Architects

Name:

Robert Atkinson

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

08/01/1883

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Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

26/12/1952

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Bio Notes :

Robert Atkinson was born at Wigton, Cumbria on 1 August 1883, the son of a builder and cabinetmaker. He was provisionally articled to an unidentified architect in Nottingham who reported to his parents that he was unsuited to the profession; but his parents persevered and he recommenced his articles with James Harris in the same town in 1898, attending classes at University College and the School of Art there. He transferred his articles to ____ Dyson in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1899 but returned to Nottingham in 1900, winning the Dutton Walker scholarship of the School of Art in 1905. In 1904-05 he won a number of national competitions, the most important being the Tite Prize, and in the latter year moved to London as assistant first to John Belcher of Belcher & Joass, then to Charles Edward Mallows and finally to the unrelated R Frank Atkinson who had moved to London from Liverpool in 1901.

After spending some nine months travelling in Italy, France, Germany, Holland and Algeria Atkinson came second in the Soane Medallion competition in 1906. He set up practice at 2 South Square, Gray's Inn with Charles Gascoyne, Alick Horsnell and George Nott. He passed the qualifying exam in 1909 and was admitted ARIBA on 28 February 1910, his proposers being Atkinson, Mallows and Alfred William Stephens Cross. In 1911 he moved office to 11 Old Queen Street, Westminster and in the following year took into partnership George Luard Alexander, a pupil of Bodley who had also worked in R Frank Atkinson's office. This was successful and the partnership moved to a more fashionable address at 199 Piccadilly, specialising in theatre and cinema design.

In 1911 Austen Hall invited Atkinson to become visiting master at the Architectural Association and after C H Reilly bullied the arts and craftsman Hugh Patrick Guarin Maule into resigning he was appointed Headmaster (later Principal) in January 1913. As head Atkinson furthered links with France until the Great War intervened. He was admitted FRIBA on 7 June 1915, his proposers being Thomas Edwin Cooper, Henry Victor Ashley and Francis Winton Newman, and in August 1916 he was exempted from war service to keep his practice open - Alexander and all the other staff had been called up - and supervise the removal of the Architectural Association from Tufton Street to Bedford Square. Alexander was killed in action late in 1917 and in 1919 Atkinson visited the USA to report on architectural education there for the RIBA and study the American picture palaces. On his return in October he resigned as Principal of the Architectural Association and took on the advisory post of Director of Education so that he could give more time to his practice, Howard Robertson succeeding him as principal. In 1922 his 'Report on the Education of the Architect in the United States of America' was published by the RIBA, and in 1926, together with the Association's librarian Hope Bagenal, he published volume 1 part 1 of 'Theory and Elements of Architecture', based on his lectures. The remainder was never published, at least partly because his role as Director came to an end with a restructuring of the School in 1929.

In 1924 Atkinson entered into a partnership with the Ecole des Beaux-Arts-trained Alexander Frederick Berenbruck Anderson (1888 -1968), a move which reinforced the American Beaux-Arts nature of his practice which was now based at 126 Wigmore Street. In 1932 he became a director of the Building Centre and stylistically the practice moved from Beaux-Arts and neo-Georgian into a very accomplished brick modern, particularly for cinema and housing work, the practice moving yet again to 13 Manchester Square in 1934. The major work of his later career was the Barber Institute at Birmingham, designed and built in 1936-39.

After the Second World War Atkinson & Anderson were appointed consultants for Government building projects in Gibraltar.

Atkinson was appointed OBE in 1951. He died on 26 December 1952.

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
Nottingham Nottinghamshire England	Private

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date From Type	Date To	Date To Type	Notes
Nottingham Nottinghamshire England	Business
2 South Square Gray's Inn London England	Business
11 Old Queen Street London England	Business
199 Piccadilly London England	Business
126 Wigmore Street London England	Business
13 Manchester Square London England	Business
110 Old Brompton Road London England	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
Charles Edward Mallows	204148	After 1905	Before 1909	Assistant
Robert Frank Atkinson	205411	After 1905	Before 1909	Assistant
___ Dyson	207050	In year 1899	In year 1900	Apprentice
Belcher & Joass	201658	In year 1905	Before 1909	Assistant
Atkinson & Alexander	207051	In year 1912	Before 1917	Partner

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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
The Hon Claud [Stephen] Phillimore	401959	1930s		Assistant
John Robert Atkinson	204874	1932/10		Assistant
David Carr	200738	Before 1949		Chief Assistant
Alan Reiach	202732	In year 1936	Before 1938	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
Alfred William Stephens Cross	204028	1910/02/28	for Associateship
Robert Frank Atkinson	205411	1910/02/28	for Associateship
Charles Edward Mallows	204148	1910/02/28	for Associateship
(Sir) Thomas Edwin Cooper (or Edwin Cooper)	204521	1915/06/07	for Fellowship
Henry Victor Ashley	204869	1915/06/07	for Fellowship
Francis Winton Newman	204870	1915/06/07	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
Thomas Smith Tait	1926/02/15	for Fellowship
Frederick Edward Bradshaw MacManus	1926/11/29	for Associateship
Francis Lorne	Late 1930s	for Fellowship
David Carr	1949/11/29	for Fellowship

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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	City or County	Country	Notes
Usher Hall	In year 1910	Edinburgh	Scotland	Competition design - not successful
Royal Hotel and cinema	In year 1912	Edinburgh	Scotland	Joint architect for cinema with R M Cameron
The Picture House	In year 1915	Aberdeen	Scotland	With G L Alexander

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Notes
Royal Academy exhibitors				1911, no 1666
British Architectural Library, RIBA	Directory of British Architects 1834-1914	2001
Spencer-Longhurst, Paul (ed.)	Robert Atkinson 1883-1952	1989	Achitectural Association (contributions by Gavin Stamp and Alan Powers)

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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			A v19 no2039 (microfilm reel 20); F v22 no 1564 (microfilm reel 13)

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Private Addresses

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Business Addresses

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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

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