PERRY, Richard Thomas (1884- c. 1935), active in Vancouver, B.C. and in Calgary, Alta. where he worked under his own name, and in a progression of partnerships including:
Perry & Purvis, Vancouver, 1910-11 (with George B. Purvis)
Perry & Nicolais, Vancouver, 1911-13 (with Raphael A. Nicolais)
Perry & Fowler, Vancouver, 1913-19 (with Charles B. Fowler)
Richard T. Perry, Vancouver, 1920-26
Perry & Kerr, Vancouver, 1926 (with Robert C. Kerr)
Richard T. Perry, Vancouver, 1927-33, with branch office in Calgary, Alta. 1929-30
Born in Cardiff, Wales on 28 November 1884, he was educated there and articled to Charles B. Fowler, FRIBA, (1849-1941), a prominent architect in Cardiff who later emigrated to Vancouver, B.C. in 1913 and who later formed a partnership with his young apprentice. Perry opened an office in Cardiff, but in 1907 he left for Canada, choosing to settle in Vancouver where he was active for the next twenty-five years. He was briefly in partnership with George B. Purvis (Vancouver City Directory, 1910, 1044), and the following year formed a new partnership with Raphael A. Nicolais. Their collaboration was brief; by 1913 he had entered into a new partnership, this time with Major Charles B. Fowler (1849-1941), his former employer in Cardiff, Wales under whom he had articled as a student for five years. Perry went overseas during WWI to serve with the Canadian Army, and later returned to Vancouver in February 1919 where he resumed his practise under his own name from 1920 to 1926.
He collaborated briefly with Robert C. Kerr in 1926, then continued to work alone, designing more than a dozen apartment blocks and commercial buildings in Vancouver. With a growing business in Vancouver,, Perry opened a branch office in Calgary, Alta. in 1929 (C.R., xliii, 14 Aug. 1929, 963), but the stock market crash in October 1929 had a drastic impact on his work there and in Vancouver, and his membership in the A.I.B.C. was cancelled in 1930, but he remained active there to complete work on the design and construction of two Armouries for the federal government. He left Canada in 1935 and returned to England, but no references to his work there have yet been found (biog. Who’s Who in Western Canada, 1911; biog. Who’s Who & Why in Canada, v, 1914, 746; Alberta Assoc. of Architects, Application for Membership dated 18 June 1929; biog. and list of works in D. Luxton, Building The West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 296, illus.; list of works 514-15)
R.T. PERRY (works in Vancouver)
STRATHCONA HOTEL, West Hastings Street, major alterations, 1908 (list of works on A.I.B.C. Application form for R.T. Perry)
GILLIS SUPPLY CO., warehouse, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 22 Sept. 1909, 23)
PERRY & NICOLAIS (works in Vancouver unless noted)
WEST HOMER AVENUE, warehouse for J.A. Conrey, 1911 (list of works on A.I.B.C. Application form for R.T. Perry)
MAIN STREET, a large brick theatre building seating 500 patrons, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 6 Sept. 1911, 61, t.c.)
HONG KONG, CHINA, a large bank and office building “.....for a Vancouver syndicate”, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 20 Sept. 1911, 55)
SUN AH HOTEL, East Pender Street at Gore Avenue, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 20 Sept. 1911, 61; H. Kalman, Exploring Vancouver, 1993, 38, illus.)
EAST PENDER STREET, at Columbia Street, commercial block and apartments for Loo Gee Wing, 1911-12 (C.R., xxv, 25 Oct. 1911, 53; Province [Vancouver], 9 March 1912, 38)
SAM KEE HOTEL, Main Street at Harris Street, a large 4 storey hotel block, 1911-12; demol. (Province [Vancouver], 9 March 1912, 38, descrip.; and 20 April 1912, 29, illus. & descrip.; dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
RYAN COURT APARTMENTS, West 10th Avenue, 1912 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
SHAUGHNESSY HEIGHTS, residence for Jonathan W. Foster, Cedar Crescent at Cypress Street, 1912 (Province [Vancouver], 9 March 1912, 38, descrip.; list of works on A.I.B.C. Application form for R.T. Perry)
SHAUGHNESSY HEIGHTS, residence for William Hickey, Osler Avenue near The Crescent, 1912 (list of works on A.I.B.C. Application form for R.T. Perry)
HAMILTON STREET, warehouse for George B. Baker, 1912 (Province [Vancouver], 11 May 1912, 28, descrip.)
