Basic Biographical Details

Name: Basil Spence & Partners
Designation: Architectural practice
Started: November 1946
Ended: 1964
Bio Notes: Basil Spence & Partners was the name adopted by Spence’s practice (both his Edinburgh and London offices) between November 1946 and the end of 1963. It was established in the wake of his separation from William Kininmonth, with whom he had worked since 1932, and it numbered among its staff several members of their former practice, as well as students they had taught at Edinburgh College of Art.

Basil Urwin Spence was born in Bombay on 13 August 1907, the son of Urwin Spence, an analytical chemist employed by the Indian civil service, and his wife Daisy Crisp. He was initially educated at the John Connon School in Bombay, but in 1919 at the age of twelve was sent to Scotland to attend George Watson’s College as a day pupil. After leaving, he enrolled at Edinburgh College of Art in September 1925, initially to study painting and sculpture. He soon transferred to the School of Architecture, studying design practice and town planning under Frank Charles Mears and Harry Hubbard, and architectural history and theory under John Summerson who was only three years his senior. His other tutors at the college were Sydney J Miller, Leslie Grahame Thomson and George Washington Browne. Bursaries, prize money and income as a freelance perspectivist allowed him to travel extensively in England in 1927, France in 1928 and also in Germany. In 1929 he gained the College’s certificate and exemption from the RIBA’s intermediate examination. His brilliant draughtsmanship secured him a place in the office of Sir Edwin Lutyens, whom he assisted with the designs for the Viceroy’s house, New Delhi, and while in London he took the opportunity to study at the Bartlett School of Architecture under Professor Albert Richardson.

On his return to Edinburgh Spence won the RIAS Rowand Anderson Medal during session 1930-31. In the latter year he gained his diploma from the College of Art and won the RIBA’s Silver Medal as the best architectural student in the UK.

At the College Spence made friends with William Kininmonth, who also went to Lutyens’ office. Kininmonth had previously been employed by Rowand Anderson & Balfour Paul, but when he returned from London Paul was unable to offer further work. Nevertheless, Kininmonth was given the use of a room in the office at 16 Rutland Square, and although it had only a single desk and a telephone this allowed him to take Spence into partnership in 1932. Their practice was immediately successful, thanks in part to the connections of Kininmonth’s radiologist brother, and Kininmonth’s own modernist house at 46A Dick Place (1933) which proved an excellent advertisement. As well as design work the partners also specialised in presentations for other much larger practices.

Spence won the RIBA Arthur Cates Prize for town planning in 1932, tying with Robert Matthew, and then the Pugin Studentship in 1933. He was admitted ARIBA that year, his proposers being John Begg, Reginald Fairlie and William James Walker Todd. Both he and Kininmonth secured part-time teaching posts at Edinburgh College of Art. In 1934 Spence married Mary Joan Ferris of Tiverton, Devon.

In that year Paul offered Kininmonth a partnership, which he felt he had to decline unless Spence was taken into partnership as well. Paul accepted this proposal and the Kininmonth & Spence practice was merged with Paul’s as Rowand Anderson & Paul & Partners. Although business had significantly recovered, to the extent that the practice secured commissions for three country houses, Spence and Kininmonth continued teaching at Edinburgh College of Art. This arrangement continued until Paul died in June 1938.

Independently of the practice, Spence won the competition for the Scottish School of Art & Industry at Kilsyth, and received three separate commissions in respect of the Empire Exhibition held at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, in 1938. These included the highly acclaimed Scottish Pavilion which he designed in conjunction with the Exhibition’s organiser, Thomas Tait.

Spence had joined the Territorial Army in 1934 and was commissioned in the Royal Artillery on the outbreak of the Second World War. He was seconded to the Camouflage Training & Development Unit at Farnham, and later served as an intelligence officer in Normandy. After demobilization and in the absence of substantial practice work he resumed teaching at Edinburgh College of Art, but in 1945 he was appointed chief architect of the 'Britain Can Make It' exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Spence and Kininmonth having dissolved their partnership, Basil Spence & Partners was established with Bruce Robertson in November 1946. By Year’s End it had moved into the townhouse at 40 Moray Place which was to serve as Edinburgh office throughout Spence’s life and indeed long beyond.

