BOWIE, George Pigrum (1881-1915), born in London, Engl., gained much of his knowledge of construction while working in London for Holloway Bros., one of that city's largest building and contracting companies, from 1896 to 1901. He attended courses at the City of London College and trained under the locally prominent Edwardian architect Edward P. Warren. He enrolled at the Architectural Association in 1903 and in the following year travelled to Boston, Mass. where he worked for Russell Sturgis and for C.A. Cummings before returning to London in early 1905 to become assistant to C. Harrison Townsend, one of the leading advocates of the Arts & Crafts 'free style' of design. In 1906 Bowie emigrated to Canada and settled at Vancouver where he was appointed chief assistant in the office of Parr & Fee, a position he held until July 1911 when he opened an office under his own name. In 1914 he left Vancouver and went overseas to join the Canadian Infantry during WWI. His promising career ended abruptly on 7 July 1915 when he was killed in action while working as a war artist for the Canadian Army in France (obit. Building News [London], cix, 21 July 1915, 60; Contract Record [Toronto], xxix, 29 Sept. 1915, 1024; R.I.B.A., Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, i, 229; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 455, 494). A large bronze plaque honouring Bowie was later unveiled in Stanley Park in Vancouver in April 1919 (Vancouver Daily World, 28 April 1919, 12, illus. & descrip., with biography of Bowie).
ARCHIBALD AUTO CO., West Georgia Street, garage, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 30 Aug. 1911, 63)
SHAUGHNESSY HEIGHTS, large residence for Thomas F. Greenhow, Pine Crescent at Hosmer Avenue, 1912; still standing as of 2019 (The Sun [Vancouver], 13 June 1912, 5, descrip.; City of Vancouver b.p. No. 43, 12 June 1912; inf. Patrick Gunn, City of Vancouver)
LUMBERMAN'S ARCH, Pender Street, built 1912; archway later moved to Stanley Park in 1913; renamed "The Bowie Arch" in 1919 after the death of Bowie in 1915; demol. 1947 (Vancouver Daily World, 10 Oct. 1912, 15; and 28 April 1919, 12)
ST. MARK'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, West 2nd Street at Larch Street, 1911; parish hall, 1912 (Province [Vancouver], 26 Oct. 1912, 34, descrip.; Vancouver Daily World, 26 Oct. 1912, 12; dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
MONTGOMERY BLOCK, Richards Street, for J.A. Montgomery, 1911-12 (C.R., xxv, 22 Nov. 1911, 66; Province [Vanocuver], 8 June 1912, 28, descrip.)
STEWART & CROMIE CO., Dunsmuir Street at Seymour Street, a six storey warehouse located "....on the CPR Reserve", 1912 (The Sun [Vancouver], 16 July 1912, 4; and 12 Aug. 1912, 15, descrip.)
STEWART & CROMIE CO., Beattie Street near Davie Street, "....at the foot of Davie Street and Helmcken Street", a 6 storey warehouse, 1912 (Province [Vancouver], 20 July 1912, 25; The Sun [Vancouver], 22 July 1912, 4, descrip.; dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
BALSAM APARTMENTS, Balsam Street, 1912 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
SHAUGHNESSY HEIGHTS, large residence for Walter Bertram Cooke, Balfour Avenue at Hudson Street, 1912 (The Sun [Vancouver], 9 Sept. 1912, 5, descrip.; Province [Vancouver], 14 Sept. 1912, 30, descrip.)
HEATHER LODGE, West Broadway, 1913 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)