MERCER, Andrew Lamb (1878-1959), active in Vancouver, B.C. for nearly fifty years. He was a member of the following firms:
Gardiner, Mercer & Gardiner, Vancouver, 1911 (with Frederick G. Gardiner and William F. Gardiner)
Gardiner & Mercer, New Westminster 1912-1916 (with Frederick G. Gardiner)
Gardiner & Mercer, Vancouver, 1917-1939 (with Frederick G. Gardiner)
Mercer & Mercer, Vancouver, 1939-58 (with John Mercer)
Born in Ayr, Scotland on 4 July 1878, he was the son of John Mercer, an architect and civil engineer. He was educated at Ayr Academy, and articled to William Kerr, a local architect in that town from 1894 to 1898. He then moved to Carlisle, Scotland and spent three years as draftsman in the office of T. Taylor Scott (in 1898-1901), and then moved to Dublin, Ireland where he served four years as managing assistant to Charles H. Ashworth, FRIBA, from 1902-05. While in Dublin, he studied structural engineering at Dublin Technical College. He moved back to Ayr in 1905 and opened his own office at 50 Alloway Street (The Architects & Surveyors Directory [London], 1907, 179, list of architects in Scotland), but only one project by him during this period has been identified.
Mercer emigrated to Canada in March 1910 and settled in Vancouver, B.C. The following year, he was working in the Vancouver office of Francis G. Gardiner and his younger brother William F. Gardiner (see list of works under Gardiner, Mercer & Gardiner). In May 1911, their Vancouver firm was appointed as Architects to the New Westminster Board of Education (Vancouver Daily World, 29 May 1911, 9). In order to handle the increased work load, both Mercer and Francis Gardiner moved to New Westminster and opened a separate office there, leaving William F. Gardiner in Vancouver where he worked independently. The new office of Gardiner & Mercer flourished, and they completed major commissions for educational, commercial, institutional and residential buildings there (see list of works under Francis G. Gardiner, as Gardiner & Mercer). In 1917 the firm closed their New Westminster office and moved to downtown Vancouver and remained active there for the next twenty-two years. In October 1939 the partnership of Gardiner & Mercer was dissolved, then Andrew Mercer quickly opened another office, this time in partnership with his son John “Jack” Mercer, and they remained active until 1958.
Andrew Mercer had a long-standing interest in the development of the architectural profession in British Columbia. In 1920 he was one of the founding members of the Architectural Inst. of British Columbia, and he holds Membership No. 001 in that organization. He was elected as the first President of the A.I.B.C. in 1920-22, and again as President in 1930-31. Mercer died in Vancouver on 28 February 1959 (obit. and port. The Province [Vancouver], 2 March 1959, 27; obit. British Columbian [New Westminster], 2 March 1959, 3; obit. R.A.I.C. Journal, xxxvi, April 1959, 138; biog. & port. Who’s Who & Why in Canada, 1912, 414; biog. & port. Who’s Who in Canada, 1923-24, 610; biog. Who’s Who in Canada, 1947-48, 1234; biog. and port. D. Luxton, Building The West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 311-13; biog. Dictionary of Scottish Architects, 2014 [online] ). A photographic portrait of Mercer taken c. 1910 before he came to Canada was published in Who’s Who & Why in Canada, 1912, 414.
A.L. MERCER (works in Scotland)
AYR, SCOTLAND, a three storey tenement building for C. McAndrew, 1904 (Building News [London], lxxxvi, 5 Aug. 1904, 206)
MERCER & MERCER (works in Vancouver unless noted)
ST. PAUL'S ROMAN CATHOLIC HOSPITAL, Burrard Street at Comox Street, addition of the South Wing, c. 1940 (Building in Canada, xxi, Spring 1941, 74, illus.)