Early prosperity depended on commissions for public housing, including the Bannerfield estate in Selkirk and the celebrated fishermen’s cottages at Dunbar, Duncanrig Secondary School in East Kilbride, and exhibition and display work. Spence was Chief Architect for Britain Can Make It and Enterprise Scotland in 1947, the Scottish Industries Exhibition in 1949, and the Exhibition of Industrial Power during the Festival of Britain, 1951. He was also an adviser to the Board of Trade, 1947-49, for the British Industries Fair.

Commissions for public housing in England, at Sunbury-on-Thames and Shepperton, together with the Sea & Ships Pavilion at the main Festival venue on London’s South Bank, justified the opening of an office in the Metropolis, at 29 Buckingham Street off the Strand. Andrew Renton was made partner-in-charge of this office in 1949. John Hardie Glover, whom the practice had employed as an assistant, was made an associate in the same year, as was Peter Scott Ferguson in 1951. Both Glover and Ferguson would be taken into partnership five years later, based in the Edinburgh office.

Spence had begun to feel type-cast as an exhibition designer when he won the competition to design a new Coventry Cathedral in August 1951. Such were the difficulties of the period, and the controversy which surrounded his design (too modern for most tastes, too traditional for many architects), that there was no guarantee the Cathedral would actually be built. At the encouragement of the Diocesan authorities Spence seized every opportunity to talk about his proposals to the general public. He proved to be an engaging and persuasive speaker, and soon became a household name.

He and his family moved to a new London office at 48 Queen Anne Street in 1952, but further commissions proved difficult to come by. Financial crisis struck during Christmas 1953 when Spence returned from a Cathedral fundraising tour of North America to learn that his bank had demanded repayment of a five-figure overdraft within a fortnight. The practice had to part with many valued staff whom it had trained up and employed since the war.

However, the drought of the early 1950s turned into a torrential flood of commissions, mostly public works, during the mid-decade. Construction of the Cathedral was authorised to start in May 1954, there was a series of parish churches in Coventry, Leicester, Sheffield, Manchester and Edinburgh (nine completed in total), civic centres at Slough (not executed) and Hampstead (only partially), five schools in London, Sheffield, Shrewsbury and Thurso, Physics Buildings for Liverpool and Durham Universities, and – most importantly of all – appointment as consultant architect for no fewer than three university campuses at Edinburgh, Nottingham and Southampton.

Despite the difficulties of the national situation, the Government was investing heavily in education, most particularly higher education in the scientific disciplines. Although Spence was often criticised (e.g. at the Cathedral) of being a picturesque designer who was unconcerned by the dictates of building structure, he was in fact a master of the complex brief, whether the requirements were ritualistic as in a church or technological as in a science building. He had studied the requirements of science buildings very carefully when he was commissioned to design the Natural Philosophy Laboratory at Glasgow, 1947-51, and other Universities had duly taken note.

There was no let-up in new commissions throughout the late 1950s, and the practice became severely stretched, but Spence was examiner at many schools of architecture and this provided him with excellent opportunities to hand-pick the very best of each year’s students to assist him with his work. In 1956 he established himself in an additional London office at 1 Canonbury Place where he personally oversaw the development of the drawings for the Cathedral and worked hand-in-glove with an elite group of very young architects who assumed much of the responsibility for English commissions. These were David Rock and John (Jack) Bonnington, Brian and Derek Cobb, and Michael and Anthony Blee, the last of whom married Spence’s daughter Gillian.

