WADE, John Howard (1914-1997) was born in Singapore on 23 March 1914 and educated in England where he graduated from the Architectural Association in London in 1936. He joined the young London firm of Connell Ward & Lucas in 1936-37, as their firm became one of the leading exponents of the new modernist style then emerging in England. He then became a junior partner with Guy Morgan & Partners in 1938. After emigrating to Canada in 1939 he formed a partnership in Vancouver with E.D. King, but their practise was interrupted by WWII and Wade joined the Royal Canadian Navy. In late 1944 he met S. Patrick Birley when both were stationed at Esquimalt; Birley persuaded Wade to remain in Victoria and together they started a new office there in 1945 (see list of works under Birley & Wade). In early 1946 they were joined by C.D. Stockdill and the firm flourished, becoming the leading practice on Vancouver Island. Birley left in 1950 and Wade continued to practise for the next 42 years in several partnerships, initially as Wade & Stockdill (1950-52), as Wade, Stockdill & Armour (1953-63), and as Wade Stockdill Armour & Blewett (1964-74). In 1974 the office was split into two branches, one in Victoria, and the other in Vancouver. The Victoria branch was renamed The Wade Williams Partnership, with John Wade and Terence Williams. Wade retired from the profession in 1992.
Wade was active in professional circles, and served on the National Capital Commission. He was elected President of the Architectural Inst. of British Columbia in 1953, and later nominated as a Fellow of both the R.A.I.C. (Ottawa), and the R.I.B.A. in London. He died in Victoria on 3 November 1997 (obituary with port, Times-Colonist [Victoria], 5 Nov. 1997, 5; death notice Globe & Mail [Toronto], 8 Nov. 1997, H 15; biog. S.M. Carter, Who's Who in British Columbia, 1947-48, 215-16; inf. John H. Wade, Victoria; inf. Terence Williams, Victoria)