RICHARDS, William Austin Swain (1878-1973), born 16 February 1878, a native of Ormskirk, Co. Lancashire, England, and he trained in the office of Rathbone & Beckett, Architects of Liverpool, Engl. He emigrated to Canada before 1901 and settled in Vancouver where he was recorded as an “Architect’s Surveyor” (Henderson’s British Columbia Directory, 1904, Classified Professions list, 1172-74). His name as an architect active in Vancouver was listed in directories from 1905 to 1910. He appears to have been both an ambitious and a capable designer, and took it upon himself to submit an entry in the international competition for the Carnegie Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands in 1906 (Vancouver Daily World, 8 Oct. 1906, 4). His scheme was one of 216 entries which were sent in from around the world as part of this two-stage competition. The first round was won by the renowned Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, and second round by Louis M. Cordonnier of France.
In early 1912 Richards moved to Kamloops and opened an office there (Inland Sentinel [Kamloops], 20 May 1912, 4). The following year he prepared plans for an Exhibition Building in Kamloops, but the project was never realised. Richards later returned to England and died at Bedford, Co. Bedfordshire on 10 April 1973, at the age of 95 years (inf. England & Wales National Probate Calendar for 1973; inf. D. Luxton, Building The West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 482, 516)
VANCOUVER, B.C., a ten storey apartment block, Burrard Street at West Georgia Street, 1907; with a smaller version of the same plan at the same location submitted in 1909 (Vancouver Daily World, 29 June 1907, 1, descrip.; and 27 Feb. 1909, 25, illus. & descrip.; C.R., xviii, 10 July 1907, 6; and xxiii, 3 March 1909, 20)
VANCOUVER, B.C., a pair of chapels at the Vancouver Cemetery, 1908 (Vancouver Daily World, 22 Feb. 1908, 21, illus.)
VANCOUVER, B.C., commercial block for Mrs. E. Gould, Robson Street, 1910; demol. (D. Luxton, Building The West, 2003, 516, list of works)
KAMLOOPS, B.C., Exhibition Building for the Agricultural Association, designed 1913, but not built (Inland Sentinel [Kamloops], 22 May 1913, 1; and 23 May 1913, 1)