Basic Biographical Details | Name: | Frederick Edward Bradshaw MacManus | | Designation: | | | Born: | 20 January 1903 | | Died: | 1985 | | Bio Notes: | Frederick Edward Bradshaw MacManus was born in Dublin on 20 January 1903. He was brought up in Kingstown and educated at private schools in Dublin. At his doctor grandfather's house in Trim he became acquainted with his grandfather's tenant, Vincent Kelly, who had recently graduated in architecture at the National University of Ireland; and after Kelly commenced practice in Dublin MacManus was articled to him in November 1919, concurrently studying at Dublin School of Art under R Caulfield Orpen, the architect brother of the painter Sir William Orpen.
Late in 1923 or early in 1924 MacManus was appointed assistant to the Dublin practice of Beckett & Harrington, the latter (Cyril Harrington) being a product of the Liverpool School of Architecture. In the latter year he left Dublin to study at the Architectural Association in London and in July 1926 he passed the qualifying exam. He was admitted ARIBA on 29 November, his proposers being Howard Robertson, Robert Atkinson and Thomas Smith Tait, whom he already knew as a neighbour in Hampstead, although he was not yet employed by him: at that date he was working in Clough Williams-Ellis's London office in Ebury Street, Victoria. Early in 1926 he spent all but £20 of his savings on a single ticket to New York, and with another £20 given him by his father sought employment in New York with a letter of introduction and recommendation from Tait, eventually securing a post with the Beaux-Arts practice of W L Stoddart Associates. After a year in that office he went on a study tour of modern architecture in France and Holland which was to prove a major influence on his work with Sir John Burnet and Thomas Tait whose office he joined in the late summer of 1927.
MacManus had a particularly happy relationship with Tait as his personal assistant: most days he drove him to the office in his Austin 7 until the younger Taits acquired their MG. Although never a partner, he enjoyed a degree of autonomy within the office, being allowed to design houses at Silver End, the Daily Mail Ideal Home house of 1928, Dr Simmonds' house at Newbury, Berkshire and West Leaze, Aldbourne, Wiltshire for Dr and Mrs Hugh Dalton: all early modern houses influenced by Robert Maillet-Stevens, Andre Lurcat and particularly Peter Behrens. The last of these commissions led to that of the Burlington School for Girls where Ruth Dalton was a governor, and three further schools in the West Riding of Yorkshire of which only one, Ecclesfield, was built before the Second World War broke out. MacManus also designed the concert hall for the Glasgow Empire Exhibition of 1938, but because of other pressures in the office it was executed by James Taylor Thomson.
In all of these MacManus made out the design from scratch, Tait reviewing the results and sometimes introducing Dudok-like details as at the Burlington School; and throughout his time with Burnet Tait & Lorne MacManus had his own small private practice, mainly in the London and Dublin areas.
Immediately after the outbreak of the Second World War Sir James West, the Chief Architect at the Ministry of Works & Buildings, invited Tait to become assistant Director of Post-War Building (Standardisation), an appointment more usually referred to as Director of Standardisation: it was chiefly concerned with rationalising hutted accommodation, a task for which Tait was well fitted through his work on school camps. He took MacManus with him and when Tait resigned in May 1942, MacManus became Secretary to the Committee on Building Materials Standardisation under the chairmanship of Herbert Ryle, CVO, formerly of the Edinburgh Office of Works.
In 1943 MacManus was appointed Advisory Architect to the English Joinery Manufacturers' Association, and on 4 January of the following year he was admitted FRIBA, his proposers being Julian Leathart, Henry Victor Ashley and Stephen Rowland Pierce. He retired from the Association in 1949 to commence independent practice with Edward Armstrong, a New Zealand architect, who had been a colleague at Burnet Tait & Lorne's; but Armstrong became ill and returned to New Zealand in 1953. MacManus thereafter practised alone for a time, but had taken partners by the time of his retirement in 1969. He was awarded the RIBA London Architecture Medal for Brunel House, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea in 1957; the Ministry of Housing's Good Design Award for Munster Square, London in 1961; and Knight First Class of the Order of Danneborg for the Danish Church (1961) in 1973. He was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland in 1966 and appointed OBE in 1968.
Frederick MacManus retired in 1969 but remained a consultant to his practice. Apart from his work in St Pancras and Camden his most important clients were Kent County Council and Tenterden Borough Council. He was conservation-minded and was involved with the Georgian Group, serving on its executive committee from 1960 and with the Tenterden Trust of which he was made an Honorary Member in 1975.
In his later years MacManus's activities were restricted by emphysema. He died in Sussex in the Spring of 1985, his death being registered in May of that year. | Private and Business Addresses| The following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes |  | Dublin, Eire | Private | 1903 | Before 1926 | | | London, England | Business | Before 1926 | 1969 | | | Kent, England(?) | Private | After 1969 | | |
Employment and TrainingEmployers
RIBARIBA Proposers
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic References| The following books contain references to this : | | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | MacManus, Frederick | 1985 | Some Recollections of my Early Architectural Years (Oct 1975; amended March 1985); Additional Observations … (Aug 1984) | | Unpublished typescripts (copies held in RIBA Archive and in DMW Archive) | | | Thurgood, Graham | | Silver End Garden Village | no 3 | Thirties Society Journal, pp36-41 | |
Periodical References| The following periodicals contain references to this : | | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | Architects Journal | 22 June 1939 | | | |
Archive References| The following archives hold material relating to this : | | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | England and Wales | Births, marriages and deaths | | | | Professor David M Walker personal archive | Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material | | DMW's notes from personal discussion by telephone, 1984 | | RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum | RIBA Nomination Papers | | A no3997 (box 5); F no3998 (stored under A3997, box 5) |
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