Architects

Name:

Antony Curtiss Wolffe

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Exact DOB:

14/05/1920

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27/01/2016

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Bio Notes :

Antony Curtiss Wolffe was born Wolfgang Schmidt in Berlin on 14 May 1920, the son of Dr Walter Schmidt, advocate and solicitor and his wife Hildegard Meyer who though herself a Lutheran Christian came from a prominent Jewish family. Antony Wolffe spent his early years in Berlin, attending a school in the Black Forest. He came to Britain as a refugee from Nazi Germany. He spent one year at St George’s School, Harpenden and decided that he would make Britain his home. From March to July 1938 he was articled to H Hopson Hill in Harpenden. In March 1938 he had been awarded the Andrew Grant Bursary enabling him to study architecture at the School of Architecture, Edinburgh College of Art. The years 1938-43 were spent at the College, interrupted by internment as an enemy alien on the Isle of Man and in Quebec. He remained at the College of Art for a further year to undertake the diploma course in Town Planning. From July to September 1939 he was an apprentice with Thomas Waller Marwick in Edinburgh.

From 1944 to 1947 he worked as a planning assistant on the Central & South East Scotland Regional Planning Advisory Committee, the consultant for which was Sir Frank Mears. He opened business on his own account in 1947 in James Court, Edinburgh. (That year he obtained a Certificate of Naturalisation). From 1948 he formed a partnership with Molly Marquis which lasted until 1952. At the same time as running his practice he undertook planning work for two Edinburgh firms. From 1947 to 1953 he was a planning assistant in the office of Robert Hurd, working on planning strategies for the Island of Lewis. He had a similar post running partly concurrently (1948-55) in the office of Sir Frank Mears who was consultant to the Royal Burgh of Dumfries.

In 1951 he obtained a number of jobs in the south west of Scotland including a house and surgery for a doctor in Gatehouse of Fleet. Initially he lived at Rockcliffe but in 1952 the practice moved to 65 High Street, Gatehouse of Fleet. He was admitted ARIBA in 1963 and FRIAS in 1962.

From 1951-87 he was a part-time Inspector of Historic Buildings for the Scottish Development Department. He worked as part-time surveyor for Gatehouse-of-Fleet Town Council during the years 1956-75. In the 1960s he also took on teaching jobs, from 1968-75 being a lecturer in the Department of Town & Country Planning at Heriot Watt University and from 1965-1992 he taught evening classes in architecture at the Department of Adult & Continuing Education, Glasgow. University.

In 1968 he was joined in partnership by W A D Murphie as A C Wolffe & Partner and about two years after a branch office was opened in Dumfries. The partnership lasted until 1982. From 1975-1985 T McIlwraith was associate partner. The practice was predominantly concerned with work on historic buildings.

In 1975 he was awarded the MBE for services in architecture because of his work with Historic Scotland.

More recent projects include the new post office and shop for Auchencairn Initiative and conversion of the tannery into a supermarket and restaurant in Gatehouse. He has undertaken a wide range of work including mill conversions, housing developments and visitor centres, including that at Threave.

The practice was always handicapped by a shortage of capital with an overdraft to cover staff and office expenses. The collection of fees for work done was always delayed until the appropriate work stage was reached to claim installments and the overdraft limit had to be negotiated annually depending on the value of standard securities of property and work in progress. Wolffe was responsible for financial arrangements and the overdraft was entirely met by him - the partners did not share this burden. From 1985 to 2012 Wolffe worked as sole partner but retained the name of A C Wolffe & Partners. The firm got a good share of architectural work in Dumfries & Galloway but the area has not attracted very generous investment compared with other parts of the country so that the profitability of the practice has been relatively low but with considerable job satisfaction.

Wolffe served as Convener of the Church of Scotland Committee on Artistic Matters, President of the Galloway Preservation Society and President of the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland (he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Society) and as a Trustee of the Scottish Churches Architectural Heritage Trust. From 1981 he was a Trustee of the Murray Usher Foundation.

