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Arnold Mitchell (1863–1944): ‘Fecundity’ and ‘Versatility’ in an Early Twentieth-Century Architect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

Extract

The architectural historian Roderick Gradidge, referring to the 1900s, wrote that ‘in architecture there have never been such opportunities for younger men as there were at the turn of the century’. Arnold Mitchell is an architect typical of those who took advantage of such opportunities, a man (women were yet to have the chance) who saw the economic and aesthetic potential for new architecture, both nationally and internationally. Understanding the nature of architectural practice should not be reliant solely upon knowledge of the stellar architects of any given period. It depends upon integrating others, one or two rungs down the ladder but who achieved success in their own sphere, into the corpus examined, in order to achieve a fuller understanding of the profession.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. 2012

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References

Notes

1 Gradidge, Roderick, Dream Houses (London, 1980), p. 9.Google Scholar

2 The first woman architect to become a member of the RIBA, in 1898, was Ethel Charles (1871–1962). Women first studied at the Architectural Association in 1917, but it was not until 1931 that the first woman Fellow was elected to the RIBA.

3 Muthesius, Hermann, Die englische Baunkunst der Gegenwart (Berlin, 1900), p. 32.Google Scholar

4 Muthesius, Hermann, Das englische Haus (Berlin, 1904)Google Scholar; citations from the English translation, The English House, ed. Sharp, Dennis (London, 1979), p. 55.Google ScholarPubMed

5 It is believed that Mitchell’s son destroyed his drawings after his death: letter from Sir Peter Shepheard to Mr Sweet-Escott, Mitchell’s grandson, 17 March 1997 (Arnold Mitchell Archive: henceforth AMA), held by Dr J. Wood, Lyme Regis. Sir Peter Shepheard had worked in practice with Edward Mitchell, Arnold’s son; Sir Peter wrote, ‘I am afraid I can’t offer much hope of finding any of A.M.’s drawings […] we were not careful to preserve things in those days, and later on our successors were even worse’.

6 Stuart Gray, A., Edwardian Architecture: A Biographical Dictionary (London, 1985), p. 262 Google Scholar; London RIBA Library ‘Arnold Mitchell, Biographical File’; Davey, Peter, Arts and Crafts Architecture (London, 1980) pp. 106–07.Google Scholar

7 Graves, Algernon, The Royal Academy of Arts; A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904 (London, 1905), pp. 261–62Google Scholar; The Royal Academy Exhibitors: A Dictionary of Artists and their Work in the Summer Exhibitions of the Royal Academy of Arts, 1905–70 (Trowbridge, 1973), pp. 163–64.Google Scholar

8 The most extensive archive on Arnold Mitchell’s buildings is held by Harrow Public Library; this includes sales catalogues and photographs of many of his buildings in Harrow (‘Architects - Arnold Mitchell’). Other material is scant. Plans exist, for example, in Hampshire County Record Office for Mitchell’s £100 cottage design (39M89/E/B428/1). Essex County Record Office holds some material on Mitchell’s house in Essex, The Vineyards (D/DB T225). East Sussex Record Office holds plans (3 June 1896) of Barons Down, which Mitchell designed for Edward Stanley Norris (DL/A/1-2323). Westminster Archives hold a drawing of the Mayfair Hotel (C.138), and Hackney Archives have notes on St Matthew’s parish hall (1891)(SE/4623).

9 For example, the following articles on Mitchell can be found in the professional press: Anon., ‘Men Who Build’, The Builder’s Journal, 95 (2 December 1896), pp. 259–61Google Scholar; Anon., ‘Illustrations — The Work of Mr Arnold Mitchell’, The Architect and Contract Reporter, 89 (12 January 1912), p. 27 Google Scholar; Anon., ‘Contemporary Architects and Their Work — Mr Arnold Mitchell’, The Builder, 102 (29 March 1912), pp. 365–68.Google Scholar

10 Davey, , Arts and Crafts Architecture, pp. 106–07 (p–106).Google Scholar

11 Anon., ‘Men Who Build’, p. 259.Google ScholarPubMed

12 Anon., ‘The Late Arnold Mitchell’, p. 89.Google Scholar

13 Anon., ‘General News’, The Builder, 114 (17 May 1918), pp. 298–99Google Scholar; two illustrations are shown of the Lott’s bricks designs by Arnold Mitchell.

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15 Anon., ‘Illustrations’, p. 27.Google Scholar

16 AMA; Letter from John Wood to author, 24 November 2007.

17 Ibid.

18 Anon., ‘Men Who Build’, p. 259.Google ScholarPubMed

19 Anon., ‘Obituary Arnold Mitchell, F.R.I.B.A.’, The Builder, 167 (10 November 1944), p. 375.Google Scholar

20 Architectural Association, email from the Archivist to author (16 December 2009). This correspondence confirmed that Mitchell won the AA silver medal in 1888.

21 ’Arnold Bidlake Mitchell, FRIBA’, Dictionary of Scottish Architects at http://www.scotttisharchitects.org.uk/architect_php?id=201250 (accessed on 11 February 2010).

