GAMBLE, John Thomas (1857 - 1936) was active in Vancouver, B.C. in partnership with Jacob H. Knapp as 'Architects & Engineers' during the period of 1910 to 1912. He is almost certainly the same "John T. Gamble, Building contractor" listed in North Yakima, Washington in 1908, 1909 and 1910 (Yakima City Directory, 1908, 115). Born in Scotland in May 1857, he moved to Vancouver in early 1910 and teamed up with Jacob A. Knapp, a Seattle architect who had previously been in partnership there with Thomas L. West, as Knapp & West, Architects, c. 1905-10. In Vancouver, the most important work by Gamble & Knapp was their design of 'The Hollies', a lavish and substantial mansion for George E. MacDonald executed in an American Colonial revival style (D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 381, 501, illus.). Gamble may have left Vancouver after 1921 and returned to Washington State. In 1926 he was listed as an architect in the town of Kelso, Wash. Gamble later died in Los Angeles, Calif. on 27 December 1936 (death notice Los Angeles Times, 29 December 1936, Section Two, p. 16; R.L. Polk, Kelso City Directory, 1926, 94; inf. Canada, Census for 1911; Census for 1921, listings for City of Vancouver).
GAMBLE & KNAPP (works in British Columbia)
CHILLIWACK, B.C., a large hotel, in a 'Swiss chalet' style, for A.N. Smith, on his property at Vedder River, 1910 (Chillwack Progress, 17 Aug. 1910, 4, descrip.; C.R., xxiv, 21 Sept. 1910, 26)
VANCOUVER, B.C., residence for A.C. Hirshfield, Comox Street at Chilco Street, 1910 (H. Kalman, Exploring Vancouver, 1993, 119, illus.)
NORTH VANCOUVER, residence for Mr. Purse, Keith Road East, 1911 (City of North Vancouver Heritage Inventory, 1994, 104, illus.)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., Dominion Match Co. Ltd., Pitt River Road, large factory, 1911-12 (Province [Vancouver], 13 Dec. 1911, 32, descrip.; C.R., xxv, 27 Dec. 1911, 65)
VANCOUVER, B.C., 'The Hollies', a mansion for George E. MacDonald, Cedar Crescent at West 19th Avenue, Shaughnessy Heights, 1912 (Province [Vancouver], 6 July 1912, 25, illus. & descrip.; The Sun [Vancouver], 8 July 1912, 5; Saturday Sunset [Vancouver], 7 Feb. 1914, 18, illus. & detailed architectural descrip.)
VANCOUVER, B.C., large residence for C.H. Macauley, Hudson Street at Matthews Avenue, Shaughnessy Heights, 1912 (Province [Vancouver], 9 Nov. 1912, 31, illus. & descrip.)
VANCOUVER, B.C., large residence for Lytton W. Shatford, The Crescent at Tecumseh Avenue, Shaughnessy Heights, 1912-13 (Saturday Sunset [Vancouver], 9 May 1914, 18, illus. & detailed descrip.)