Pearce, John Stuart

PEARCE, John Stuart (1872- 1936) was born in England, and was active in British Columbia where he maintained offices in both Vancouver and Victoria. He emigrated to Canada in 1901 and in 1904 he was working as an assistant architect in the office of Francis M. Rattenbury. He was dispatched to Montreal to work on the planning of the new Empress Hotel in Victoria (Victoria Daily Times, 22 June 1904, 3). In 1905 he formed a partnership in Vancouver with Charles K. Shand (C.A.B., xviii, June 1905, 96; see list of works under Shand & Pearce). The following year, in 1906, he commenced practise under his own name. In 1908 he formed another partnership, this time with Archibald C. Hope. In 1908 their firm of Pearce & Hope won the competition for Simon Fraser Public School in Vancouver. Their partnership was dissolved in June 1908 and both Pearce and Hope opened offices under their separate names. Pearce later died in Vancouver on 2 February 1936 (obituary The Province (Vancouver), 3 Feb. 1936, 18 and 5 Feb. 1936, 2; biog. D. Luxton, Building the West: The Early Architects of British Columbia, 2003, 480, 514).

J.S. PEARCE (works in Vancouver)

JONES BUILDING, West Hastings Street at Homer Street, for Stephen Jones, 1905 (Victoria Daily Colonist [Victoria], 16 March 1905, 6; inf. Andy Coupland, Vancouver; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
ATLANTIC HOTEL, Cordova Street, major addition, 1906 (Pacific Building & Engineering Record [Seattle], iv, 24 March 1906, 9)
P. BURNS & CO., abattoir and meat packing plant, with cold storage building, rendering house, fertilizer building and boiler house, 1906 (Vancouver Daily World, 19 Sept. 1906, 2, descrip.)
STRAND HOTEL, West Hastings Street near Seymour Street, alterations and remodeling, 1907 (C.R., xviii, 27 March 1907, 8)
SALISBURY DRIVE, at Napier Street, in Grandview, a new residence for J.J. Miller, 1907 (Vancouver Daily World, 14 May 1907, 7, t.c.)
ROMAN CATHOLIC BOY'S SCHOOL, Richards Street, adjacent to Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church, 1907 (Vancouver Daily World, 23 May 1907, 2)

PEARCE & HOPE (works in Vancouver)

SIMON FRASER PUBLIC SCHOOL, Manitoba Street at West 16th Avenue, 1908 (Vancouver Daily World, 12 May 1908, 10; C.R., xxii, 27 May 1908, 28; dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
MASONIC TEMPLE, West Georgia Street at Seymour Street, 1908 (Vancouver Daily World, 25 July 1908, 23)
(with W.F. Gardiner) PROVINCIAL NORMAL SCHOOL, West 12th Avenue at Cambie Street, 1908 (C.R., xix, 13 May 1908, 30, t.c.; Vancouver Daily World, 2 May 1908, Section Three, 37, illus. & descrip.; and 16 Oct. 1909, Section Three, page 1, illus. & descrip., but lacking attribution; signed dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)

J.S. PEARCE (works in Vancouver)

NORTH VANCOUVER, The Canyon View Hotel, in the Capilano Valley, for P. Larsen, 1908 (Vancouver Daily World, 25 Aug. 1908, 8; and 9 March 1909, 10, descrip.)
HOTEL NORTH VANCOUVER, The Esplanade, for Peter Larson, 1908 (C.R., xxii, 7 Oct. 1908, 26)
BEACH CLUB HOUSE, Beach Avenue, 1909 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
P. BURNS & CO., West Pender Street, stables, 1910 (dwgs. at Vancouver City Archives)
LYNN VALLEY, a new 3 storey hotel, Rice Lake Road, for Kennedy & Seabold, 1912 (The Express [North Vancouver], 26 April 1912, 9, illus. & detailed descrip.)
ST. FRANCIS HOTEL, Cordova Street at Seymour Street, large addition of two storeys, 1912 (The Sun [Vancouver], 15 July 1912, 14, descrip.)
NORTH GERMAN LLOYD STEAMSHIP CO., Pender Street near Howe Street, a 12 storey office tower, 1913 (Vancouver Daily World, 8 Feb. 1913, 1, descrip.)