Mercer, John

MERCER, John “Jack” (1909-1998), son of Vancouver architect Andrew L. Mercer and in partnership with his father from October 1939 onward (see list of works under Mercer & Mercer). John M. was born at Ayr, Scotland on 23 January 1909 but did not receive a formal university education. Instead, he studied architecture under his father, and through home-study courses offered by the International Correspondence School in Scranton, Penn. He articled in his father’s firm of Gardiner & Mercer from 1926 to 1931, then continued to work in that office as a draftsman and assistant in 1931-39. When the office of Gardiner & Mercer was dissolved in late 1939, Andrew L. invited his son to form a new partnership (R.A.I.C. Journal, xvi, Nov. 1939, 246) and their firm was active until February 1959 when Andrew L. Mercer died. The successor to the firm was John Mercer who continued the work of the office until 1970 when he retired and sold the practise. John Mercer died in Vancouver on 21 January 1998 (death notice, Vancouver Sun, 30 Jan. 1998, 30; biog. of John Mercer in D. Luxton, Building The West - The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 312-13; inf. from Architectural Inst. of British Columbia)