TWIZELL, Robert Percival Sterling (1875-1964), of Vancouver, B.C. was the older brother of George S. Twizell, and was active in the following partnerships:
Twizell & Twizell, Vancouver, 1912-14 (with George S. Twizell)
Twizell, Birds & Twizell, Vancouver, 1920-21 (with Samuel B. Birds and George S. Twizell)
Twizell & Twizell, Vancouver, 1924-51 (with George S. Twizell)
Born in Newcastle-on-Tyne on 25 June 1875, he was educated at Rutherford College in that city, and later enrolled in courses in architecture at the Science College of Durham University in 1899-1903. After leaving school, he followed the same path as his brother, articling with the local firm of Hicks & Charlewood, Architects, then worked for Stephen Piper in Newcastle. From 1903 to 1908 he held the post of Lecturer at Durham University while continuing to work as a part-time assistant in the local office of Hicks & Charlewood. He was a knowledgeable and well-informed architect and historian, and wrote an extensive illustrated essay in 1905 called "The Evaluation of Domestic Architecture" in which he analysed English country house design from the 12th to 18th Century (R.I.B.A. Journal [London], xii, 24 June 1905, 537-48, illus.)
It is likely that his younger brother George S. Twizell, who had emigrated to Canada in May 1906, played a part in persuading Robert P.S. to join him in Vancouver in 1908. Robert opened his own office there, and periodically received some assistance from his brother George who, at this time, had a full time job in the office of C.O. Wickenden in 1908-11. Both brothers then formed a partnership, and opened an office under their own name in 1912. Their professional activity was interrupted by WWI, and when they re-opened their office in 1920, they were joined by Samuel B. Birds as a new partner. Their collaboration was brief, and after Birds departed, both of the Twizell brothers were once again operating on their own, and they continued to work together until after 1950.
R.P.S. Twizell had a long-standing interest in the rich history of English architecture, and for his educational buildings in Vancouver he favoured the Edwardian and Tudor Revival styles. His most impressive designs for school buildings are those on the campus of Vancouver College in Shaughnessy Heights. His design for McCormack Hall (1927) is a finely proportioned essay in the Tudor style, with exquisitely detailed facades and an attention to scholarly composition which is rare to find in the west coast region. His masterpiece must surely be that for St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church, Vancouver (1929-33), a refined modern Gothic work that can rightly be considered as one of the finest ecclesiastical works in western Canada, matched only by comparable work for significant church designs by other Canadian architects such as H.L. Fetherstonhaugh or Henri S. Labelle of Montreal, or Henry Sproatt of Toronto. The advances in progressive architectural design in Canada after WWII did not impress Robert Twizell, who wrote a lengthy essay on the austerity and bleakness of the Modern Movement, and he decried the commercialization of the art of architecture (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxxiv, February 1957, 63-4). He also complained that modern architecture “.....has no grammar, no characteristic features, and conforms to no definite concept or rules”.
Twizell was elected as an Associate member of the Royal Inst. of British Architects in London in 1900, but he resigned from that organization in 1934. He was reinstated as a full member in 1950, and the following year, in 1951, he was elected as a Fellow of the R.I.B.A. Twizell died at Victoria, B.C. on 7 December 1964 (death notice Vancouver Sun, 10 Dec. 1964, 46; biog. and port. in Who’s Who in Western Canada, 1911, 368; Who’s Who in Canada, 1923-24, 390; 1947-48, 1350; inf. Architectural Inst. of British Columbia; inf. Royal Inst. of British Architects, London; R.I.B.A., Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, Vol. ii, 852; Donald Luxton, Building The West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 314-17, with list of works, 522). The City of Vancouver Archives holds a collection of original architectural drawings and blueprint copies and papers related to the work of Twizell & Twizell from 1927 to 1951 (Acc. 166). A photographic portrait of Twizell, with interview and list of works, was published in the Vancouver Sun, 31 Aug. 1957, 21.
R.P.S. TWIZELL (works in Vancouver unless noted)
ST. GEORGE'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, Laurel Street at 14th Avenue West, 1910 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
KITSILANO, St. Mark's Anglican Church, Larch Street at 2nd Avenue, 1911 (Province [Vancouver], 14 Feb. 1911, 8; C.R., xxv, 1 March 1911, 26)
(with Robert M. Fripp) BURNABY, B.C., 'Fairacres', a mansion and stables for Henry T. Ceperley, Deer Lake Avenue, designed in 1910 by Robert M. Fripp, with R.P.S. Twizell as assistant, draftsman and delineator; and now occupied by the Burnaby Art Gallery (City of Burnaby, Deer Lake Park: Heritage Resource Inventory, 1998, 21-24, illus. & descrip.; Charles C. Hill, edit., Artists, Architects & Artisans - Canadian Art 1890-1918, 2013, 120-21, illus. & descrip., but incorrectly attributed solely to R.P.S. Twizell; inf. Jim Wolf, Burnaby; inf. Donald Luxton, Vancouver)
VICTORIA, B.C., St. John's Anglican Church, Quadra Street at Mason Street, 1912 (C.R., xxvi, 3 Jan. 1912, 65, t.c.)
