Researching Norman Marsh

He served in the Indian Medical Service during the First World War in the Cavalry Branch and was promoted temporarily to Second Lieutenant in January 1915 and to Lieutenant in January 1916.

He was a partner at the Delmege Forsyth & Co. Ltd. in Ceylon and partner at Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co. and general manager of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company in Hong Kong. He was also chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. During his spell, he formed the Employers' Federation of Ceylon at a time when the colony was faced with labour troubles, which he brought the experience to Hong Kong to help the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce set up the Employers' Federation of Hong Kong there. As vice chairman of the chamber of commerce, he was elected to sit as an unofficial member in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong during the absence of P. S. Cassidy in 1948. He was appointed to the Inquiry Commission on the fire of the Wing On Warehouse in Sai Wan.

Marsh was a golf player and member of the Royal Colombo Golf Club. He won the 1932 Captain's Cup.

He was born in Upper Alton, Illinois. He obtained a B.S. degree from the College of Engineering and School of Architecture atthe University of Illinois in 1897. He moved to Los Angeles in 1900.

Among his accomplishments is serving as principal architect for the design and construction of the City of Venice, California in 1906, working for the developer Abbott Kinney. Venice's design includes canals and a central district along Windward Avenue with the look of an Italian Renaissance street.

He designed more than 20 churches in the Los Angeles area (in Pasadena, Glendale, San Jose, Long Beach) and seven or more churches inSan Diego. He designed houses in Hollywood and Ojai and elsewhere for prominent persons. He designed dozens of elementary and secondary schools and some University buildings in Arizona and California.

He was a partner in Marsh, Smith & Powell, along with partner Herbert Powell.

A number of his works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Works by Marsh or the firm include:*a hotel in Hollywood in 1907*a public library in Azusa in 1909*the primary building of the first exclusive campus of Mesa Union High School (1909) in Mesa, Arizona, destroyed by accidental fire in 1967*Park Place Methodist Episcopal Church South (1910), 508 Olive Street, San Diego, California*three original buildings of Phoenix Union High School (1911–12), 512 E. Van Buren Phoenix, Arizona, NRHP-listed*Monroe School (1914), 215 N. 7th St. Phoenix, Arizona, NRHP-listed*Fourth Avenue Junior High School (1920), 450 S. 4th Ave. Yuma, Arizona (with V. Wallingford), NRHP-listed*Friendship Baptist Church (1925), 80 W. Dayton St. Pasadena, California, NRHP-listed*Second Baptist Church (1926), 1100 E. 24th St. Los Angeles, California, (with Paul R. Williams), NRHP-listed*Parkhurst Building (1927), Santa Monica, California, (principally by Herbert Powell), NRHP-listed*First Presbyterian Church (1927), 402 W. Monroe St. Phoenix, AZ, NRHP-listed*Roosevelt School, 201 6th St. Yuma, Arizona, NRHP-listed*Whittier High School*Nazarene College, Pasadena, CA*Ventura High School*the Women's Improvement Association building in South Pasadena*buildings for the campus of University of Redlands*Hollywood High School Historic District, 1521 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles, CA (Marsh, Smith, & Powell)