It was at this point that Spence received many of the commissions for which he would become most famous: Sussex University – the first of the so-called Shakespearean Seven new Universities; the Erasmus Building at Cambridge University, the first modernist building to be erected on ‘the Backs’; Hyde Park Cavalry Barracks in the centre of London; and the Chancery of the British Embassy in Rome, close to Michelangelo’s Porta Pia. Spence was also involved in the development of Vange, one of the constituent villages which formed the new town of Basildon. His Scottish office was enjoying conspicuous success: its Newhaven flats followed the Dunbar cottages in winning a Saltire Award, it had commissions for university buildings in both Scotland and the north of England, and it was about to embark on two major works in the Glasgow area, Abbotsinch Airport and the Hutchesontown C redevelopment in the Gorbals. Both the Scottish and English practices also secured important commercial commissions.

Spence was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects between 1958 and 1960, and in that time he not only transformed its public image, but that of modern architecture generally. Although he seems to have drawn a little less during this period, he remained in close contact with his offices and their ongoing work.

Major changes were afoot, however. Andrew Renton, who had become increasingly burdened with the practice’s administration, secured in his own right the commission for Thorn House, an office tower for the electrical goods manufacturer, through Jules Thorn who was a neighbour. Ostensibly a disagreement between Spence and Renton over the attribution of this design resulted in a split in the practice in 1961, but in truth the reasons would seem to be more deep-seated and more complex.

Andrew Renton & Associates was established at Queen Anne Street, and shortly afterwards became Renton, Howard, Wood, Levine. Spence remained at Canonbury Place and opened a new office at 1 Fitzroy Square under the charge of Jack Bonnington and Gordon Collins. Between 1961 and 1964 Spence restructured his practice into three separate partnerships: in London, Sir Basil Spence, Bonnington & Collins, and Sir Basil Spence OM RA, in which his son-in-law Anthony Blee was a partner and his son John Urwin Spence a consultant; and in Edinburgh, the practice continued as Basil Spence & Partners until 1964 when it was renamed Sir Basil Spence, Glover & Ferguson (see separate entry for subsequent practice history).

Private and Business Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this architectural practice:
 AddressTypeDate fromDate toNotes
Item 1 of 6Edinburgh, ScotlandBusiness   
Item 2 of 640, Moray Place, Edinburgh, ScotlandBusiness19461992 
Item 3 of 620, Buckingham Street, London, EnglandBusiness1948 or 19491952 
Item 4 of 648, Queen Anne Street, London, EnglandBusiness19521961 
Item 5 of 61, Canonbury Place, London, EnglandBusiness19561976 
Item 6 of 61, Fitzroy Square, London, EnglandBusiness1961  