SHAUGHNESSY MILITARY HOSPITAL, West 28th Street at Willow Street, new hospital building, administration building, and auditorium, 1940-41 (C.R., liii, 8 May 1940, 23; R.A.I.C. Journal, xvii, June 1940, 107; xviii, Aug. 1941, 140, illus.; Canadian Hospital, xviii, Sept. 1941, 13-17, illus. & descrip.; dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
INFECTIOUS DISEASES HOSPITAL, West 12th Avenue, a conversion of the former Shaughnessy Hospital, with extensive alterations, 1942 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xix, Jan. 1942, 14)
TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL, West 30th Avenue at Laurel Street, on the grounds of Shaughnessy Hospital, 1944 (C.R., xvii, 5 July 1944, 22; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvii, Sept. 1950 300, illus.; dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
WESTERN VINEGARS LTD., East Cordova Street at Glen Street, 1945 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
RED CROSS LODGE, West 30th Avenue at Willow Street, on the grounds of Shaughnessy Hospital, 1945 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
BARN CAFE, Granville Street near Davie Street, 1946 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
JEAN MATHESON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL PAVILION, West 28th Avenue at Oak Street, 1946 (H. Kalman, Exploring Vancouver, 1993, 179, illus.)
EAGLE HARBOUR, a Greek temple pavilion for Nick Kogos, 1946-56 (H. Kalman, Exploring Vancouver, 1975, 245, illus.)
UNITED DISTILLERS LTD., Shaughnessy Street at the BCER railway tracks, a rack warehouse, 1946-47 (C.R., lix, April 1946, 146; lx, Aug. 1947, 262)
VANCOUVER BREWERIES LTD., Vine Street at West 12th Avenue, bottling plant and warehouse, 1946-47; malt storage elevator, 1948 (C.R., lix, June 1946, 138; lx, June 1947, 108; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvii, Sept. 1950, 304, illus.)
NORTH VANCOUVER, International Paints Co., factory and office, 1947 (Financial Post [Toronto], 29 March 1947, 9)
RUTH MORTON MEMORIAL BAPTIST CHURCH, East 27th Avenue at Prince Albert Street, addition of a Sunday School, 1947 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
SALVATION ARMY CITADEL, East Hastings Street at Gore Street, 1949-50 (C.R., lxii, May 1949, 164; Vancouver Sun, 18 Feb. 1950, 19, illus. & descrip.; Vancouver News-Herald, 18 Feb. 1950, 13, descrip.; dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
VICTORIA, B.C., Victoria Veteran's Hospital, adjacent to Victoria Jubilee Hospital, Richmond Street near Bay Street, 1947; addition, 1950-51 (Canadian Hospital [Toronto], xxiv, Nov. 1947, 40-1, illus. & descrip.; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvii, Feb. 1950, 35, illus.; C.R., lxiii, March 1950, 136; Dec. 1950, 109; Donald Luxton & Jennifer Barr, Saanich Heritage Structures, 2008, 170, illus. & descrip.)
MARPOLE COMMUNITY CENTRE, West 59th Avenue at Oak Street, 1949 (C.R., lxii, May 1949, 168; dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
PENTICTON, B.C., City Hospital, 1949 (C.R., lxii, June 1949, 113)
CHILLIWACK, B.C., Royal Bank, Young Street at Wellington Street, 1949 (Chilliwack Progress, 14 Sept. 1949, 1)
ACADEMY OF MEDICINE, for the B.C. Medical Association, West 10th Avenue at Burrard Street, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, July 1950, 120-21, t.c.; dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
HARRISON HOT SPRINGS, B.C., new Club House, and major alterations and modernization of the Harrison Hot Springs Hotel, 1950 (Vancouver Sun, 7 Jan. 1950, 19, descrip.; C.R., lxiii, Feb. 1950, 132; Chilliwack Progress, 1 Feb. 1950, 5, descrip.)
B.C. CANCER FOUNDATION, West 11th Avenue at Heather Street, major addition, 1950-51 (C.R., lxiii, Dec. 1950, 106)
KNOX ROAD, residence for O. Gordon, 1953 (J. Bond, University Endowment Lands Architecture 1940-1969, 1993, 35, illus. & descrip.)