Architects

Name:

James Charles Cook

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

25/04/1877

Year of Birth :

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Date of Birth Before (Year):

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DOB (2nd 'Or' Year):

Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

31/03/1955

Year of Death:

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Bio Notes :

James Charles Cook was born in Inverness on 25 April 1877, the son of Robert Cook, timber merchant, and his wife Mary who had both been born in Banff. He served his articles with Ross & Macbeth of Inverness from 1892, attending classes at Inverness Burgh Technical School. On completing his apprenticeship in October 1897 he moved to London as assistant to John Belcher, subsequently working briefly as assistant to Wimperis & Best in early 1901 before emigrating to South Africa to join Milne & Sladdin of Cape Town in May that year. He passed the qualifying exam in 1904, enabling him to be admitted ARIBA on 4 December 1905, his proposers being Alexander Ross, William Laidlaw Carruthers and John Slater. His nomination papers state that he had travelled in Italy from January to April of the previous year, but had returned to South Africa thereafter.

Initially he seems to have lived in Cape Town but moved to Bloemfontein by 1909 when he entered a competition for Pretoria Post Office which received honourable mention. That same year he moved to the Transvaal where he entered into partnership in Boksburg with JF MacKenzie as Cook & MacKenzie. Cook was elected a member of the Transvaal Institute of Architects' Council in 1914 and in about 1915 appears to have entered into partnership with WJ Sloan with offices in Boksburg, Benoni and Johannesburg. Sloan left this partnership in about 1917 and Cook continued to practise in Boksburg. He entered another partnership in 1918 with J Ralston of Pretoria practising in Johannesburg until about 1923 when the partnership was dissolved, both partners remaining in Johannesburg. He was also a member of Boksburg Municipal Council. He practised on his own account from about 1923 until 1927. His most important building of this period of independent practice was probably the design of Boksburg Town Hall in 1926. During this time he was commissioned to design a number of apartment blocks, a type of work which became the core of the practice with Maurice Cowen with whom he entered into partnership in 1927. By 1928 he was practising from offices in the National Mutual Buildings, Johannesburg. He maintained his Boksburg links after he moved to Johannesburg, being requested to design several buildings of importance in there until at least 1939.

The year before Cook and his wife Gertrude had made a trip back to the UK, returning to South Africa on 9 October 1938.

Cook died on 31 March 1955.

List of works in Johannesburg:
New Kemspey Building, Fox Street (1930)
Dorchester Mansions (1931-2)
Dunvegan Chambers, Pritchard Street (1933-4)
Lusan Mansions, Ellof Street (1933-50
Stanhope Mansions (1934-6)
Broadcast House (1935-7)
Grand National Building, Rissik Street (1935-8)
Gleneagles, apartment block in Killarney (1935-7)
His Majesties Building (1937-42)
Shakespeare House, corner of Joubert Street (no date)

Bio Notes continued...

Additional Notes

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

Private Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Notes
Fanellan Cottage Shore Street Inverness Inverness-shire Scotland	Private	Parental home
34 Fitzroy Road St Pancras London England	Private	A boarder at this address
Bloemfontein South Africa	Private

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date From Type	Date To	Date To Type	Notes
National Mutual Buildings Johannesburg South Africa	Business

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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
John Belcher	201657	1897/10	In year 1901	Assistant
Ross & Macbeth	100132	In year 1892	1897/10	Apprentice
Wimperis & Best	201559	In year 1901	In year 1901	Assistant
Milne & Sladdin	204915	In year 1901	In year 1904	Assistant

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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	Notes
William George Whyte	205387	In year 1928		Assistant

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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
William Laidlaw Carruthers	100027	1905/12/04	for Associateship
Alexander Ross	100284	1905/12/04	for Associateship
John Slater	201862	1905/12/04	for Associateship

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part	Notes
www.artefacts.co.za	www.artefacts.co.za		Website of artefacts, for the recording of South African buildings		Accessed March 2014

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The following archives hold material relating to this person:

Arc ref classic

Archive Name	Source	Source Cat No	Notes
RIBA Nomination Papers	RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum	100005	A v16 p82 (microfilm reel 19)
Information sent via \'Contact Us\' on Dictionary website	Courtesy of Diane Baptie	201402	Sent March 2014
Censuses	Census records online	201011

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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

References

Bibliographic References

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Archive References

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