PARRY, Bertie Evan (1875-1942) of Toronto was an expert in hospital design and a prolific writer who contributed dozens of articles on this subject to the Journal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada as well as articles on house design and construction for Canadian Homes and Gardens and for Chatelaine Magazine. Born in London, England he served an apprenticeship from 1893 to 1898 with Arthur Cawston, a prominent architect in London. He came to Canada in 1912 and worked in Montreal before moving to Renfrew, Ont. where he opened his own office as a registered architect in 1915. In August 1917 he returned to England at the outbreak of World War I and served with the Construction & Forestry Corps (Ottawa Journal, 22 Aug. 1917, 5).
Parry returned to Canada in 1919 and settled at Ottawa where he was employed by the federal Department of National Health as Supervising Architect in charge of hospital construction until 1931. It was for his accomplishments in that Department that he was elected as a Fellow of the R.A.I.C. in February 1932 (Ottawa Journal, 22 Feb. 1932, 5). Later in 1932 he moved to Toronto and formed a partnership with Harold J. Smith, another specialist in hospital design who had worked with the firm of Stevens & Lee (R.A.I.C. Journal, xi, May 1932, 133). After the dissolution of this office in January 1936 Parry continued to practise under his own name until his death on 25 January 1942 (obituaries in the Globe & Mail [Toronto], 26 Jan. 1942, 5; Telegram [Toronto], 26 Jan. 1942, 14; Gazette [Montreal], 27 Jan. 1942, 14; R.A.I.C. Journal, xix, Feb. 1942, 35). A photographic portrait of Parry was published in the Evening Mail [Halifax], 7 June 1927, 14. Parry was the author of his own book on hospital design, entitled Planning of Small Community Hospitals, published in 1925 by the federal Dept. of Health in Ottawa.
B. EVAN PARRY
RENFREW, ONT., commercial block for Jamieson Meat Co., 1917 (C.R., xxxi, 17 Jan. 1917, 40; inf. Scott Edwards)
ILE-A-LA-CROSSE, SASK., hospital, 1929 (R.A.I.C. Journal, vi, Sept. 1929, 312)
KENTVILLE, N.S., hospital, Park Street, 1937 (C.R., l, 10 Feb. 1937, 36)
GLACE BAY, N.S., major addition to St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Hospital, 1938 (C.R., li, 1 June 1938, 31)
PARRY & SMITH
TORONTO, ONT., residence for James P. Cowie, Rosewell Avenue at Albertus Avenue, c. 1934 (inf. from Architectural Conservancy of Ontario)
TORONTO, ONT., large residence for W.W. McLaughlin, at 44 Dawlish Avenue, major additions and alterations to existing house, 1935 (Toronto Daily Star, 25 Oct. 1935, 22, illus. & detailed descrip.)
(with Mathers & Haldenby) NORTH YORK, ONT., St. John the Divine Convalescent Hospital, Cummer Avenue, 1935-36 (C.R., xlviii, 25 July 1934, 32)
SELECTED ARTICLES
'Hospitals: Their Planning and Equipment', a series of four illustrated articles published in the R.A.I.C. Journal, vii, Jan. 1930, 19-26; June 1930, 220-30; Aug. 1930, 299-309; Jan. 1931, 23-33.
'Review of Recent Exhibition of Hospital Architecture Held in Toronto', in R.A.I.C. Journal, ix, Feb. 1932, 36-9, illus.
'Hospital Construction of the Twentieth Century', in The Canadian Hospital, ix, Aug. 1932
'The Economics of Hospital Planning', in The Canadian Hospital, ix, Sept. 1932
'Blatancy in Architecture', a radio broadcast, with summary, in the R.A.I.C. Journal, xii, Feb. 1935, 33
'The Architects and the Public', a radio broadcast, with summary in the R.A.I.C. Journal, xii, Nov. 1935, 192
'Planning the Modern Bathroom', in the R.A.I.C. Journal, xiv, May 1937, 90-2, illus.
'Planning the Modern Kitchen', in the R.A.I.C. Journal, xiv, May 1937, 92-4, illus.