MACEY, Frank William (1864-1935) lived and worked in Vancouver, B.C. from 1905 until after 1930. Born in London, England on 17 January 1864, he attended private schools there and by 1881 he was employed as an “architect’s pupil” in London and trained as an apprentice in a local office. He joined the Society of Architects in 1886, and later became a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
In late 1905 Macey travelled to Canada, stopping in Vancouver (Vancouver Daily World, 16 Nov. 1905, 5). His arrival there was acknowledged in a local newspaper which noted that he was “…the well-known writer of standard works on architecture including “Specifications in Detail” (1898) and “Conditions of Contract” (1902)”. Both of these publications were technical reference works used by all trained architects in Britain and prescribed by the R.I.B.A. in their professional training courses and examinations. Macey decided to remain in Vancouver, and he can be credited with some of most distinctive residential and ecclesiastical works in the region, including the fastidious design, in the English half-timber style, for the sprawling mansion for James R. Waghorn, on Beach Drive overlooking English Bay (1907; demol.). An exterior photograph of this work, credited to the architect, with floor plan and description, was published in the Vancouver Sun, 17 May 1930, 17, and confirms Macey to be a talented and accomplished designer who ranks with Samuel Maclure as one of the leading architects on the Canadian west coast during the first decade of the 20th C.
Macey joined the Architectural Inst. of British Columbia in December 1920, but no references to his works after 1922 have been found, and his membership in the AIBC was cancelled in 1931. He died at Deep Cove, B.C. on 18 August 1935 (obituary Province [Vancouver], 19 Aug. 1935, 3; Vancouver Sun, 20 Aug. 1935, 5; biog. H. Morgan, Canadian Men & Women of the Time, 1912, 688; biog. & port. Donald Luxton, Building The West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 292-93, 511; inf. R.I.B.A., Directory of British Architects, 2001, Vol. 2, p. 99-100; inf. Architectural Inst. of British Columbia)
(works in Vancouver and area)
MOUNTAIN VIEW CEMETERY, residence for the Michael Barry, Cemetery Superintendent, on the east side of Fraser Street at East 33rd Avenue, opposite the cemetery entrance, 1906; demol. (C.R., xvi, 7 Feb. 1906, 4; Province [Vancouver], 22 Feb. 1906, 9; inf. Jim Wolf, Burnaby)
HARWOOD STREET, near Bidwell Street, residence for Frank W. Macey, architect, 1906-07; demol. (City of Vancouver b.p., 6 April 1906; inf. Patrick Gunn, City of Vancouver), This house "...built by an architect for his own occupation" on Harwood Street is almost certainly the same residence described in detail in a Sale Notice in The Sun [Vancouver], 1 Nov. 1912, 31.
BEACH AVENUE, near Bidwell Street, a mansion for James R. Waghorn, 1907; demol. (City of Vancouver b.p. 29 May 1906; Vancouver Sun, 17 May 1930, 17, illus. & descrip.; inf. Patrick Gunn, City of Vancouver)
SURREY, B.C., St. Oswald’s Anglican Church, 96th Avenue at 190th Street, 1911 (The Leader [Surrey], 3 Sept. 1986, 30, history and descrip.; Surrey/North Delta Leader [Surrey], 15 Oct. 1995, B 2, illus. & descrip.)
SURREY, B.C., St. Helen’s Anglican Church, 128th Street at 108 Avenue, 1911 (D. Luxton, Building The West, 2003, 293, illus.)
BURNABY, B.C., “Altnadene”, a mansion for William J. Mathers, Deer Lake Avenue, 1912 (City of Burnaby, Deer Lake Park Heritage Resource Inventory, 1998, 27-28, illus. & descrip.)
BURNABY, B.C., a large residence for Robert F. Anderson, Deer Lake Avenue, 1912 (City of Burnaby, Deer Lake Park Heritage Resource Inventory, 1998, 28-29, illus. & descrip.)
BURNABY, B.C., “Avalon”, a mansion for Frederick J. Hart, Deer Lake Avenue, 1912 (Vancouver Sun, 21 Sept. 1930, 21, illus & descrip.; City of Burnaby, Deer Lake Park Heritage Resource Inventory, 1998, 31-34, illus. & descrip.)
POWELL STREET, at Salsbury Avenue, a four storey rooming house of mill construction, with retail store and 93 bedrooms on the upper floors, 1913 (C.R., xxvii, 8 Jan. 1913, 61, descrip.)
PALMS HOTEL, Granville Street, near Smythe Street, major additions and renovation to a 3 storey block of stores and offices for T.A. Andrews, 1913; originally designed by William Blackmore as the second Vermilyea Block (Vancouver Sun, 10 March 1913, 10, detailed descrip.; City of Vancouver b.p. 4442, dated 1 March 1913; Donald Luxton & Associates, Palms Hotel Conservation Plan, December 2019)
VICTORIA & VANCOUVER STEVEDORING CO., Alexander Street at Gore Street, commercial block, 1922 (City of Vancouver b.p. A 3973, 12 July 1922; Vancouver Sun, 13 July 1922, 9; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
SHAUGHNESSY HEIGHTS, residence for Frank A. Ashton, Hudson Street at Laurier Avenue, 1923; still standing as of 2019 (City of Vancouver b.p. 5654, 22 June 1923; inf. Patrick Gunn, City of Vancouver)
COMPETITIONS
SIMON FRASER PUBLIC SCHOOL, West 16th Avenue, 1908. Macey was one of 19 architects who submitted plans in this local competition. He was not among the three finalists, and the commission was awarded to Pearce & Hope (Vancouver Daily World, 9 April 1908, 10; 12 May 1908, 10)