Employment and Training

Employees or Pupils

The following individuals were employed or trained by this architectural practice (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate fromDate toPositionNotes
Item 1 of 52Stuart Lowe Harris1940sBefore 1950AssistantIn Edinburgh office.
Item 2 of 52(Sir) Basil Urwin Spence19461963Partner 
Item 3 of 52William Alexander Bruce RobertsonNovember 19461950PartnerIn Edinburgh office.
Item 4 of 52James BeveridgeNovember 1946c. 1951Apprentice 
Item 5 of 52Alexander ('Sandy') MacCallum (or McCallum) BrownNovember 1946Before 1953Apprentice 
Item 6 of 52Peter Burnett Caird1947 AssistantYear out from ECA studies
Item 7 of 52William Leslie Roworthc. 1947After 1953Chief Draughtsman 
Item 8 of 52Andrew Renton19481949 In Edinburgh office. Initial role unclear - Associate? Assistant? Architect?
Item 9 of 52Peter Scott Ferguson19481951AssistantIn Edinburgh office.
Item 10 of 52Hamish McLachlan19491952Assistant 
Item 11 of 52Douglas Philip Jarvie Laird19491954ApprenticeIn Edinburgh office.
Item 12 of 52John Hardie Glover19491956AssociateIn Edinburgh office.
Item 13 of 52Andrew Renton19491961PartnerInitially in Edinburgh office, then entirely in London office from early 1950s.
Item 14 of 52Brian Henderson1949 or 19501950 or 1951 On year-long work placement
Item 15 of 52Charles Adrian Hope1950s Assistant 
Item 16 of 52Peter McKelvie1950s Draughtsman 
Item 17 of 52Michael Blee1950s ArchitectBased in the London Canonbury office.
Item 18 of 52Richard Ross Forbes Cassidy19501962Assistant 
Item 19 of 52Michael BrownMid 1950Mid 1950 summer student
Item 20 of 52Peter Scott Ferguson19511956AssociateIn Edinburgh office.
Item 21 of 52Thomas Henney19511961Assistant 
Item 22 of 52James Beveridgec. 1951(?)1963Assistant(?) 
Item 23 of 52Andrew Merrylees1952 * AssistantStudent assistant
Item 24 of 52Robert Watt Young Dobie19521956ApprenticeIn Edinburgh office.
Item 25 of 52Peter Burnett Caird19521957Assistant 
Item 26 of 52Tony Finlay1954 Apprenticejunior apprentice
Item 27 of 52Douglas Philip Jarvie Laird19541955Assistant(?) 
Item 28 of 52John 'Archie' Dewar19551964  
Item 29 of 52Ramsay Manners DewarAugust 1955July 1956AssistantIn Edinburgh office, during year out from studies at Aberdeen
Item 30 of 52Donald Norman MillBefore 1955After 1957 Role uncertain - probably as assistant?
Item 31 of 52Patrick ('Paddy') Rooneyc. 1955c. 1957Assistant 
Item 32 of 52(Professor) Charles Robertson19561962Senior Architect 
Item 33 of 52John Hardie Glover19561963PartnerIn Edinburgh office.
Item 34 of 52Peter Scott Ferguson19561963PartnerIn Edinburgh office.
Item 35 of 52Andrew Merrylees1957Before 1960Architect 
Item 36 of 52Charles Robertson19571962ArchitectIn Edinburgh office.
Item 37 of 52Eric SmithBefore 19571957 Role and start date unknown
Item 38 of 52Peter WilliamsBefore 1957Before 1957 Role and precise dates unknown
Item 39 of 52David BainBefore 1957Before 1965AssistantIn Edinburgh office.
Item 40 of 52James Ian Haig Marshall1957 or 19581964Associate 
Item 41 of 52Alan Ward1958 *  Role and dates uncertain
Item 42 of 52Humphrey 'Humph' Sharpe19591964Senior Assistant 
Item 43 of 52Alexander John Dawson1960s *  Role and precise dates unclear
Item 44 of 52Colin Herbert Ritchie McCrae19601961Senior Assistant 
Item 45 of 52Ian Gordon CookMay 19601963Architect(?) 
Item 46 of 52Robert Reid BlackBefore 19601960 In Edinburgh office; role unclear.
Item 47 of 52William Norman Hunter19611964Architect 
Item 48 of 52Anne Parker (Mrs Finlay)c. 19611963Assistant(?) 
Item 49 of 52Richard Ross Forbes Cassidy19621964Associate 
Item 50 of 52James Beveridge1963Late 1963Associate 
Item 51 of 52(Miss) Coila ClyneEarly 19631964Architect(?) 
Item 52 of 52Peter Smith1964 * Apprentice 

* earliest date known from documented sources.


