Architects

Name:

Fred Rowntree

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Year Only

Exact DOB:

19/04/1926

Year of Birth :

1860

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DOB (2nd 'Or' Year):

Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

01/07/1927

Year of Death:

Circa Year of Death:

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Date of Death After (Year):

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DOD (2nd 'Or' Year):

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Bio Notes :

Fred Rowntree was born in 1860 in Scarborough, the son of John Rowntree, master grocer and Ann Webster. His brother, also John Rowntree, was a tea and coffee merchant and café owner there and another relative, William Rowntree, was a prosperous draper who subsequently built a department store. The family were Quakers and related to the chocolate manufacturers. Fred was educated at Bootham School, York, and articled to Charles Augustus Bury of Scarborough from 1876 to 1880. Thereafter he was assistant to Edward Burgess in London and a clerk of works in Leicestershire until 1885 when he was taken into partnership by Charles Edeson of Scarborough, the practice title becoming Edeson & Rowntree. He moved office to London in 1890, but in the same year he entered into partnership with Malcolm Stark in Glasgow. The reason for this move is not yet clear but Stark had won the Govan District Asylum competition and was always coming close to a major national competition win, the Rowntrees had Glasgow connections through the Henderson family and on 6 October 1886 at the Friends Meeting House, North Portland Street Rowntree had married Mary Anna Gray, a daughter of William Gray of Gray, Dunn & Company (biscuit manufacturers), who were also Quakers. Helen Henderson had, as her second husband, married the painter E A Walton and through them Rowntree became acquainted with George Walton, with whom he worked closely for decorative work in the 1890s.

In 1900 the partnership of Stark & Rowntree was dissolved as a long succession of near misses in national competitions, together with health problems, had resulted in Stark descending into alcoholism. They had only narrowly missed winning the commission for Belfast City Hall, but the Govan District Asylum had remained their only significant win. Rowntree relocated his practice in Hammersmith. In 1907 Rowntree joined the Art Workers Guild.

That same year, 1907, Rowntree's son Douglas Woodville Rowntree (born in England c. 1888), who had studied at the Architectural Association for the previous two years and had passed the preliminary exam in 1906, entered the practice as improver. He passed the intermediate exam the following year and was soon promoted to assistant. He sought additional experience from April to September 1910 in the firm of Mussellwhite & Sapp, builders, of Basingstoke, but continued in his father's firm thereafter. In 1912 he and Fred's younger son Colin (born 9 August 1891 at 9 Queen Square, Strathbungo) were taken into partnership as Fred Rowntree & Sons. In the same year they won the competition for the West China University at Chengtu, Szechuan; Douglas Woodville took charge of the office for more than six months whilst his father was away in China attending to the project.

During the First World War Fred Rowntree joined forces with Charles Spooner and Arthur Joseph Penty to form an enterprise employing Belgian refugees in the prefabrication of buildings for re-erection in Belgium after the war. Douglas Woodville Rowntree joined the armed forces in January 1916.

The practice continued under the same title and at the same address - 11 Hammersmith Terrace, Hammersmith - after the war. Douglas Woodville was admitted ARIBA on 3 March 1919, his proposers being his father, Spooner and Stanley Davenport Adshead.

Fred Rowntree died on 7 January 1927 after an operation. The continued careers of his sons fall outwith the scope of this Dictionary as they did not practise in Scotland.

Bio Notes continued...

Additional Notes

The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:

Private Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From Char	Date From Type	Date To Char	Date To Type	Notes
The Valley Scarborough Yorkshire England	Private
9 Queen Square Strathbungo Glasgow Scotland	Private
11 Hammersmith Terrace Hammersmith London England	Private/business

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date To
167 St Vincent Street Glasgow Scotland	Business	1890	Before 1892
189 St Vincent Street Glasgow Scotland	Business	Before 1892	1894 or 1895
249 West George Street Glasgow Scotland	Business	1894 or 1895	1899
11 Little College Street Westminster London England	Business	1903
11 Hammersmith Terrace Hammersmith London England	Private/business	Before 1905	After 1926

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The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this person (click on an item to view details):

Employers2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position	Notes
Charles A Bury	202977	In year 1876	In year 1880	Apprentice
Edeson & Rowntree	100607	In year 1885	In year 1890
Stark & Rowntree	201283	In year 1890	In year 1900	Partner
Fred Rowntree & Son (Fred Rowntree & Sons)	202978	In year 1912	After 1922	Partner	Father
Edward Burgess	205276	c. 1880	c. 1882	Draughtsman

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The following individuals were employed or trained by this person (click on an item to view details):

