Percy Young Wales

Percy(Patrick) Young Wales (1885, Diploma Course). The death occurred on June 4th, 1939 of Mr. Percy Young Wales, the well-known Dunedin architect, at the age of 75. He was a keen and interested member of this Association in spite of the fact that his interests were not agricultural. Mr. Wales was born at Dunedin in 1864, the eldest son of Colonel N. Y. A. Wales. He was educated at the Middle District School, the Otago Boys' High School and was a student at Lincoln during 1884-85.

He studied architecture in Australia for several years before returning to Dunedin to enter into partnership with his father in the firm of Mason & Wales. He made a special study of hospital architecture and was architect to the Otago Hospital Board for a number of years.

Mr. Wales was a keen sportsman and was a member of the Zingari-Richmond Football Club, an early member of the Otago Golf Club, a life member of the Otago Boys’ High School Old Boys’ Shooting team. He played lacrosse when the game was in vogue in New Zealand and was an outstanding billiards player, as well as an Otago representative footballer. He was a member of the Otago
Boxing Association, the Fernhill Club, the Otago Club, the Dunedin Jockey Club and the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association. He was also a past president of the New Zealand Institute of Architects and a member of the Masonic fraternity.

He is survived by his wife and four sons of whom the eldest carries on the firm of Mason and Wales. Source: Canterbury Agricultural College Magazine, November 1939, No. 64, p81.