Buildings and Designs

This architectural practice was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):
 Date startedBuilding nameTown, district or villageIslandCity or countyCountryNotes
Item 1 of 84 The Albyn  Edinburgh  
Item 2 of 84 Thorn House  LondonEngland 
Item 3 of 841946Bannerfield EstateSelkirk SelkirkshireScotland 
Item 4 of 841946Bell's Brae HouseDean Village EdinburghScotlandRestoration and alterations
Item 5 of 841947Enterprise Scotland 1947 Exhibition  EdinburghScotlandLayout - Spence responsible
Item 6 of 841947Glasgow University, Natural Philosophy Buildings  GlasgowScotland 
Item 7 of 841948Housing estate, 14-20 Lower BurnmouthBurnmouth BerwickshireScotland 
Item 8 of 841948Housing, 15A-15D Victoria Street and 8 Writer's CourtDunbar East LothianScotland 
Item 9 of 841948Housing, 19A, 19B, 19C Victoria Street and 10, 12 Writer's CourtDunbar East LothianScotland 
Item 10 of 841948Housing, Victoria PlaceDunbar East LothianScotland 
Item 11 of 841949Housing Scheme, SheppertonSunbury-on-Thames MiddlesexEngland 
Item 12 of 84c. 1949Rossie PrioryInchture PerthshireScotlandMain part of house demolished and plinth courses converted to terrace
Item 13 of 841950sDaniel Stewart's Hospital  EdinburghScotlandCeiling decoration in library
Item 14 of 841950Alvie Parish ChurchAlvie Inverness-shireScotlandInternal alterations and refurbishment (Charles Hope responsible).
Item 15 of 841950Crawford's Snack Bar interior, Queensferry Street  EdinburghScotland 
Item 16 of 841950John Smith (Wools)  EdinburghScotland 
Item 17 of 841950Premises for R S Robertson & Scott   Scotland 
Item 18 of 841950SAI (Scottish Agricultural Industries) offices  EdinburghScotlandReconstruction?
Item 19 of 841950Scottish Agricultural IndustriesAyr AyrshireScotlandAmenities block and other work
Item 20 of 841950Secondary School, DuncanrigWestwood, East Kilbride LanarkshireScotland 
Item 21 of 841951Festival of Britain Scotland, Exhibition of Industrial Power, Kelvin Hall  GlasgowScotland 
Item 22 of 841951Festival of Britain, Sea and Ships SectionSouth Bank LondonEngland 
Item 23 of 841951The CottageLongniddry East LothianScotland 
Item 24 of 841951The HermitagePerth PerthshireScotlandAlterations - Spence responsible
Item 25 of 84After 1951Private house(s)Bedale YorkshireScotland 
Item 26 of 84After 1951Private house(s)Ormiston East LothianScotland 
Item 27 of 84Before 1951Fishermen's Cottages, DunbarDunbar East LothianScotland 
Item 28 of 841952Scottish School of Art & IndustryKilsyth StirlingshireScotlandCompletion of project
Item 29 of 841952Street lighting and street furniture  EdinburghScotland 
Item 30 of 841952Two exhibition stands for ICI, Earl's CourtEarl's Court LondonEngland 
Item 31 of 841952Two private houses  EdinburghScotland 
Item 32 of 841953Council housesDunbar East LothianScotlandImplemented reduced scheme
Item 33 of 841953Housing, Buncles Court and Lamer StreetDunbar East LothianScotland 
Item 34 of 841953(?)Plewlands HouseSouth Queensferry West LothianScotlandRestored and converted to houses
Item 35 of 841954Inch Hall ChurchInch EdinburghScotland 
Item 36 of 841954Sighthill ChurchSighthill EdinburghScotlandCompetition entry rejected on cost grounds
Item 37 of 841954St Andrew's ChurchClermiston EdinburghScotland 
Item 38 of 841955Community HallBroughton PeeblesshireScotlandJohn Hardie Glover responsible as partner in charge
Item 39 of 841955Scottish Agricultural Industries Fertilizer WorksLeith Edinburgh, MidlothianScotlandIn consultation with Kinnear & Gordon
Item 40 of 841956Flats, Great Michael Rise and AnnfieldNewhaven EdinburghScotland 
Item 41 of 841956Housing, Laverockbank Avenue and Laverockbank CrescentNewhaven EdinburghScotland 
Item 42 of 841956Tenement blocks, New LaneNewhaven EdinburghScotland 
Item 43 of 841956Tenements, 14-20 Great Michael RiseNewhaven EdinburghScotland 
Item 44 of 841956Tenements, 4-12 Great Michael RiseNewhaven EdinburghScotland 
Item 45 of 841956Tenements, New LaneNewhaven EdinburghScotland 
Item 46 of 841956Western General Hospital, Old Boiler House  EdinburghScotland 
Item 47 of 841957George Watson's School, head masters house  EdinburghScotland 
