KING, William Richard (1845-1899), son of a railway engineer, was born in Canterbury, England on 26 July 1845 and educated at Ashford, Kent County. After serving an apprenticeship to a local architect he commenced the practice of architecture in 1867 in partnership with his father. He worked in his profession in Canterbury and for fourteen years held the post of Manager of the Local Water Works Company and was employed as surveyor for Building and Insurance Societies. His interest in the development of the railways in western Canada prompted him to emigrate to British Columbia in early 1888 where he settled at New Westminster (biography in J.B. Kerr, Biographical Dictionary of Well-Known British Columbians, 1890, 212-13).
Both he and another local architect, George W. Grant, dominated the local architectural scene in New Westminster during the next decade, but he appears to have been less successful than his rival to whom many of the important commercial and institutional commissions were given. In 1890 King entered the competition for the Public Library in Vancouver; he received Second Prize for his effort but the commission was awarded to Grant (C.R., i, 13 Sept. 1890, 2). King remained in New Westminster until 1896. He may be related to William J. King in the same city, perhaps a son or a brother. Both are listed as residing at the same address in New Westminster in 1892. W.R. King died at Issaquah, King County, Washington on 4 April 1899 (Williams British Columbia Directory, 1892; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 472, 508).
NEW WESTMINSTER, residence for James Rosseau, Royal Avenue, 1888 (Daily British Columbian [New Westminster], 19 Sept. 1888, 2, t.c.)
NEW WESTMINSTER, commercial block for W.J. Armstrong, Columbia Street 'adjoining the existing Armstrong Block', 1889 (Daily British Columbian [New Westminster], 16 Jan. 1889, 4, descrip.; 13 Feb. 1889, 4, t.c.)
VANCOUVER, B.C., Baptist Church, Hamilton Street at Dunsmuir Street, 1889 (Vancouver Daily News Advertiser, 24 Jan. 1889, 1, descrip.; Daily British Columbian [New Westminster], 14 Sept. 1889, 4). This church was incorrectly attributed to Thomas Hooper, but he only served as local supervising architect to W.R. King (see correction in the Vancouver Daily World, 21 Sept. 1889, 2 (inf. Donald Luxton, Vancouver).
NEW WESTMINSTER, residence for T.J. Trapp, Agnes Street, 1889 (Daily British Columbian [New Westminster], 16 Sept. 1889, 4)
SAPPERTON, large residence for Archdeacon Charles T. Woods, rector of St. Mary's Anglican Church, 1889 (Daily British Columbian [New Westminster], 16 Sept. 1889, 4)
NEW WESTMINSTER, residence for Capt. M.G. Terhune, 1889 (Daily British Columbian [New Westminster], 16 Sept. 1889, 4)
NEW WESTMINSTER, residence for Bishop Acton W. Sillitoe, Carnarvon Street near Blackwood Street, 1889 (Daily British Columbian [New Westminster], 16 Sept. 1889, 4)
NEW WESTMINSTER, five cottages for A. McInnes, St. Andrew's Street, 1890 (Daily Columbian [New Westminster], 31 Dec. 1890, 4)
REVELSTOKE, B.C., East End Public School, 1909 (Mail-Herald [Revelstoke], 17 March 1909, 1, descrip.)
REVELSTOKE, B.C., commercial block for R. Houson & Co., McKenzie Avenue at 2nd Street, 1910 (Mail-Herald [Revelstoke], 6 April 1910, 1, descrip.)
REVELSTOKE, B.C., major addition to the Queen's Hotel, Orton Avenue, 1910 (Mail-Herald [Revelstoke], 6 April 1910, 1, descrip.)
REVELSTOKE, B.C., livery barn for H.B. Cummins, Connaught Avenue at 2nd Street, 1910 (Mail-Herald [Revelstoke], 6 April 1910, 1)