UNDERWOOD, Percy Callahan (1894-1978) was born in London, England on 2 November 1894 and came to Canada in late 1909 to join the firm of Ross & MacFarlane in Montreal. He remained there until October 1916 and following war service overseas he again joined the firm and broadened his architectural training by attending atelier classes in the evenings. After 1921 he went to Vancouver to work briefly for the B.C. Telephone Company and in 1922 moved to Seattle, Washington to assist in the offfice of John Graham for three years. Underwood returned to Vancouver in late 1925 and joined the large and successful firm of McCarter & Nairne, with whom he remained until he commenced his own practice in 1935. With C.B.K. Van Norman, Robert McKee, Charles E. Pratt and others he was among the first to introduce the International Modern style to the Vancouver region in the post-War era. His best known works there were the various pavilions and animal houses at the STANLEY PARK ZOO (1950-54), the HANEY MUNICIPAL HALL (1952), and the GRANDVIEW HEALTH & WELFARE BUILDING, Victoria Drive (1954). He died in Vancouver on 1 September 1978 (death notice in Vancouver Sun, 2 Sept. 1978, D2). A small collection of his drawings for buildings in the Vancouver area are now held at the Vancouver City Archives (D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 485, 522; inf. Architectural Institute of British Columbia).
(works in Vancouver unless noted)
CHAMBERLAIN APARTMENTS, West 40th Avenue, 1938 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
WEST VANCOUVER, residence for Patrick W. Field, Inglewood Avenue near 20th Street, 1939; demol. (Vancouver Sun, 24 June 1939, 27, illus. & detailed descrip.)
PORT HANEY, B.C., addition to the High School, 1940 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xvii, Oct. 1940, 185)
GRANVILLE ISLAND, warehouse for Tyee Machinery Co., 1943 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
WEST PENDER STREET, near Jervis Street, studio for Percy Underwood, architect, 1946 (R.A.I.C. Journal, xxv, Oct. 1948, 362-63, illus.; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
SHURPASS PACIFIC COLLEGE, West 10th Avenue, 1946 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., Terminal Hotel, Twelfth Street at Columbia Street, 1947 (C.R., lx, Aug. 1947, 260)
PACIFIC COAST TOBACCO CO., Davie Street near Bute Street, 1947 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., Bus Terminal for the B.C. Electric Co., 1949-50 (C.R., lxii, Nov. 1949, 126)
RYERSON UNITED CHURCH, West 45th Avenue at Yew Street, addition for the Education Building, 1949 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
CHILLIWACK, B.C., Safeway Store, College Street at Mill Street, 1949 (Chilliwack Progress, 17 Aug. 1949, 1)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., outdoor stadium at Queen's Park, 1950 (Vancouver Sun, 13 Jan. 1950, 43, t.c.)
STANLEY PARK, Golf Club House, Monkey House, 1950; and Penguin Pool, 1952; and Otter Pool; and Lumberman's Arch Pavilion, 1952; and Aviary, 1953 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)