WOOD & RICHARDS, Architects , active in Victoria, B.C. during the period 1919-20, consisting of Frederick Wood (1874-1935) and Reginald Percy James Richards (1892-1979). They are listed as architects with an office at 1405 Douglas Street in 1920 (City of Victoria Directory, 1920, 538). Their largest commission was for a substantial club house building costing $40,000 and built for the Victoria Golf Club, Beach Drive, Oak Bay, 1920-21, and they also completed designs for several single family detached houses in the Craftsmen style as part of the federal government Soldiers Settlement Housing initiative.
In 1920, the newly formed Architectural Institute of British Columbia implemented a programme of registration for all architects in the province, but both Wood and Richards declined to join that organization, and they continued to work as designers and builders. In 1921 Wood joined with Kenneth B. Foyster, an engineer by training, to form a new company as "Constructional Engineers & Building Contractors", and they continued to design and build residences in the Victoria area. Frederick Wood was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England on 17 January 1874 and was educated and trained in Luton. He emigrated to Canada in 1907 and settled in Victoria. He later died there on 17 November 1935 (death notice Victoria Daily Times, 18 Nov. 1935, 16). His business partner R.P.J. Richards was a native of Harrow, England, born there on 2 May 1892 and he arrived in Victoria after 1910. He appears to have returned to England after 1930, and died in Surrey, England in October 1979 (inf. Jennifer Barr, Victoria)
(works in Victoria, B.C.)
WOOD & RICHARDS
OAK BAY, Victoria Golf Club, Beach Drive near Margate Avenue, on Gonzales Point, a new clubhouse, 1920-21 (C.R., xxxiv, 24 Nov. 1920, 51)
MERRITT STREET, near Cook Street, residence for Norman McSween, 1920 (inf. Victoria Heritage Foundation)
BANK STREET, at Cowan Avenue, residence for Albert L. Emsley, 1920 (inf. Victoria Heritage Foundation, designation statement)
ROBERTSON STREET, near Fairfield Road, residence for George Hyne, 1920 (inf. Victoria Heritage Foundation)
STANNARD AVENUE, near Fairfield Road, residence for Thomas H. Mansfield, 1920 (inf. Victoria Heritage Foundation)
OAK BAY, residence for Marshall P. Gordon, Victoria Avenue near Brighton Avenue, 1920 (inf. Oak Bay Heritage Foundation)
WOOD & FOYSTER
LINDEN AVENUE, at McClure Street, residence for Fred Williams, 1921 (inf. Victoria Heritage Foundation)
FREDERICK WOOD
PAKINGTON STREET, near Cook Street, residence for Dorothy P. Austin, 1931 (inf. Jennifer Barr, Victoria)