Barry Downs
Barry Vance Downs (1930-2022) was born June 19, 1930 in Vancouver. He studied architecture in Seattle, graduating from the University of Washington in 1954. From there, he apprenticed with the Vancouver firm Thompson Berwick & Pratt Architects (TBP), working as part of the design team for a number of houses as well as landmark projects like Ron Thom’s Massey College and Roy Jessiman’s Frederick Wood Theatre. In 1955, he married Mary Hunter Stewart, who remained a stalwart support throughout his career and life.
Although a devout modernist, Barry brought a strong appreciation for nature, art and organic form to his work at TBP. His remarkable talent not only in architecture but also in drawing and watercolours quickly became apparent, and in the ensuing years, he honed his reputation from such distinctive houses at the 1957 Phillips Residence in West Vancouver, his own family home in the Dunbar neighbourhood of Vancouver a year later, and the 1960 Chow Residence, with Blair MacDonald, in North Vancouver. He also worked with Fred Hollingsworth on a number of houses.
At various times throughout the 1960s, he lectured with colleagues Arthur Erickson and Bud Wood at the UBC School of Architecture. He formed a practice with Fred Hollingsworth from 1963-1967, and by the end of the decade he had set up his own practice with Richard Archambault. Barry continued his distinctive work with projects like the Oberlander Residence and Pearson College of the Pacific (with Ron Thom and Cornelia Oberlander), the 1974 North Vancouver Civic Centre, the 1979 Downs House II and 1989 Canuck Place. He was also a key player in important master plans including the 1989 Concord Pacific master plan and the 1993 Yaletown/Roundhouse plans.
Over the years, Barry worked tirelessly as an advocate on a number of local groups and committees, including the City of Vancouver Heritage Advisory Committee and the West Vancouver Planning Commission. His career and and design ethos was reflected in the 2013 exhibition “Melding Architecture with Landscape: A Collaboration in Design” at the West Vancouver Museum. In 2015, Barry was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.
Photo by Martin Knowles.
“To me, it’s all to do with emotion, and you derive that from the building and its setting. The focus for me has always been the landscape, the garden, the seasonal world.”
– Barry Downs. West Coast Modern and Architect Barry Downs. Eve Lazarus. July 5, 2014.
[Left]: Concept Sketch, Gardiner Residence (unbuilt), 1970. Collection of West Vancouver Art Museum.
[Right]: Downs House I, 1958. Selwyn Pullan, 1961. Collection of West Vancouver Art Museum.
In 2017, for the League’s “Masters of West Coast Modernism,” we asked Barry to select mementos of personal and professional significance. These are the items he chose.
Tsimshan First Nation, Wooden Ladle
Gift to the Architect from Bill Birmingham of Birmingham and Wood Architects
“This spoon—a ladle, really—was a gift from a friend named Bill who was a Lions Club service member with me. There is a simplicity in its beauty: just by holding the object, you can appreciate its elegance: its voluptuous form, the slight detail—only in the handle. It’s symbolic of how a beautiful object can also be a functional item in your domestic life.”
Maquette (Study for Larger Sculpture), c. 1957
Wire, Paint
Gift to the Architect from George Norris
“George Norris and I went to Lord Byng High School together, though he was a year ahead. There was a nearby forest in those days, and we had a wonderful art teacher who would send us out drawing in the forest. Then George and I would go back to his house and draw comic book people: Captain Marvel, Batman, Superman. Later on, when I was in Thompson Berwick Pratt in the 1950s moonlighting houses with Blair Macdonald and Dick Archambault, we asked George to design a sculpture for the mantelpiece of one of our houses. This object is his maquette in wire that would be the template for that. The wire forms are evocative of trees. The little bumps to the right of the ‘trees’ are birds. There was a real interest in integrating art and architecture in those days, and I think that’s lasted.”
Barry Downs (August 2017). Interview with Adele Weder, West Coast Modern League.
Barry Downs Personal Archives.
