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Basic Biographic Details
Name:
Edmund Walter Wimperis
Designation :
Architect
Date of Birth:
Year Only
Exact DOB:
08/02/1925
Year of Birth :
1865
Circa Year of Birth :
Date of Birth Before (Year):
Date of Birth After (Year):
DOB (1st 'Or' Year):
DOB (2nd 'Or' Year):
Date of Death:
Year Only
Exact DOD:
08/02/1925
Year of Death:
1946
Circa Year of Death:
Date of Death Before (Year):
Date of Death After (Year):
DOD (1st 'Or' Year):
DOD (2nd 'Or' Year):
Town of Birth :
Bio Notes :
Edmund Walter Wimperis was born in 1865, the son of Edmund Morison Wimperis, watercolourist and brother of the playwright Arthur Wimperis. He was articled to his older cousin, John Thomas Wimperis, in London in February 1882, and remained with him as an assistant, attending the Architectural Association and passing the qualifying exam to be admitted ARIBA on 3 June 1889, his proposers being Wimperis, Thomas Verity, another of the Grosvenor Estate architects and Cole Alfred Adams.
John Thomas Wimperis retired in 1898, at which point, or earlier, the younger Wimperis became a partner. The elder Wimperis died on 21 December 1904, and William Henry Arber, his partner since 1889, died in the same year, but a few years before that the younger Wimperis had taken into partnership John Reginald Best, born 1866. Best had been articled to Cole Alfred Adams in 1883 and had also had some experience as a clerk of works to the scholar architect John Alfred Gotch. He had been in the Wimperis office and attended the Architectural Association prior to passing the qualifying exam in 1889 and being admitted ARIBA on 3 June of that year, his proposers being Adams, Verity and Herbert Duncan Appleton. He had subsequently worked in partnership with Charles Ashton Callon before being taken into partnership by Wimperis.
The Wimperis & Best partnership seems not to have been a success and was dissolved in or about 1910 when Edmund Wimperis succeeded Colonel Estace Balfour as architect to the Grosvenor Estate.
In 1913 Wimperis replaced Best by taking into partnership William Begg Simpson, born 1880, the son of an Aberdonian farmer, described by his obituarist D F Fyffe as 'a man of amazing vitality and cheerfulness of spirit'. He was articled to Alexander Marshall Mackenzie 1896-1901, working alongside Mackenzie's son, Alexander George Robertson Mackenzie who was a year older. He attended classes at Aberdeen School of Art from 1896 until 1902 when he moved to London as assistant to Read & MacDonald, both of whom had worked for Sir Ernest George. After a period with Arthur Conran Blomfield, Simpson joined Wimperis as an assistant in 1911, making his name with 26 Grosvenor Street in a neo-Georgian manner influenced by Lutyens.
The partnership of Wimperis and Simpson was renewed at the end of the First World War and in 1923 Wimperis & Simpson achieved still wider fame by winning the limited competition for the rebuilding of Fortnum & Masons. In 1925 Leonard Rome Guthrie was taken into partnership to help with the Grosvenor House project for which Lutyens was consultant, the practice name now becoming Wimperis Simpson & Guthrie. Born in 1880, Guthrie was educated at Glasgow High School and articled to William Leiper from 1895 to 1900, during which period he studied under William James Anderson at Glasgow School of Art. He won the Thomson Scholarship in 1899, enabling him to spend eight months travelling in Italy, Spain, France and Germany the following year. On his return in 1901 he spent some time travelling in Scotland, preparing drawings of Scottish gardens for Harry Inigo Triggs' book 'Formal Gardens of England and Scotland', and in the same year became head draughtsman to William Flockhart, marrying one of Flockhart's two daughters. He left Flockhart in 1907 but stayed in London to commence practice on his own account at 3 Gray's Inn Square. He passed the qualifying exam in 1909 and was admitted ARIBA on 28 February 1910, his proposers being Flockhart, Andrew Noble Prentice and Edwin Alfred Rickards. He specialised in domestic architecture and landscaping, but was also appointed architect to the Royal Institution in 1913. He was elected FRIBA on 8 June 1925, his proposers being Edward Prioleau Warren, James Glen Sivewright Gibson and William Curtis Green.
Edmund Wimperis died in retirement in 1946. The practice was continued by Simpson and Guthrie with Douglas James Fyffe who had been taken into partnership in 1931. Guthrie retired in 1953 and died in April 1958 and Simpson, who had retired two years earlier in 1951 on 22 July 1959.
Bio Notes continued...
Additional Notes
Addresses
The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:
Private Addresses
Private Addresses2 classic
Address
Class
Date From Char
Date From Type
Date To Char
Date To Type
Notes
6 Lambert Road Brixton Hill London England
Private
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Business Addresses
Business Addresses2 classic
Address
Class
Date From
Date From Type
Date To
Date To Type
Notes
22 Conduit Street London England
Business
51 Conduit Street London England
Business
6 Vigo Street Kensington Gardens London England
Business
61 South Molton Street London England
Business
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Employment and Training
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
Wimperis & Best
201559
1900 or 1901 or 1902|1903
c. 1910
Partner
John Thomas Wimperis
203571
In year 1882
c. 1886
Apprentice
Wimperis & Arber
201768
In year 1889
Before 1898
Assistant
Wimperis & Simpson
203711
In year 1913
In year 1925
Partner
Wimperis, Simpson & Guthrie
203699
In year 1925
Partner
John Thomas Wimperis
203571
c. 1886
In year 1889
Assistant
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Employees or Pupils
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 Begg Simpson
203694
1911/06
In year 1913
Assistant
George Herbert Foggitt
204854
After 1903
Before 1914
Assistant
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RIBA Proposals
This person proposed the following individuals for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):
RIBA PROPOSALS2 classic
Person
Date Proposed
Notes
Laurence Kirkpatrick Hall
1908/03/02
for Fellowship
John Duff
1910/06/06
for Licentiateship
Walter Symington Athol Gordon
Early 1916s
for Fellowship
William Begg Simpson
Mid 1919s
for Fellowship
John Murray Easton
Late 1921s
for Associateship
Douglas James Fyffe
1939/03/06
for Licentiateship
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Buildings and Designs
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
Island
City or County
Country
Notes
Fortnum & Mason
In year 1923
Piccadilly
London
England
Won competition to secure job
Dupplin Castle
After 1925
Forteviot
Perthshire
Scotland
Alterations
Flats, Brook House site
In year 1932
London
England
Appointed for job
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References
Bibliographic References
The following books contain references to this person:
Bib ref classic
Author
Title
Date
Publisher
Part
Notes
British Architectural Library, RIBA
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914
2001
Survey of London
Survey of London
v39 & 40
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