POSTLE, Harry Walter (1877-1955) held the position of Staff Architect to the Vancouver School Board for more than ten years and can be credited with several Collegiate Gothic style designs for schools built there from 1929 onward. Born in Norwich, England on 4 May 1877 he articled with the Norwich architect A.C. Havers (from 1892 to 1897) and later worked as assistant to Frederick Lloyd in Birmingham (in 1899-1901). He practiced under his own name in Norwich from 1905 to 1910 then emigrated to Canada where he found work in the Vancouver offices of W.M. Dodd (in 1911-13), and later with Gardiner & Mercer, with S.M. Eveleigh, with Sharp & Thompson, and with John Graham of Seattle. In early 1928 he succeeded Frank A.A. Barrs as resident architect for the Public School Board of Vancouver, with responsibility for the design of, and additions to, many major elementary and high schools in that city. He often employed a variety of period styles in his work, such as the unusual mannered Tudor design for Queen Elizabeth Primary School (1938). Postle was briefly in partnership with Theo Korner after 1947 and died in Vancouver on 7 August 1955 (death notice The Sun [Vancouver], 9 Aug. 1955, 26; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 378-79, 515; inf. Architectural Inst. of British Columbia; inf. Gordon Fulton, Ottawa)
H.W. POSTLE (works in Vancouver)
HASTINGS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Clinton Street at Albert Street, 1912 (D. Franklin, Early School Architecture in British Columbia, 1980, 145, illus.)
DAVID LIVINGSTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, East 23rd Avenue at Sophia Street, 1912 (D. Franklin, Early School Architecture in British Columbia, 1980, 145, illus)
WOODWARD'S DEPARTMENT STORE, a major 6 storey addition for a new South Wing, facing Abbott Street and Cordova Street, 1925 (Vancouver Sun, 23 Feb. 1925, 14, detailed descrip.; and 9 March 1925, 1 & 5, detailed descrip.; C.R., xxxix, 4 March 1925, 75, t.c.)
VANCOUVER TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL, East Broadway at Clinton Street, begun in 1927 by F.A.A. Barrs; completed in 1928 by Postle; addition of gymnasium and natatorium, 1929 (Vancouver Sun, 10 Feb. 1928, 4; C.R., xlii, 18 April 1928, 70; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
MODEL SCHOOL, West 12th Avenue at Ash Street, 1929 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
JOHN OLIVER HIGH SCHOOL, Fraser Street at East 44th Avenue, 1929; and addition of a new gymnasium, 1939 (Vancouver Sun, 17 July 1939, 5; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
SIR MATTHEW BEGBIE SCHOOL, Kitchener Street at Lillooet Street, major addition, 1929 (C.R., xliii, 7 Aug. 1929, 65)
BAYVIEW PUBLIC SCHOOL, Collingwood Street at 6th Avenue, major addition, 1929 (C.R., xliii, 28 Aug. 1929, 53)
VANCOUVER SCHOOL BOARD WORKSHOPS, Clark Drive at Grant Street, 1930 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
STRATHCONA SCHOOL, Jackson Avenue at East Pender Street, major addition, 1930 (C.R., xliv, 8 Jan. 1930, 52)
MAGEE HIGH SCHOOL, West 49th Avenue at Maple Street, major addition, 1932; and another addition and alterations, 1935 (C.R., xlvi, 24 Feb. 1932, 120, t.c.; Vancouver News-Herald, 17 July 1935, 2)
POINT GREY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, West 37th Avenue at East Boulevard, 1934 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
LORD BYNG HIGH SCHOOL, 16th Avenue at Crown Street, major addition of several classrooms, 1936 (Vancouver Sun, 7 April 1936, 4)
QUEEN ELIZABETH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, West 16th Avenue at Camosun Street, 1939 (Vancouver Sun, 17 July 1939, 5, illus.; R.A.I.C. Journal, xxi, Nov. 1944, 257, illus.; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
KING EDWARD HIGH SCHOOL, West 12th Avenue at Oak Street, addition of a new Gymnasium Building, 1939 (Vancouver Sun, 17 July 1939, 5, illus.)
KERRISDALE PUBLIC SCHOOL, West 38th Avenue at Crown Street, major addition, 1939 (Vancouver Sun, 17 July 1939, 5, illus.; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
POSTLE & KORNER (works in British Columbia)
OLIVER, B.C., South Okanagan Secondary School, 1946-48; burned 2011 (Vancouver Sun, 26 June 1946, 10, t.c.; C.R., lx, Feb. 1947, 144; Donald Luxton & Assoc., South Okanagan Secondary School - Heritage Conservation Feasibility Study, 2008, 3-4, 6-9, illus. & descrip.; Tim Morawetz, Art Deco Architecture Across Canada, 2017, 104, illus. & descrip.)
OSOYOSS, B.C., school for District No. 14, 1948 (C.R., lxi, May 1948, 175)
KAMLOOPS, B.C., high school for District No. 24, 1950 (C.R., lxiii, Feb. 1950, 124)