SHAUGHNESSY HEIGHTS, residence for Dr. Wilson Herald, Selkirk Avenue at Balfour Avenue East, 1911 (Vancouver Daily World, 10 Jan. 1911, 16, t.c.)
KITSILANO, residence for Dr. Arthur L. Johnson, Fourth Avenue at Balsam Street, 1912 (Province [Vancouver], 13 April 1912, 30, illus. & descrip.)
SHAUGHNESSY HEIGHTS, residence for Daniel J. MacPhail, Laurier Avenue at Alexandra Street, 1912 (Province [Vancouver], 15 June 1912, 27; Saturday Sunset [Vancouver], 27 June 1914, 16, illus. & descrip.)
TWIZELL & TWIZELL (works in Vancouver)
CEDAR CRESCENT, near Cypress Street, residence for Hon. M.P. Morris, 1914 (Pacific Coast Architect (San Francisco), vi, Jan. 1914, 477)
POINT GREY, Queen Mary Public School, Trimble Street at University Avenue, Point Grey, 1914-15 (C.R., xxviii, 30 Sept. 1914, 66; and xxix, 2 June 1915, 590, illus. & descrip.; Vancouver Sun, 24 Aug. 1915, 2, descrip.; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
POINT GREY, a new Public School, Tupper Street at Ash Street, 1919 (The Province [Vancouver], 27 May 1919, 17, t.c.)
TWIZELL, BIRDS & TWIZELL (works in Vancouver unless noted)
SHAUGHNESSY HEIGHTS PUBLIC SCHOOL, [also called Prince of Wales School], Marguerite Street at King Edward Avenue, 1919-1920 (The Province [Vancouver], 22 Sept. 1919, 2, illus. & detailed descrip.; Vancouver Sun, 5 Sept. 1920, 18, illus. & detailed descrip.; D. Franklin, Early School Architecture in British Columbia, 1980, 149, illus.)
SOUTH VANCOUVER, High School, between West 43rd Avenue West and West 45th Avenue, in the Marpole neighbourhood, 1920-21 (Vancouver Sun, 18 July 1920, 32, t.c.; C.R., xxxiv, 21 July 1920, 53, t.c.; Vancouver Daily World, 19 March 1921, 26, descrip.; and 14 June 1921, 13)
PENTICTON, B.C., St. Saviour's Anglican Church & Parish Hall, Orchard Avenue at Winnipeg Street, a project won in an a competition against 18 other architects, 1920-21; still standing in 2022 (Vancouver Daily World, 26 Nov. 1920, 2, descrip.; Vancouver Sun, 12 Dec. 1920, 23, descrip.; C.R., xxxiv, 8 Dec. 1920, 1180)
EDITH CAVELL PUBLIC SCHOOL, West 20th Avenue at Tupper Street, 1920 (Vancouver Sun, 5 Sept, 1920, 18, illus. & detailed descrip.; D. Franklin, Early School Architecture in British Columbia, 1980, 149, illus.)
SUMMERLAND, B.C., warehouse for the Okanagan Fruit Growers Association, 1921 (C.R., xxxv, 6 April 1921, 58, t.c.)
SOUTH VANCOUVER, Richard McBride Public School, East 29th Avenue at Culloden Street, 1921 (Vancouver Daily World, 9 July 1921, 26, t.c.; burned 1929; and later rebuilt; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
DAVID LLOYD GEORGE PUBLIC SCHOOL, Cartier Avenue at West 67th Avenue, Marpole, 1921 (Vancouver Daily World, 22 Sept. 1921, 3, descrip.; and 26 Oct. 1921, 15, illus. & descrip.; C.R., xxxvi, 5 April 1922, 12, illus. in advert.; R.A.I.C. Journal, iv, Nov. 1927, 408-09, 412, illus. & descrip.)
KERRISDALE SCHOOL NO. 2, Carnarvon Street at West 41st Avenue, 1921 (Vancouver Sun, 6 March 1921, 20; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
BIDWELL STREET, at Comox Street, a terrace of eight houses for the Co-Operative Building Co., 1922 (Vancouver Daily World, 8 March 1922, 14, illus. & descrip.)
TWIZELL & TWIZELL (works in Vancouver unless noted)
VANCOUVER ROMAN CATHOLIC COLLEGE, 38th Avenue West at Hudson Street, 1924 (R.A.I.C. Journal, v, Dec. 1928, 424-9, illus. & descrip.; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
LORD KITCHENER PUBLIC SCHOOL, Blenheim Street at King Edward Avenue, 1924 (Vancouver Daily World, 4 March 1924, 2, descrip.; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
LANGLEY, B.C., a new High School, Yale Road, 1924 (Vancouver Sun, 8 March 1924, 2; and 16 April 1924, 9)
WEST LANGLEY, B.C., major addition to public school, 1924 (Vancouver Sun, 8 March 1924, 2)
STANLEY PARK, an outdoor memorial to American President Warren G. Harding (died August 1923), with statue and outdoor seating, 1924-25 (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 26 Dec. 1924, 6, illus.)