PERRY & FOWLER (works in Vancouver unless noted)
CITY OF VANCOUVER OLD PEOPLE’S HOME, Boundary Road, 1913-14 (Vancouver Sun, 28 March 1913, 3; D. Luxton, Building The West, 2003, 514-15, list of works)
DRILL HALL, for the Federal Government, 1913-14 (Vancouver Sun, 23 Aug. 1913, 4)
PORT COQUITLAM, B.C., St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church, 1914 (Pacific Coast Architect [Portland, Ore.], vii, March 1914; D. Luxton, Building the West, 2007, 425, illus.)
GRANDVIEW DRILL HALL, for the Federal Dept. of Public Works, Commercial Drive near William Street, 1913-18 (C.R., xxvii, 10 Sept. 1913, 70; Vancouver Daily World, 15 Jan. 1914, 16, descrip.; Pacific Coast Architect [Portland], vii, March 1914; Province [Vancouver], 7 Aug. 1915, 15, illus.; C.R., xxxii, 24 July 1918, 43)
WEST 2nd AVENUE, near Tolmie Street, residence for James Cashman, 1919 (H. Kalman, Exploring Vancouver, 1993, 172, illus.)
R.T. PERRY (works in Vancouver)
SHAUGHNESSY MILITARY HOSPITAL, a new Tuberculosis Pavilion, West 29th Avenue, 1921-22; demol. (Vancouver Daily World, 9 Nov. 1921, 15, descrip.; dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
MOUNTAIN VIEW CEMETERY, a Monument for WWI Returned Soldiers, 1922 (Province [Vancouver], 15 July 1921, 21, descrip.; Vancouver Daily World, 18 May 1922, 9)
DUNBAR HEIGHTS UNITED CHURCH, West 24th Avenue near Dunbar Street, 1922 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
FAIRVIEW BAPTIST CHURCH, Fir Street at West 12th Avenue, 1924 (Vancouver Daily World, 23 Jan. 1924, 3, descrip.)
ST. JAMES ANGLICAN CHURCH, Cordova Street, a lych gate for the church, 1924, and later removed to the site of St. Martin’s Anglican Church, East Windsor Street, North Vancouver, c. 1929 (P. Reeve, Every Good Gift: A History of St. James Church Vancouver 1881-1981, 1981, 88, illus.)
PERRY & KERR (works in Vancouver)
SECOND CHURCH OF CHRIST SCIENTIST, West 12th Avenue at Cypress Street, 1926 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
RYERSON UNITED CHURCH, Point Grey, West 45th Avenue at Yew Street, 1926-28 (C.R., xl, 1 Dec. 1926, 51; The Province [Vancouver], 24 March 1928, 4, illus. & descrip.; dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
R.T. PERRY (works in Vancouver unless noted)
KERRISDALE, at Point Grey, a tract of 32 large houses for Kerrisdale Home Builders Ltd., 1927 (C.R., xli, 8 June 1927, 586, illus.)
ROSLYN APARTMENTS, Jervis Street at Barclay Street, 1927 (C.R., xli, 1 June 1927, 562, illus. & descrip.)
