LEE, Robert Henry (1859-1935) was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, U.S.A. in December 1859 and he later emigrated to Canada in 1881. He was active in Kamloops, B.C. where he arrived in 1884, working at first as a civil engineer and land surveyor. From May 1885 he began to advertise his services as an architect, C.E. and Government Surveyor (British Columbia Directory, 1887). He appears to have been the only professional architect in Kamloops for more than a decade, and his most productive year appears to have been 1887. His name as 'architect' is listed consistently in the annual B.C. provincial directories until 1905, during which period he also served as Mayor for the city for three terms (1894, 1895 and 1896) and acted as City Engineer until his retirement in 1928. Lee died in Kamloops on 8 February 1935 (obit. Inland Sentinel [Kamloops], 8 Feb. 1935, p. 1; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 473, 509; inf. John Stewart, Kamloops Museum)
(works in Kamloops)
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Avenue at Battle Street, 1887; burned 1919 (Inland Sentinel [Kamloops, 31 Dec. 1887, 7, list of works)
ST. ANDREW'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Seymour Street, 1887-88 (Daily Colonist [Victoria], 10 Jan. 1888, 4)
BANK OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, First Avenue at Victoria Street, 1887; demol. (Inland Sentinel [Kamloops, 31 Dec. 1887, 7, list of works; dwgs. Kamloops Museum)
SECOND AVENUE, at Seymour Street, residence for R.E. Smith, 1887 (Inland Sentinel [Kamloops, 31 Dec. 1887, 7, list of works)
ROBSON & LEE STORE, 1887 (Inland Sentinel [Kamloops, 31 Dec. 1887, 7, list of works)
GAOL AND COURT HOUSE, alterations , 1889; 1897 (B.C., Sessional Papers, 1890, Public Accounts, 60; Sessional Papers, 1898, Public Accounts, 105)
BATTLE STREET WEST, residence for Frederick E. Young, 1910 (inf. Kamloops Museum)