Item 48 of 841957Trinity College GlenalmondGlenalmond PerthshireScotlandExtension at E end of N range
Item 49 of 841958Glasgow University, Institute of Virology Department building  GlasgowScotland 
Item 50 of 841958Housing, Gorbals Redevelopment Scheme, Commercial Road AreaGorbals GlasgowScotland 
Item 51 of 841958Hutchesontown / Gorbals Area C Housing RedevelopmentHutchesontown/Gorbals GlasgowScotland 
Item 52 of 841958Queens' College on the Backs  Cambridge, CambridgeshireEnglandSpence responsible
Item 53 of 841958Scottish Widows Head Office  EdinburghScotland 
Item 54 of 841958Thurso High SchoolThurso CaithnessScotland 
Item 55 of 841958Western General Hospital, Operating Theatre Block  Edinburgh, MidlothianScotland 
Item 56 of 845 September 1958Nottingham University, Department of Chemistry  NottinghamEnglandstructural consultants: Ove Arup and Partners
services consultants: A.F. Meyers and Partners
QS: Gleeds
per Builder p395
Item 57 of 8428 November 1958Housing, Gorbals Redevelopment Scheme, Commercial Road AreaGorbals GlasgowScotlandper Builder p935
Item 58 of 841959Claremont Court housing  EdinburghScotlandBasil Spence and Partners (Peter Ferguson, partner in charge; Richard
Cassidy, job architect; T Harley Haddow, engineers),
Item 59 of 841959Glasgow University, Natural Philosophy Buildings  GlasgowScotlandW, for teaching and lecture theatre.
Item 60 of 841959Hampstead Civic CentreHampstead LondonEnglandSpence responsible
Item 61 of 841959House at Oxlease EstateHatfield HertfordshireEngland 
Item 62 of 841959Trawsfynydd Nuclear Power Station  SnowdoniaWalesSpence as consultant architect
Item 63 of 841959University of Edinburgh, George Square Redevelopment  Edinburgh, MidlothianScotlandSpence as consultant architect to University
Item 64 of 84Early 1950sSS Ninian, Martin and John RC ChurchWhithorn WigtownshireScotlandPrepared design - not executed. Commission went to Goodhart-Rendel
Item 65 of 84Late 1950s(?)Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, blood transfusion extension  EdinburghScotland 
Item 66 of 84Mid 1950sNormal College (later University Staff Club)  EdinburghScotlandMajor alterations
Item 67 of 841960RHS Ingliston showground, Yorkshire Insurance StandIngliston EdinburghScotland 
Item 68 of 841960Royal Showground Stoneleigh, Yorkshire Insurance StandStoneleigh WarwickshireEngland 
Item 69 of 841960Trinity College Glenalmond, Reid's HouseGlenalmond PerthshireScotland 
Item 70 of 84Before 1960Associated Electrical Industries showroom  GlasgowScotland 
Item 71 of 84Before 1960House for A H Alexander  EdinburghScotland 
Item 72 of 84Before 1960Recreation centre for Scottish OilsGrangemouth StirlingshireScotland 
Item 73 of 84Before 1960Scottish Amicable Life Assurance Society branch  EdinburghScotland 
Item 74 of 84Before 1960University of Edinburgh, Department of Natural Philosophy  EdinburghScotlandExtension
Item 75 of 84Before 1960University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Animal Breeding Research Organisation Headquarters  EdinburghScotlandWilliam Norman Hunter as job architect
Item 76 of 84196165-71 and 97-103 Canongate and 1-3 Brown's Close  EdinburghScotlandBegun under this practice title; continued as Sir Basil Spence, Glover & Ferguson.
Item 77 of 841961Glasgow (Abbotsinch) Airportnr Paisley RenfrewshireScotland£2m terminal building (completed in 1967 under practice title of Sir Basil Spence, Glover & Ferguson)
Item 78 of 841961Sussex University Halls of Residence  SussexEnglandSpence responsible
Item 79 of 841961Ten (10) 19-storey tower blocks, New GorbalsNew Gorbals GlasgowScotland 
Item 80 of 841961Trinity College Glenalmond, SanatoriumGlenalmond PerthshireScotlandAltered and extended
Item 81 of 841961University of Glasgow, Department of Genetics  GlasgowScotlandBegun under this practice title; completed as Sir Basil Spence, Glover & Ferguson.
Item 82 of 841962Trinity College Glenalmond, ChapelGlenalmond PerthshireScotlandNew gallery and screen
Item 83 of 841963Trinity College, Glenalmond, Music SchoolGlenalmond PerthshireScotlandWith Peter Ferguson as partner in charge and principal architect
Item 84 of 841964King's College, University of Durham, Research Block  Newcastle-upon-TyneEngland 

