TOWNSEND, Joseph (1842- c. 1913), together with his son Alfred Townsend (1883- c. 1913) were active in Vancouver, B.C. from 1909 to 1913. Both were born in London, England, and employed a highly eclectic blend of Queen Anne and Edwardian features in their designs for some of Vancouver's first multi-storey apartment blocks. According to the architect Ross Lort, who remembered them during his early career there, they were "...two men of the same name, presumably brothers, [who] arrived from the States and set up an office on the second floor of a building down on Hastings Street. While they put up many buildings, they only came through with one elevation; you will see it today all over town and recognize it at once". He was referring to the Mount Stephen Apartments (now called Quebec Manor) which made extensive use of patterned brick work and heavily scaled sheet metal ornamentation. Their design for the Keenlyside residence (1909) was one of earliest Arts & Crafts dwellings erected in Vancouver (inf. Ted Mills, Vancouver; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 362, 521; inf. Census of Canada, 1911 - City of Vancouver)
TOWNSEND & TOWNSEND
(works in Vancouver)
WEST 1st AVENUE, near Waterloo Street, residence for Hugh Keenleyside, 1909 (Vancouver Heritage Inventory Summary Report, 1986, 51, illus.)
ENGLISH BAY MANSIONS, Bidwell Street, 1910 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
PENDER STREET, backing onto Seaton Street, a three storey brick block for Day & York, 1910 (Vancouver Daily World, 12 Feb. 1910, 42, t.c.)
YUKON STREET, near West 19th Avenue, residence for James G. Mutch, 1910-11 (Vancouver Heritage Inventory Summary Report, 1986, 38, illus.)
CEDAR COTTAGE, eight stores and rooming house on Westminster Road for Clement Mills & Co., 1911 (C.R., xxv, 9 Aug. 1911, 66, t.c.)
ALBERT BLOCK, Westminster Road, between Cartley Road and Millar Road, for A.A. Riley, 1911 (Vancouver Daily World, 11 Feb. 1911, Section Three, p. 2, illus. & descrip.)
SHAUGHNESSY MANSIONS, Granville Street at West 15th Avenue, 1911 (C.R., xxv, 1 Nov. 1911, 59; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
DERBYSHIRE APARTMENTS, West Broadway at Yukon Street, apartment block for D. McCallum, 1911-12 (C.R., xxv, 29 Nov. 1911, 61; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
MOUNT STEPHEN APARTMENTS, East 7th Avenue near Scotia Street, 1911-12 (C.R., xxvi, 7 Feb. 1912, 55, illus. & descrip.; Vancouver Heritage Inventory Summary Report, 1986, 39, illus.)
EAST BROADWAY, at Carolina Street, five storey apartment block and stores, for Harry Goldbloom and Sam Kracovsky, 1912 (C.R., xxvi, 10 Jan. 1912, 63; Vancouver Daily World, 13 Jan. 1912, 21, descrip.)
DENMAN STREET, at Davie Street, stores and apartment block for Simpson Bros., 1912 (C.R., xxvi, 17 Jan. 1912, 73; Province [Vancouver], 13 July 1912, 18)
McPHERSON BUILDING, Water Street, 1912 (City of Vancouver b.p. 13 March 1912)
BEACH AVENUE, at Bute Street, apartment block for M.B. Wilkinson, 1912 (Province [Vancouver], 7 Sept. 1912, 31)
FIR STREET, at West 17th Avenue, residence for A. Ferguson, 1912 (Province [Vancouver], 21 Sept. 1912, 28, descrip.)
POWELL STREET, large rooming house for S. Flack, 1912 (Province [Vancouver], 21 Sept. 1912, 28)
ROYAL MANSION APARTMENTS, Bute Street at Pacific Street, 1912 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
NEW WORLD HOTEL & TAMURA BLOCK, Powell Street, 1912 (Vancouver Heritage Inventory Summary Report, 1986, 35, illus.; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
WICKLOW HOTEL, Powell Street, 1912 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
WEST BROADWAY, west of Granville Street, a 2 storey apartment block for W. Edwards, 1912-13 (Province [Vancouver], 14 Dec. 1912, 36; The Sun [Vancouver], 16 Dec. 1912, 19, descrip.)
(works elsewhere)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., store and apartment block at Lytton Square for Mrs. P. Thompson, 1909 (C.R., xxiii, 31 March 1909, 23, t.c.)
COMPETITIONS
VANCOUVER, B.C., Simon Fraser Public School, 1908. The firm of Townsend & Townsend were among 19 architects who submitted a design for this school project in 1908. They were not placed among the three finalists, and the commission was awarded to Pearce & Hope (Vancouver Daily World, 9 April 1908, 10; 12 May 1908, 10)