McKEE, Robert Ross (1913-1984), a talented designer of modernist houses as well as commercial and ecclesiastical buildings in the Lower Mainland area of British Columbia. Born in Vancouver, he studied architecture at the Univ. of Washington in Seattle in 1934-38, spending his summer vacations back in Vancouver working in the office of McCarter & Nairne, and for C.B.K. Van Norman from 1935 to 1939. He joined the Royal Canadian Engineers and was on active service during WWII, and resumed his practice in Vancouver in 1946. He remained there until 1964, then moved to Ottawa where he was on the staff of the office of John B. Parkin until 1968, and returned to the West Coast and continued to operate his own office in West Vancouver from 1968 to 1979. McKee was among a group of young architects who introduced the post and beam aesthetic to contemporary residential design on the Canadian west coast. This group included Robert A.D. Berwick, Charles E. Pratt, and Peter Thornton. An outstanding example of his work was the Arthur W. Way House, West Vancouver (1949-50), where he successfully integrated a modernist style with traditional Northwest Coast native art in the form of a large outdoor mural executed by the architect himself on the flanking side of the house. McKee died in Vancouver on 20 October 1984 (death notice Vancouver Sun, 24 Oct. 1984, E4; biog. R.A.I.C. Journal, xvii, Nov. 1950, 392; biog. R. Liscombe, The New Spirit: Modern Architecture in Vancouver 1938-1963, 1997, 203)
Robert R. McKEE (works in Vancouver)
WEST 39TH STREET, near Hudson Avenue, residence for Allan McGavin, 1946 (C.H.G., xxiii, April 1946, 36-7, illus.)
ROSSES DRIVE-IN RESTAURANT, East Hastings Street, 1947 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
ST. CHAD’S ANGLICAN CHURCH, Trafalgar Street at West 21st Avenue, 1947 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
FIT-WELL GARMENT CO., West Pender Street near Bute Street, factory, 1947 (RA.I.C. Journal, xxv, Nov. 1948, 408-09, illus.; dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
BROCKVILLE MANOR APARTMENTS, Cambie Street at West 19th Avenue, 1948 (C.R., lxi, Feb. 1948, 170)
McGAVIN LTD., West Broadway at Arbutus Street, office building, 1947-48 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxv, Feb. 1948, 50-1, illus. & descrip.)
CANADIAN BEDDING CO. LTD., Terminal Street at Begg Street, showroom and warehouse, 1948 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxv, Nov. 1948, 413, illus.)
MacKENZIE LADIES WEAR, retail store, 1948 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxv, Aug. 1948, 265, illus.)
SUZETTE SHOP (a conversion of the former Western Garages Ltd. building), 1948 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxv, Aug. 1948, 263, illus)
PLYMOUTH BRETHERN GRANVILLE CHAPEL, Granville Street near West 43rd Avenue, 1949-50 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvii, Sept. 1950, 294, illus.; H. Kalman, Exploring Vancouver, 1993, 177, illus.; dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
CHRISTIAN BROTHERS VANCOUVER COLLEGE, West 39th Avenue at Cartier Street, 1949 (dwgs. Vancouver City Archives)
unnamed street, residence for Leonard J. Bennett, 1949 (C.H.G., xxvi, Feb. 1949, 30, illus.)
WEST VANCOUVER, residence for Arthur W. Way, at the foot of Oxley Street, 1950 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvii, Sept. 1950, 310, illus.)
NEWTON WYND AVENUE, residence for A.S. Ellett, 1956 (J. Bond, University Endowment Lands Architecture 1940-1969, 1993, 39, illus. & descrip.)
NEWTON WYND AVENUE, residence for S. Waroway, 1956 (J. Bond, University Endowment Lands Architecture 1940-1969, 1993, 40, illus. & descrip.)
Robert R. McKEE (works elsewhere)
ROUNDS, B.C., a new townsite for Alaska Pine Co., 1947 (C.R., lx, March 1947, 118)
GORDON RIVER, VANCOUVER ISLAND, B.C., Townsite for a railroad logging town, “owned and operated by the Koerner interests”, 1948 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxv, Dec. 1948, 440-49, illus. & descrip.)
MISSION, B.C., hotel for Mrs. George Fletcher, 1948-49 (C.R., lxi, Oct. 1948, 180; lxii, Feb. 1949, 153)
HOPE, B.C., Rupert Taylor Motel, 1949 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxvi, Sept. 1949, 288-90, illus. & descrip.)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., Radio Station CKNW, Columbia Street, new studios and offices, 1949-50 (Vancouver News-Herald, 1 Feb. 1950, 16, descrip.)