TALTON MANOR APARTMENTS, 15th Avenue West near Cypress Street, 1925 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
CANADIAN MEMORIAL UNITED CHURCH, 16th Avenue West at Burrard Street, 1927-28 (Province [Vancouver], 26 Feb. 1928, 21, descrip.; R.A.I.C. Journal, vi, May 1929, 172-7, illus. & descrip.; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
KIMBERLEY, B.C., United Church, Boundary Street at Wallinger Avenue, c. 1930; still standing in 2022 (dwgs. at United Church Archives, Toronto)
BURNABY, B.C., West Burnaby United Church, Sussex Avenue at Hazel Street, c. 1930; demol. (dwgs. at United Church Archives, Toronto)
BURNABY, B.C., Willingdon Heights United Church, Parker Street at Madison Avenue, c. 1930; still standing in 2022 (dwgs. at United Church Archives, Toronto)
OBLATE FATHERS PROVINCIAL HOUSE, West 8th Avenue at Maple Street, 1930 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
CHRIST CHURCH ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL, West Georgia Street at Burrard Street, major addition and alterations, 1930 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
ST. ANDREW'S-WESLEY UNITED CHURCH, Nelson Street at Burrard Street, 1931-33; restored 2019-21 (Vancouver Sun, 8 Jan. 1930, 2, descrip.; C.R., xlv, 15 July 1931, 847; Vancouver News-Herald, 26 May 1933, 8, detailed architectural description; R.A.I.C. Journal, xi, Jan. 1934, 2, 4-5, illus. & descrip.; Award Magazine [Vancouver], xxxv, March 2021, 51, illus. & descrip.; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
ST. MICHAEL'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, East Broadway near Prince Edward Street, 1932; still standing in 2022 (Province [Vancouver], 10 Sept. 1932, 4, illus. & descrip.; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
RICHMOND, B.C., a new Junior High school, Cambie Road, beside the existing High School, 1937 (Vancouver Sun, 2 July 1937, 7)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church, Royal Avenue at Fourth Street, 1937; still standing in 2022 (J.D. Scott, Once in the Royal City: The Heritage of New Westminster, 1985, 135)
CHILLIWACK, B.C., Junior High School, facing the Trans-Canada Highway, 1938-39 (Chilliwack Progress, 14 Sept. 1938, 1)
WEST POINT GREY UNITED CHURCH, Tolmie Street at West 8th Avenue, 1939-40; still standing in 2022 (Vancouver Sun, 1 April 1939, 36, illus. & detailed descrip.; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
ST. PHILLIPS ANGLICAN CHURCH, West 27th Avenue at Alma Street, 1941; still standing in 2022 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
CHILLIWACK, B.C., Junior-Senior High School, Yale Road at William Street, 1944 (Chilliwack Progress, 26 April 1944, 1)
KNOX UNITED CHURCH, Balaclava Street near West 41st Avenue, 1947; still standing in 2022 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
BLESSED SACRAMENT ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, Heather Street near West 15th Avenue, 1948; still standing in 2022 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
ST. GILES UNITED CHURCH, West 41st Avenue at Elizabeth Street, 1949; demol. (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
COMPETITIONS
VANCOUVER, B.C., Simon Fraser Public School, West 16th Avenue, 1908. R.P. Twizell was one of 19 architects who submitted designs for this new school. He was not among the three finalists, and the firm of Pearce & Hope were awarded the First Prize (Vancouver Daily World, 9 April 1908, 10; 12 May 1908, 10)
VANCOUVER, B.C., University of British Columbia Campus, Point Grey, 1912. The young firm of Twizell & Twizell, working with Van Siclen & Macomber, were one of 20 offices who submitted a design in this national competition (UBC Archives, List of Competitors, 14 Nov. 1912). The original drawing by Twizell for this competition is held at the City of Vancouver Archives, Acc. 166. Their proposal was not included in the list of 4 finalists, and Sharp & Thompson were later declared as the winners.
OTTAWA, ONT., Departmental Buildings, Wellington Street, 1914. The firm of Twizell & Twizell were one of 62 architectural firms from the British Commonwealth who submitted design for this major government complex (NAC, RG11, Vol. 2952, File 5370 1B, list of competitors). WWI Intervened, and the project was never built. It took nine years before 6 finalists were offered financial compensation for their effort, but this list did not include the Twizell brothers.
LONDON, ENGLAND, The London Daily Mail Ideal Home Competition, 1921. The firm of Twizell, Birds & Twizell was one of nine Vancouver architects who submitted designs in this international competition open to all architects from Canada and the British Commonwealth (Vancouver Daily World, 7 Dec. 1921, 19, descrip. of the competition). The first prize was $1,500 and a free trip to London. It is unclear who won the competition for this annual event which was first staged in 1908.
VANCOUVER, B.C., Canadian Memorial Church, West 16th Avenue, 1922. R.P.S. Twizell was one of 13 architects who submitted plans for this Vancouver landmark (Vancouver Daily World, 4 July 1922, 9). He received the Third Premium for his scheme. The winner was McCarter, Nairne & Co., with Robert Chadney.