Employees or Pupils2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position
Alexander Robert Meldrum	202006	1903/06	1904/04	Assistant
Douglas Woodville Rowntree	202980	After 1907	In year 1912	Assistant
Andrew Rollo	203018	In year 1899	After 1903	Chief Assistant
Alexander McInnes Gardner	200958	In year 1901	In year 1903	Assistant
James Henry Gray	202294	In year 1903	In year 1906	Apprentice
Joseph Abraham Meikle	205200	In year 1905	In year 1906	Assistant
Douglas Woodville Rowntree	202980	In year 1907	Before 1912	Improver
Colin Rowntree	202979	In year 1910	In year 1914	Assistant
Colin Rowntree	202979	c. 1905	In year 1910	Apprentice

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The following individuals proposed this person for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):

RIBA PROPOSERS2 classic

Proposer	Proposer Link	Date Proposed	Notes
(Sir) John James Burnet	200088	1905/12/04	for Fellowship
Andrew Noble Prentice	200170	1905/12/04	for Fellowship
Henry Thomas Hare	203956	1905/12/04	for Fellowship

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This person proposed the following individuals for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):

RIBA PROPOSALS2 classic

Person	Date Proposed	Notes
Austin Woodeson	1906/12/03	for Associateship
James Henry Gray	1911/02/27	for Associateship
Austin Woodeson	In year 1914	for Fellowship
Douglas Woodville Rowntree	1919/03/03	for Associateship
Joseph Abraham Meikle	Late 1921s	for Associateship

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This person was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):

Buildings and Designs2 classic

Building Name	Date Started	Town, District or Village	City or County	Country	Notes
William Rowntree's department store	In year 1882	Scarborough	Yorkshire	England	As assistant to Burgess and clerk of works
Sandside Coffee House	In year 1882	Scarborough	Yorkshire	Scotland
Govan District Asylum	In year 1890	Govan	Glasgow	Scotland	Design commission (won in competition)
London County Council Municipal Lodging House	In year 1890		London	England	Competition design - unsuccessful
Fancy fair stage set for Glasgow Society of Lady Artists	In year 1891		Glasgow	Scotland	In conjunction with George Walton
Rowntree's Cocoa Works	In year 1891	York	Yorkshire	England	Additions
Society of Friends Building	In year 1891		Dundee	Scotland	Design of elevation in consultation with William Mackison as part of Whitehall Street and Crescent improvement act redevelopment
Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum	In year 1891	Kelvingrove	Glasgow	Scotland	Competition design - reached second tier
Kirkintilloch Original Secession Church	In year 1892	Kirkintilloch	Dunbartonshire	Scotland
Soldiers' Home	In year 1892		Glasgow	Scotland	Within this period there were 3 campaigns of building. See events
St Pancras Municipal Buildings	In year 1892	St Pancras	London	England	Third (or second?) premiated competition design
National Schools	In year 1892	Snainton	Yorkshire	England	Design exhibited
Walsall Town Hall	In year 1892	Walsall	Staffordshire	England	Unsuccessful competition entry
Biscuit Factory of Gray, Dunn & Co, Kinning Park	In year 1893	Kinning Park	Glasgow	Scotland	Extension (115 Stanley Street)
Pump Room and Municipal Buildings extension	In year 1893	Bath	Somerset	England	Unsuccessful competition design

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher
Who's Who in Architecture		1923
Robson, Peter	Fred Rowntree architect	2014	York: Newby Books
British Architectural Library, RIBA	Directory of British Architects 1834-1914	2001
Bayliss, Ann and Paul	Architects and Civil Engineers of Nineteenth Century Scarborough: A Biographical Dictionary	2001
Who's Who in Architecture		1914
Who's Who in Architecture		1926
Moon, Karen	George Walton, Designer and Architect	1993
Gray, A Stuart	Edwardian Architecture: A Biographical Dictionary	1985
Beauty's Awakening	Beauty's Awakening: The Centenary Exhibition of the Art Workers' Guild		Brighton Museum September -November 1984, Royal Pavilion Brighton

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Builder	1927/01/14	v132	p88 - death notice
RIBA Journal	1927/02/05	v34	p255 - obituary
Builder	1927/01/28	v132	p150 - obituary

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The following archives hold material relating to this person:

Arc ref classic

Archive Name	Source	Source Cat No	Building Id	Item Name	Notes
RIBA Nomination Papers	RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum	100005			F v16 p59 no1046 (microfilm reel 11)
Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material	Professor David M Walker personal archive	100041			Additional information (family history and addresses) from research by Iain Paterson

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Private Addresses

Private Addresses2 classic

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

Employees or Pupils

Employees or Pupils2 classic

RIBA Proposers

RIBA PROPOSERS2 classic

RIBA Proposals

RIBA PROPOSALS2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

Bibliographic References

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Periodical References

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