WATSON, Joseph Francis (1885-1967) was the brother of Henry B. Watson and trained under him for four years while both were residing in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. Born at Haltwhistle, Northumberland Co., England on 22 June 1885 he graduated from Rutherford College in Newcastle and possessed a keen interest in both art and architecture. He received First Honors in sculpture and modelling from the South Kensington Art School in London, and was to later make use of his skills in the development of figurative sculpture incorporated into the facades and cornices of the Medical Dental Building, West Georgia Street, Vancouver (by McCarter & Nairne, 1929). He emigrated to Canada in 1910 and entered the office of Charles H. Clow in New Westminster, B.C., remaining with him until 1912 when he commenced practice on his own account. Watson closed his office in 1915 and joined the Canadian Infantry in France during World War I and returned to Vancouver in 1919 to reopen his practice.
In 1925 he worked for the Tacoma, Wash. office of Hill & Mock, Architects, and from June 1926 until 1932 worked as designer and assistant with McCarter & Nairne in Vancouver. In the middle of the Great Depression he decided to open an office under his own name in 1932 and was joined in partnership by Henry Blackadder in 1937. This office was dissolved in 1942 and Watson formed another partnership in 1948 with James Baxter. Watson served as President of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia in 1945-46, and was one of the founders of the School of Architecture at the University of British Columbia. Watson died in Vancouver on 13 September 1967 (obituary in the Sun [Vancouver], 15 Sept. 1967, 2; Province [Vancouver], 18 Sept. 1967, 35; biography in E.O.S. Scholefield, British Columbia: From the Earliest Times to the Present, 1914, 172; S.M. Carter, Who's Who in British Columbia, 1947-8, 219-20; D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 374-5, 523; inf. Architectural Institute of British Columbia)
J.F. WATSON (works in Vancouver unless noted)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., stores and apartments for Kwong On Wo & Co., Columbia Street, 1913 (list of works on A.I.B.C. Application Form, dated 1920)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., a 5 storey block of stores and apartments for Lee Din, Carnarvon Street at 10th Street, 1913 (Vancouver Sun, 26 March 1913, 3, descrip.; C.R., xxvii, 9 April 1913, 75)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., a commercial block for Law A. Loong and Lee Ching, Eighth Street, between Carnarvon Street and Blackie Street, 1913 (Vancouver Sun, 26 March 1913, 3, descrip.)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., a wood frame commercial block for Law A. Loong, Carnarvon Street at 10th Street, 1913 (Vancouver Sun, 26 March 1913, 3, descrip.)
PENDER STREET, a 6 storey concrete block for Law A. Loong, 1913 (Vancouver Sun, 26 March 1913, 3, descrip.)
B.C. MONUMENTAL WORKS LTD., Main Street at 7th Avenue, office building, 1920 (A.I.B.C. Application Form)
ARMY & NAVY VETERANS BUILDING, Fraser Street near 47th Avenue, 1922 (A.I.B.C. Application Form)
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION CO., warehouse, Granville Island, 1928 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., Elks Lodge No. 3, 1936-37 (The Province [Vancouver], 8 Feb. 1937, 20)
WATSON & BLACKADDER (works in Vancouver unless noted)
TWIGG ISLAND DAIRIES LTD. Kingsway near Carolina Street, 1937 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
ARMSTRONG & BROTHERS FUNERAL HOME, Dunlevy Avenue at Cordova Street East, 1938 (Vancouver Sun, 30 July 1938, 32, descrip.; and 17 Dec. 1938, 9, illus. & detailed descrip.; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
HAMMOND, B.C., Maple Ridge Hotel, Second Avenue at Lougheed Highway, 1939 (Vancouver Sun, 24 Feb. 1939, 4, descrip.; and 28 June 1939, 26, illus. & detailed descrip.)
STRAND HOTEL, West Hastings Street, extensive interior alterations to existing hotel, 1938-39; demol. c. 1951 (Vancouver Sun, 13 April 1939, 10, illus. & detailed descrip.)
WEST VANCOUVER, B.C., a modernist home on Stevens Drive, adjacent to Capilano Golf Club, for an unnamed owner, 1939 (Daily Province (Vancouver), 23 Sept. 1939, 26, descrip. in advert.)
SACRED HEART ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL, East Pender Street near Campbell Avenue, 1940 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
WELLS, B.C., a new public school, 1940 (Daily Province (Vancouver), 20 July 1940, 15, descrip.)
ARMSTRONG & BROTHERS FUNERAL HOME, East Broadway at Commercial Drive, 1940; demol. (Daily Province (Vancouver), 4 Sept. 1940, 6, descrip.)
EMPIRE STEVEDORING CO., Railway Street at Dunlevy Street North, a 3 storey warehouse, 1941; still standing in 2023 (Vancouver Sun, 20 Dec. 1940, 29; H. Kalman, Exploring Vancouver, 1978, 64, illus.)
KIVIEW BOYS CLUB, West 8th Avenue near Ash Street, 1946 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
NEWTON WYND STREET, residence for W.A. Wolfe, 1946 (J. Bond, University Endowment Lands Architecture 1940-1969, 1993, 16, illus. & descrip.)
(with H.N. Semmens) KITSILANO EVANGELICAL CHURCH, West 12th Avenue at Stephens Street, 1947 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
RICHMOND, B.C., St. Alban's Anglican Church, Bennett Road, 1947 (Marpole-Richmond Review [Steveston], 16 April 1947, 4)
WATSON & BAXTER (works in Vancouver unless noted)
COLLIER'S LTD, Georgia Street, automobile showrooms, 1948 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
CHILLIWACK, B.C., Canadian Legion Building, Main Street "....adjacent to the Masonic Hall", 1948-49 (Chilliwack Progress, 14 Oct. 1948, 13, descrip.; and 2 Feb. 1949, 1, illus. & descrip.; and 10 Aug. 1949, 5, descrip.)
LORD BEACONSFIELD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, 20th Avenue East, 1949 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
QUENSEL, B.C., Junior and Senior High School, 1949 (C.R., lxii, June 1949, 116)
WEST COAST CENTRAL CLUB, Main Street near East Hastings Street, 1950 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
CONCORDIA LUTHERAN CHURCH, East Hastings Street, 1950 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
COMPETITIONS
REGINA, SASK., WW1 War Memorial Cenotaph, Victoria Park, 1926. J.F. Watson was one of 51 architects and artists who submitted a design in this national competition (Morning Leader [Regina], 9 Feb. 1926, 1, full list of competitors). The winner was Robert G. Heughan of Montreal.