He retired in February 2012. He married twice: first in 1950 to Betty Henderson by whom he had one daughter and then in 1961 to Alexandra Graham by whom he had two sons and one daughter. His interests outwith his profession were music, canoeing, swimming and books.

Wolffe died on 27 January 2016.

Publications:
The Royal Burgh of Edinburgh. (The Outlook Tower Association). Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.

'Biography authored by the Dictionary of Scottish Architects Compilation Team.'

Bio Notes continued...

Additional Notes

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

Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date To
6 James Court Edinburgh Scotland	Business	1947	1952
65 High Street Gatehouse of Fleet Kirkcudbrightshire Scotland	Business	1952	1957
31 Fleet Street Gatehouse of Fleet Kirkcudbrightshire Scotland	Business	1957	1964
Tollhouse Gatehouse of Fleet Kirkcudbrightshire Scotland	Business	1964	2012
Dumfries Dumfriesshire Scotland	Business	1982	1990
Fleetside Gatehouse of Fleet Kirkcudbrightshire Scotland	Business	2000	2007

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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
A C Wolffe & Partners	402999	1980s		Partner
Robert Philip Andrew Hurd	202914	In year 1947	In year 1953	Assistant	Planning assistant
(Sir) Frank Charles Mears	202402	In year 1948	In year 1955	Assistant	Planning assistant
Wolffe & Marquis	408060	In year 1948	In year 1952	Partner
A Curtiss Wolffe & Partner	400173	In year 1968		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	Notes
John Fergusson	408061	1950s	1960s	Assistant
John Alexander Copland	400158	In year 1958	In year 1959	Assistant	As qualified assistant.
David Albert Flett	402876	In year 1959	In year 1969	Assistant
William Adair Douglas Murphie	400174	In year 1962	In year 1968	Assistant	Qualified assistant
David Robertson Collin	406765	In year 1965	In year 1967	Assistant	Qualified assistant

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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
Earlston House and Estate	1860s	St John\'s , Town of Dalry	Kirkcudbrightshire	Scotland	New Lodge
Slogarie House and Slogarie Cottages	In year 1861	Kirkcudbright	Kirkcudbrightshire	Scotland	Slogarie Cottages
Outlook Tower	1940s		Edinburgh	Scotland	Alterations and new camera obscura inserted.
Whitehouse	1940s	Inveresk	Midlothian	Scotland	Restoration and alterations
8 and 8A Dick Place	1940s		Edinburgh	Scotland	Conversion of number 8 into two houses
Whitehouse cottage	In year 1946	Inveresk	Midlothian	Scotland	Alterations?
Passenger Station	c. 1947	Granton	Edinburgh	Scotland	Alterations?
Lamancha	Late 1940s		Peeblesshire	Scotland	Alterations
Earlstoun Lodge and estate buildings	Late 1940s	Dalry	Kirkcudbrightshire	Scotland	Work on estate buildings
Planetree	1950s	Gatehouse of Fleet	Kirkcudbrightshire	Scotland	New house and surgery
Portyerrock Mill	1950s	Whithorn	Wigtownshire	Scotland	Restoration and conversion
Village Hall	1950s	Carsluith	Kirkcudbrightshire	Scotland	Alterations and restorations
Whitehorn Cottage	In year 1950	Haugh of Urr, Hardgate	Kirkcudbrightshire	Scotland	Alterations and additions
Bogfoot	In year 1952	Langholm	Dumfriesshire	Scotland	Alteratons? New build?
Kirkdale House	In year 1952	Carsluith	Kirkcudbrightshire	Scotland	Alterations

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part	Notes
Bailey, Rebecca M	Scottish architects' papers: a source book	1996	Edinburgh: The Rutland Press		p108
Municipal Annual	Scottish Municipal Annual	1964		1964-1965

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Publisher	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Dumfries and Galloway Standard and Advertiser		2012/06/16

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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
Information sent to Dictionary October 2013	Courtesy of Mr Antony Wolffe	201382
Records of membership	RIAS, Rutland Square	201006

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

Employees or Pupils

Employees or Pupils2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

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