SHAUGHNESSY HEIGHTS, residence for Dr. R. Ansley Seymour, Somerset Crescent at West 40th Avenue, 1927 (Vancouver b.p. 11322, 6 July 1927, but lacking name of architect; Province [Vancouver], 17 June 1928, 36, lawsuit by R.T. Perry against Dr. R.A. Seymour; inf. Donald Luxton, Vancouver)
ROYAL BANK OF CANADA, Granville Street at West Hastings Street, bank and office block, designed 1927; built 1930-32 (C.R., xli, 19 Oct. 1927, 49)
TATLOW COURT APARTMENTS, Bayswater Street, near Point Grey Road, 1927-28 (Province [Vancouver], 11 July 1928, 14, illus. and detailed architectural description; Vancouver Heritage Inventory - Summary Report, 1986, 49, illus.)
SANTA MONICA APARTMENTS, West 12th Street near Fir Street, 1928 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
WALDRON APARTMENTS, Barclay Street near Denman Street, 1928 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
COMPTON LODGE APARTMENTS, Beach Avenue at Lagoon Drive, for J.P. Hodgson, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 23 May 1928, 48; Vancouver Sun, 6 Oct. 1928, Section 3, p. 9, illus. & descrip.)
VENETIAN BENEVOLENT SOCIETY, East Hastings Street near Hawks Avenue, community hall, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 6 June 1928, 52; dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
NELSON STREET, apartment block for P.J. Scott, 1928-29 (C.R., xlii, 12 Dec. 1928, 47)
NICOLA STREET, apartment block for Shaw & Rentfrow, 1928-29 (C.R., xlii, 12 Dec. 1928, 47)
RANDALL BUILDING, West Georgia Street near Richards Street, 1929 (City of Vancouver b.p. B 24788, 11 March 1929; D. Luxton, Building The West, 2003, 514-15, list of works; inf. Patrick Gunn, Vancouver)
POINT GREY ARMOURIES, Kerrisdale, for the Federal Dept. of Public Works, West 45th Avenue near East Boulevard, 1928-32 (Province [Vancouver], 11 July 1928, 11, descrip.; C.R., xlii, 25 July 1928, 61; xlvi, 17 Feb. 1932, 44; Const., xxi, Sept. 1928, 310, descrip.)
BESSBOROUGH ARMOURIES, for the Federal Dept. of Public Works, West 11th Avenue at Maple Street, 1932-34 (C.R., xlvi, 7 Sept. 1932, 54; and 2 Nov. 1932, 1260; dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
CALGARY, ALTA., an 8 storey hotel, on 7th Avenue at Centre Street, possibly The York Hotel, 1929 (C.R., xliii, 5 June 1929, 60)
CALGARY, ALTA., Barnhart Apartments, 12th Avenue at 6th Street West, for C.E. Barnhart, 1929 (Calgary Herald, 19 Oct. 1929, 30, illus. & descrip.)
CALGARY, ALTA., Prudential Medical & Dental Building, 9th Avenue at Second Street West, 1930 (Const., xxiii, April 1930, 112)
CALGARY, ALTA., Film Exchange Building, 12th Avenue at Second Street, 1930 (C.R., xliv, 24 Sept. 1930, 215)
COMPETITIONS
VICTORIA, B.C., Provincial Normal School, 1912. The firm of Perry & Nicolais submitted a remarkably sophisticated neo-Gothic design in an open competition for this project. Their scheme, with a central clock tower rising nearly 80 feet, was later set aside in favour of the winning design by William C.F. Gillam. A copy of their drawings survive in the Photography Collection of the B.C. Public Archives in Victoria (BCPA, Photo Coll. 70155)
FRANCE & BELGIUM, Canadian Battlefields Memorials, 1921. Perry was among over 100 competitors who submitted a design in this two stage competition for these cemetery sites in western Europe (Gazette [Montreal], 26 April 1921, 10; Const., xiv, June 1921, 164, illus.). His proposal was advanced to the second stage and placed among 17 finalists, and a detailed description of his Vimy Ridge Memorial "...in the Gothic style" was published in the Vancouver Daily World, 27 April 1921, 11. The final award was given to the sculptor Walter S. Allward of Toronto, and to F.C. Clemesha of Regina (C.R., xxxv, 4 May 1921, 452)