadden Drive, 1938 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xvi, May 1939, 100, illus.; C.H.G., xvi, Oct. 1939, 35, illus.)
unnamed street, residence for Mrs. R. Crosby, 1938 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xvi, April 1939, 98, illus.)
DEMONSTRATION MODEL HOME, for the Vancouver Chapter of Architects, at 1136 West 39th Avenue, between Selkirk Street and Osler Street, 1939 (Vancouver Sun, 17 June 1939, 28, illus. & descrip.; and 11 Nov. 1939, 27, illus. & descrip.)
(with Sharp & Thompson) CENTRE GARDENS ROLLER BOWL ARENA, Hornby Street, 1939 (Vancouver Sun, 6 Oct. 1939, 14, detailed descrip.)
WEST VANCOUVER, residence for Robert A.D. Berwick, architect, Mathers Avenue, 1939 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxiv, June 1947, 181, illus.; C.H.G., xxvii, Sept. 1950, 34-5, illus.)
CROFTON HOUSE SCHOOL, West 41st Avenue, 1941 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
WEST 48th AVENUE, near Cartier Street, residence for F. Storey, 1941 (The Province (Vancouver), 20 Sept. 1941, 22, illus.)
DOMINION RUSTPROOFING CO., Powell Street at Woodland Drive, 1941 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xix, Jan. 1942, 14)
WEST 29th AVENUE, near Beverly Crescent, residence for James C. Butler, 1944 (C.H.G., xxii, Aug. 1945, 30, illus.)
WEST VANCOUVER, residence for Myles A. Ellissen, Stevens Drive, 1948 (H. Kalman, Exploring Vancouver, 1978, 250, illus.)
NORTH VANCOUVER, a residence for British Properties Co., 1948 (C.H.G., xxv, Oct. 1948, 34-6, illus.)
NEWTON WYND STREET, residence for Dr. F.S. Hobbs, 1949 (J. Bond, University Endowment Lands Architecture 1940-1969, 1993, 21, illus. & descrip.; Western Homes & Living (Vancouver), Oct. 1951, illus. & descrip.)
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, residence for the President of the University, 1949-50 (Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada Bulletin, xiv, No. 3, Sept. 1989, 68-9, illus. & descrip.)
LAKE SKAHA, B.C., a cottage for Robert A.D. Berwick, architect, 1949 (C.H.G., xxvii, March 1950, 31-2, illus.)