UNDERWOOD, Edward (1878-1936) of Edmonton, Alberta was a skilled and proficient architect who executed virtually all of the design work for the Roman Catholic church in the Edmonton Diocese from 1920 until his death in 1936. Born in Bournemouth, England on 9 March 1878 he was educated at St. Edmund College, Ware, England and served an apprenticeship in London with the talented Edwardian architects Edward Boehmer & Percy Gibbs from 1894 until 1899. In 1907 he moved to Letchworth Garden City and commenced his own practise but left England in late 1910 and moved to Canada where he joined the Edmonton office of Barnes & Gibbs as a draftsman. The next year he became Office Manager with Lang & Major and from 1913 until late 1915 operated his own office. Underwood served two years as Assistant Resident Architect for the University of Alberta in 1919 and 1920 and reopened his office in 1921.
His exposure to the popular success of the Edwardian style in England at the turn of the century is clearly evident in the formal and tightly disciplined designs which he prepared for churches, schools and institutional buildings in Alberta. With careful attention to detail, form and silhouette his best work includes the Collegiate Gothic style buildings for St. Joseph's Catholic University, Edmonton (1926-27) and the ambitious design for St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Cathedral (1924-25) 'in a Gothic style of architecture from the Decorated Period'. Underwood served as Secretary to the Alberta Association of Architects for eighteen years, and was elected its President in 1928-29. He occupied the office of First Vice-President of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 1929, and died in Edmonton on 9 June 1936. A collection of his drawings can be found in the Blakey Collection, Provincial Archives of Alberta, Edmonton, Acc. 67.100 (biography in National Reference Book, iii, 1929-30, 438-39; obituary in Edmonton Journal, 10 June 1936, 1 & 2; obituary in R.A.I.C. Journal, xiii, July 1936, 146)
Edward UNDERWOOD (works in Edmonton)
SCOTT BLOCK, Jasper Avenue near 108th Street, for George D. Scott, 1913 (Edmonton Daily Bulletin, 30 Aug. 1913, 4, descrip.; C.R., xxvii, 17 Sept. 1913, 71)
ST. RENE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, Clover Bar Road, east of Mill Creek, 1913 (Edmonton Daily Bulletin, 17 Sept. 1913, 5)
CHISHOLM BLOCK, Jasper Avenue near 103rd Street, for A.R. Chisholm, 1914 (Edmonton Daily Bulletin, 4 May 1914, 6, descrip.; Edmonton Journal, 5 June 1914, 6, descrip.; dwgs. at Edmonton City Archives, 725/14)
POWELL STORE, Jasper Avenue near 104th Street, for John K. Powell, 1917 (dwgs. at Edmonton City Archives, 77/17)
OBLATES OF MARY IMMACULATE, addition to the Monastery, 110th Street near 99th Avenue, 1921; Provincial House, 1928 (C.R., xxxv, 20 April 1921, 56; xlii, 9 May 1928, 53; dwgs. at PAA, Blakey Coll.)
CROSSLAND PRINTING & LITHOGRAPHY CO., 107th Street near Jasper Avenue, 1922 (dwgs. at Edmonton City Archives, 49/22)
MISERICORDIA ROMAN CATHOLIC HOSPITAL, 111th Street near 98th Avenue, major extension of two new wings, 1922 (Edmonton Bulletin, 5 July 1922, 2, descrip.; dwgs. at Edmonton City Archives, 242/22)
ROYAL ALEXANDRA HOSPITAL, major addition of a new Isolation Wing, 1922 (Edmonton Bulletin, 23 Sept. 1922, 1, descrip.)
ST. FRANCIS ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, 65th Street near 129th Avenue, North Edmonton, 1923 (dwgs. at PAA, Blakey Coll.)
ST. JOSEPH'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL, Jasper Avenue at 113th Street, 1924-25 (C.R., xxxix, 23 Sept. 1925, 930-31, illus. & descrip.)
ST. JOSEPH'S ROMAN CATHOLIC COLLEGE, 89th Avenue at 112th Street, 1926-27 (Edmonton Journal, 5 Nov. 1927, 6, 8, illus. & descrip.; R.A.I.C. Journal, v, Aug. 1928, 303-06, illus. & descrip.; dwgs. at PAA, Blakey Coll.)
ST. ANTHONY'S ROMAN CATHOLIC COLLEGE, for the Franciscan Fathers, 129th Avenue, addition, 1925; addition, 1931 (dwgs. in PAA, Blakey Coll.; dwgs. at Edmonton City Archives, 438/31)
ST. ANTHONY'S ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, 84th Avenue, South Edmonton, 1926 (dwgs. at PAA, Blakey Coll.)
ST. JOHN'S JUNIORATE ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, 91st Street at 85th Avenue, c. 1926 (R.A.I.C., xiii, July 1936, 146)
ARCHBISHOP'S PALACE, 113th Street near Jasper Avenue, official residence for Rev. H.J. O'Leary, 1927 (dwgs. at PAA, Blakey Coll.)
ST. ALPHONSUS ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, 82nd Avenue near 116th Street, South Edmonton, 1927 (R.A.I.C. Journal, iv, Nov. 1927, 414-15, illus. & descrip.; dwgs. at PAA, Blakey Coll.)
ST. THERESA'S ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, Forest Heights, 1928 (dwgs. at PAA, Blakey Coll.)
ST. EDMUND'S ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, 130th Avenue near 116th Street, Elm Park, 1928 (dwgs. at PAA, Blakey Coll.)
MacCOSHAM CARTAGE CO., Garage, 104th Street at 102nd Avenue, 1928 (C.R., xlii, 25 April 1928, 56)
NORTH WESTERN UTILITIES CO., office building, 104th Street near 101st Avenue, 1930 (dwgs. at Edmonton City Archives, 187/30)
ST. JOSEPH'S ROMAN CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL, 108th Avenue at 109th Street, 1930 (dwgs. at Edmonton City Archives, 448/30)
L'IMPREMERIE CANADIENNE PRINTING CO., 109th Street at 100th Avenue, 1930 (dwgs. at Edmonton City Archives, 869/30)
Edward UNDERWOOD (works elsewhere in Saskatchewan and Alberta)
ST. ALBERT, ALTA., major addition and alterations to St. Albert Roman Catholic Church, 1922 (Edmonton Bulletin, 25 Nov. 1922, 8, descrip.; dwgs. at PAA, Blakey Coll.)
CAMROSE, ALTA., Sisters of Providence Hospital, 1924 (dwgs. at PAA, Blakey Coll.)
MACKLIN, SASK., Hospital, c. 1925 (Edmonton Journal, 10 June 1936, 1 and 2)
CAMROSE, ALTA., a brick church, for an unnamed congregation, 1927 (Edmonton Journal, 26 May 1927, 16, t.c.; inf. Robert Hamilton, of Hamilton, Ont.)