References

Bibliographic References

The following books contain references to this architectural practice:
 Author(s)DateTitlePartPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 12Campbell, Louise1996Coventry Cathedral: Art and Architecture in Post-War Britain Clarendon Studies in the History of Art 
Item 2 of 12Edwards, Brian Basil Spence entry in DNB   
Item 3 of 12Edwards, Brian1995Basil Spence 1907-1976   
Item 4 of 12Gibberd, Frank1977Obituary: Sir Basil Spence: 1907-1976April 1977Architectural Review 
Item 5 of 12Glendinning, Miles1997Rebuilding Scotland: The Postwar Vision, 1945-75  Tuckwell Press LtdpXI A 1958 sketch perspective of Hutchesontown / Gorbals Area 'C' proposed blocks
pXII Demolition of Hutchesontown 'C' September 1993
p10 Image of Thomas Whalen's 'Coal Cliff' relief for the 1951 Exhibition of Industrial Power
p20, p39, p92-4, p98-102, p144-7, p175 Hutchesontown C
p159-60 Fishermen's Houses, Dunbar
Item 6 of 12Glendinning, Miles and Muthesius, Stefan1994Tower Block: Modern Public Housing in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland Yale University Press: New Haven and Londonp224 Mention of Hutchesontown slab blocks
Hutchesontown Area C: p170, p327, p368
p381, Gazetteer 2
Item 7 of 12Grove Dictionary of Art Grove Dictionary of Art  Entry on Spence by Louise Campbell
Item 8 of 12http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/arthistory/research/basil_spence/  http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/arthistory/research/basil_spence/    
Item 9 of 12Placzek, Adolf K (ed)1982Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects New York: The Free Press/Macmillan Publishing CompanyEntry on Spence by Louise Campbell
Item 10 of 12Sheppard, Richard1977Obituary: Sir Basil SpenceJanuaryRIBA Journal 
Item 11 of 12Spence, Basil1962Phoenix at Coventry Geoffrey Bles 
Item 12 of 12Willis, Peter1977New architecture in Scotland  p8, p10 Fishermen's Houses

Periodical References

The following periodicals contain references to this architectural practice:
 Periodical NameDateEditionPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 9Architect and Building News10 September 1958  p350 - 'Gorbals scheme for Glasgow'
Item 2 of 9Architectural ReviewNovember 1967  Nicholas Taylor's largely negative piece on Hutchesontown C scheme
Item 3 of 9Builder21 October 1949  p515-?
Item 4 of 9Builder2 November 1951  p581-5
Item 5 of 9Builder20 April 1951  p569
Item 6 of 9Builder18 February 1955  p316
Item 7 of 9Builder7 July 1961  p32
Item 8 of 9Housing ReviewNovember 19587:6 Illustrated feature
Item 9 of 9The Times20 November 1976  Obituary

Archive References

The following archives hold material relating to this architectural practice:
 SourceArchive NameSource Catalogue No.Notes
Item 1 of 1Sent to DSA by emailInformation from AHRC/RCAHMS Spence project per David W Walker and Clive Fenton Biographical note by David W Walker. Additional information from David W Walker and Clive Fenton, sent September 2007 and July 2010.