LEWIS, Richard (1824-1875), one of first professional architects to live and work in Victoria, B.C. from 1858 until his death in 1875. Born in London, England in 1824, he moved to Dundee, Scotland where he learned the building trades, and entered into an apprenticeship as a master mason in 1851 (BCPA, G. Hollis Slater Papers, Masonic membership records of Richard Lewis). He then moved to Chile in South America, and shortly after he relocated to San Francisco, where local city directories record him as a carpenter (City Directory of San Francisco, 1854, 85), and as a carpenter & builder (Harris, Bogardus & Labatt, San Francisco City Directory, 1856, 74). By early 1858 he had moved again, this time to Victoria. B.C. to work as a builder. In 1861 he was referred to as the “architect” of Commercial Row, a prominent group of early stores and warehouses on Wharf Street which were among the first in the city to utilize cast iron fronts imported from San Francisco. He favoured the Italianate style for much of his commercial work, but the recession of 1865-66 appears to have had a significant negative impact on his professional activity.
Lewis was a high-ranking and respected member of the Masonic Order in Victoria, and in 1863 he was described in local newspaper accounts as the”Principal Architect” at the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the new Jewish Synagogue in Victoria, but his title appears to have been an honorary one, because the actual design architects for the building were the talented team of Wright & Saunders. Lewis also took an interest in local politics, serving three terms as a city alderman, and a one-year term as Mayor of Victoria in 1872 after the resignation of the previous mayor in January 1872 (Daily British Colonist [Victoria], 25 Jan. 1872, 3). Lewis died in Victoria, B.C on 1 January 1875 (obituary Daily British Colonist [Victoria], 3 Jan. 1875, 1; 5 Jan. 1875, 3; obit. Daily Standard [Victoria], 4 Jan. 1875, 3; extensive biography in The Colonist [Victoria], Sunday 1 March 1953, 6; biog. and port Donald Luxton, Building The West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 46-47, 509). A photographic portrait of Lewis taken c. 1870 is held at the British Columbia Public Archives, Victoria.
VICTORIA, B.C., a row of seven brick stores with iron and stone fronts, Wharf Street at Bastion Street, and forming part of “Commercial Row“, 1861 (Daily British Colonist [Victoria], 20 June 1861, 1, t.c.; Donald Luxton, Building The West, 2003, 47, illus.)
unnamed street, a two storey dwelling house, "...near the residence of Augustus F. Pemberton" on Foul Bay Road, 1862 (Daily Press [Victoria], 7 July 1862, 2, t.c.)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., a stone commercial block for Henry Holbrook, Columbia Street, 1863 (British Columbian [New Westminster], 29 July 1863, 2, t.c.)
VICTORIA, B.C., residence for an unnamed client, Quadra Street at Government Square, James Bay, 1863 (Daily British Colonist [Victoria], 7 April 1863, 2, t.c.)
VICTORIA, B.C., St. Ann's Roman Catholic Hospital, Collinson Street, for the Sisters of St. Ann, 1865 (Daily British Colonist [Victoria], 4 Jan. 1865, 3, t.c.)
VICTORIA, B.C., a two storey frame residence, Fort Street at Pemberton Street for an unnamed client, 1865 (Daily British Colonist [Victoria], 14 July 1865, 2, t.c.)
VICTORIA, B.C. White Horse Tavern, Humboldt Street at McClure Street, a two storey brick block, 1865; demol. (Daily British Colonist [Victoria], 31 July 1865, 4, t.c.)
VICTORIA, B.C., The Stamp Block, for Capt. Edward Stamp, a commercial block for three stores "...opposite the Bank of British Columbia", 1866 (Daily British Colonist [Victoria], 3 March 1866, 3, descrip.)
VICTORIA, B.C., Masonic Hall, Government Street at Fort Street, 1866 (Daily British Colonist [Victoria], 26 June 1866, 3, descrip.)
VICTORIA, B.C., Southgate & Lascelles Block, Government Street near Fort Street, a one storey commercial block, with a front of “iron columns”, for James J. Southgate, 1869; with later additions by John Teague, 1886 and 1889 (Daily British Colonist [Victoria], 13 May 1869, 3, descrip.; Parks Canada, Canada’s Historic Properties, designated 27 Nov. 1975)
VICTORIA, B.C., a brick commercial block on Fort Street, for an unnamed client, “…next to Wilson & Rickman’s Store” located on Douglas Street at Fort Street, 1871 (Victoria Daily Standard, 24 April 1871, 2, t.c.)
SAPPERTON, B.C., a cemetery chapel, perhaps at the Fraser Cemetery, Richmond Street at Cumberland Street, 1872 (Mainland Guardian [New Westminster], 31 July 1872, 3)