WOODROOFE, Arnott (1879-1976) was active in Vancouver, B.C. from 1899 until c. 1903, and in 1900 he submitted a Gothic design in the architectural competition for the new Methodist Church (C.A.B., xiii, Feb. 1900, illus. plate). That same year, he completed the design and construction for Holy Trinity Anglican Church in the Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver, and this appears to be his only built work in that city. In 1900 he was one of ten local architects who submitted designs for two new public schools in Vancouver (Province [Vancouver], 21 July 1900, 6). His proposals were set aside in favour of the winning schemes from E.A. Whitehead and from Parr & Fee. In 1903 he prepared the drawings for a competition entry for the Presbyterian Church at Vancouver, in collaboration with C.O. Wickenden (C.A.B., xvi, July 1903, illus. plate). In early 1900 he was one of 5 architects who organized the new Vancouver Arts & Crafts Association, intended to promote the progressive Arts & Crafts movement in architecture and design. The other architects who joined him were E.A. Whitehead, J.W. Mallory, Robert M. Fripp, and Sidney M. Eveleigh (The Province [Vancouver], 26 April 1900, 9).
Born in Liverpool, England on 19 February 1879, Woodroofe was a talented delineator who articled in the office Richard L. Williams, of Denbigh, England from 1894 to 1898, and he then moved to London in 1898 to attend courses at the Architectural Association and the Regent Street Polytechnical School. While there, he worked briefly as assistant to Ralph Nevill (1845-1917). Woodroofe emigrated to Canada and opened an office in Vancouver in September 1899 and the following year became the local associate of, and assistant to, Andrew T. Taylor of Montreal. He assisted Taylor until November 1902 and left British Columbia after 1904 and moved to Tacoma, Wash. where he was in partnership with R.S. Tuttle (in 1906-07) and later with A.S. Constable (in 1909-14). Woodroofe later moved to Spokane in 1916, and retired from the profession in 1965. He died in Spokane, Washington on 8 June 1976 (obituary Spokane Daily Chronicle, 11 June 1976, 16; biog. R.I.B.A., Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, Vol. ii, 1055).
VANCOUVER, B.C., Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Pine Street at West 8th Avenue, 1900; demol. (The Province [Vancouver], 20 Aug. 1900, 10; 13 Sept. 1900, 10; inf. Donald Luxton, Vancouver)
VANCOUVER, B.C., Presbyterian Church, (with C.O. Wickenden) 1903 (Barry Magrill, A Commerce of Taste: Church Architecture in Canada 1867-1914, pub. 2012, 154-55, illus. &, descrip.)