BARRS, Frank Arthur Anderson (1871-1963) received the appointment of staff architect to the Vancouver School Board in 1914 and can be credited with the design of virtually all public school buildings erected in that city bewteen 1914 and 1928. Born at Repton, England on 24 April 1871 he was a pupil of Thomas Gibbs, Burton-on-Trent from 1888 and later worked in Derby for Tomlinson & Co. He emigrated to Canada in 1907 and joined the Hastings Park Exhibition Association in 1908 where he worked as a designer of some of the first buildings on the grounds of the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver until 1911. He then opened an office in that city, at first under his own name, and later in partnership with Samuel B.D. Shewbrooks in 1912-13. In 1914 he joined the city School Board as director of their architectural department and held that position until late 1928 when he was succeeded by H.W. Postle. Barrs retired after 1930 and died in Vancouver on 16 December 1963 (inf. Architectural Inst. of British Colulmbia; B.C. Dept. of Vital Statistics; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 453, 491)
F.A.A. BARRS (works in Vancouver)
PACIFIC NATIONAL EXHIBITION, East Hastings Street, Machinery Exhibit Building (won in a competition), c. 1910; second unit to the Grandstand, c. 1910; Fisheries Exhibit Building, c. 1910
BARRS & SHEWBROOKS (works in Vancouver)
VICTORIA VILLAS, Triumph Street, 1912 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
ROSS AUTO & WAGON WORKS, Pandora Street, 1912 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
VANCOUVER BOX CO., West 7th Avenue, 1912 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
F.A.A. BARRS (works in Vancouver unless noted)
BURNABY, B.C., St. Nicholas Anglican Church, Triumph Street at Ingleton Avenue, 1912; exterior altered c. 2010; church still standing in 2023 (inf. A.I.B.C., Vancouver)
CHARLES DICKENS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, 18th Avenue East at Glen Drive, 1912; demol. 2008 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
LAURA SECORD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Lakewood Drive at Broadway, 1913; addition, 1927 (C.R., xli, 26 Oct. 1927, 62; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
KITSILANO HIGH SCHOOL, West 10th Avenue at Larch Street, 1917; major addition, 1927-28 (The Province [Vancouver], 30 Jan. 1927, 4; and 11 April 1928, 25, C.R., xlii, 6 June 1928, 53; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
LORD STRATHCONA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, East Pender Street at Jackson Avenue, 1921 (The Province [Vancouver], 14 Jan. 1921, 21, t.c.; D. Franklin, Early School Architecture in B.C., 1980, 150, illus.)
GENERAL GORDON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Bayswater Street at West 6th Avenue, major addition, 1925 (Vancouver Sun, 13 Feb. 1925, 7, descrip.)
GRANDVIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Woodland Drive at East 3rd Avenue, 1926 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
SIR JOHN FRANKLIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Skenna Street, 1926 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
FAIRVIEW JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, West 12th Avenue at Oak Street, 1927-28 (C.R., xli, 28 Dec. 1927, 260)
TEMPLETON JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, East Georgia Street at Templeton Drive, 1927; major addition, 1928 (C.R., xli, 19 Jan. 1927, 47; Province [Vancouver], 11 April 1928, 25; R.A.I.C. Journal, vi, March 1929, xiii, illus. in advert.; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL, East Broadway at Clinton Street, 1927-28 (C.R., xli, 21 Sept. 1927, 63; Province [Vancouver], 10 March 1928, 17, t.c.)
LORD BEACONSFIELD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Penticton Street, major addition, 1928 (Vancouver Sun, 9 March 1928, 12)
RENFREW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, East 21st Avenue at Renfrew Street, 1928 (Province [Vancouver], 19 March 1928, 19, t.c.; and 11 April 1928, 25, descrip.; C.R., xlii, 18 April 1928, 70; R.A.I.C. Journal, vi, March 1929, xiii, illus. in advert.; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)