22 Ibid.

23 Ibid.

24 Anon., ‘The Late Arnold Mitchell’, p. 89.Google Scholar

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26 The two schools built by Mitchell were: Orley Farm School, Harrow (1901) (Orley Farm School’, The Builder, 83 (27 December 1902), p. 606 Google Scholar); and St Felix School, Southwold, Suffolk (1902) (’ St Felix Schools Southwold’, The Builder, 86 (16 January 1914), p. 60 Google Scholar).

27 Anon., ‘Men Who Build’, pp. 259–61.Google ScholarPubMed

28 Mitchell designed the Harrow Hospital (1906), Orley Farm School (1901) and St Andrews Church Hall (1904–05), all in the Harrow area.

29 Anon., ‘The Late Arnold Mitchell’, p. 89.Google Scholar

30 Davey, , Arts and Crafts Architecture, pp. 106–07 (p. 106).Google Scholar

31 Maule, Hugh P. G., ‘Some Recent Architectural Designs by Arnold Mitchell’, The Studio, 27 (1902), pp. 179–87 (p. 179).Google Scholar

32 Anon., ‘An Architect’s Home: Grove Hill Cottage, Harrow-on-the-Hill’, The Builder, 64 (27 May 1893), pp. 408–09.Google Scholar

33 G [sic], ‘An Architect’s Home: Mr. Arnold Mitchell’s Cottage at Harrow’, The Studio, 15 (1898) pp. 168–73 (pp. 168, 172).Google Scholar

34 Anon., ‘Men Who Build’, pp. 259–61.Google ScholarPubMed

35 Ibid., p. 259.

36 Ibid., p. 260.

37 Stamp, Gavin, ‘London 1900’, Architectural Design, 48, nos 5-6 (1978), pp. 307, 311.Google Scholar

38 Anon., ‘Men Who Build’, p. 259.Google ScholarPubMed

39 Ibid., p. 259.

40 Ibid., p. 259.

41 Maule, Hugh P. G., ‘Some Notes on a Suburban House and Garden’, The Studio, 28 (1903), pp. 94108.Google Scholar

42 Ibid., p. 108. Ramsden and Carr (1898–1919) studied at Sheffield School of Art and at the Royal College of Art, before setting up their design studio in London. Their silverwork with inlaid enamel is much sought after.

43 Ibid., p. 108.

44 Ibid., p. 108.

45 Townsend, Jenny, The Bromsgrove Guild, ed. Watt, Quintin (Warwick, 1999), p. 13.Google Scholar

46 Muthesius, Das englische Haus, p. 176.Google Scholar

47 Davey, , Arts and Crafts Architecture, p. 107.Google Scholar

48 Letter from Dr J. Wood to author, 24 November 2007.

49 AMA; Dr Woods’ archive holds a Sales document (1916) relating to The Vineyards, Great Baddow, Essex. Further extant documents relating to The Vineyards can be found at the Essex Record Office, D/DB T225.

50 Letter from Dr J. Wood to author, 24 November 2007.

51 Anon., ‘Obituary Arnold Mitchell’, p. 375.Google Scholar

52 Davey, , Arts and Crafts Architecture, p. 106.Google Scholar

53 The Royal Institution of Great Britain (RIGB), A. Siemens, at http://www.rigb.org/contentControl? action=displayContent&id=38 (accessed on 14 July 2009).

54 Ibid.

55 Ibid.

56 Muthesius, Das englische Haus, p. 193.Google Scholar

57 G, , ‘An Architect’s Home’, p. 172.Google Scholar

58 Anon., ‘A Modern English Country House. Designed by Arnold Mitchell F.R.I.B.A.’, The Studio, 12 (1901), pp. 239–47 (p. 239).Google Scholar

59 Ibid., p. 244.

60 Anon., ‘Obituary Arnold Mitchell’, p. 375.Google Scholar

61 Anon., ‘A Modern English Country House’, pp. 239–47Google ScholarPubMed; Anon., ‘Some Recent Designs in Domestic Architecture’, The Studio, 36 (1905), p. 340 Google Scholar.

62 Anon.A Modern English Country House’, p. 241.Google ScholarPubMed

63 Ibid., p. 241.

64 Ibid., p. 246.

65 Ibid., pp. 246–47.

66 Ibid., p. 243.

67 Ibid., p. 243.

68 Ibid., p. 246.

69 Ibid., p. 243.

70 Jackson-Stops, Gervase, ‘Tissington Hall, Derbyshire, III’, Country Life, 160 (29 July 1976), pp. 288–89 (p. 288).Google Scholar

71 Ibid., pp. 288–89.

72 Listed building 80416 (staff quarters and outbuilding at Tissington Hall) at http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=80416&mode=adv (accessed on 27 January 2009). The library and billiard wing was built of the same materials as the staff quarters and outbuildings at Tissington Hall.

73 Bankart, George, The Art of the Plasterer (London, 1908; Donington, Dorset, 2002), pp. 4852.Google Scholar

74 Jackson-Stops, , ‘Tissington Hall, Derbyshire, III’, p. 289 Google Scholar. For the billiard room bay and frieze, see also Country Life, 29 (1911), p. 382 Google Scholar; Anon., ‘Tissington Hall, II [sic] Derbyshire’.

75 SirFitzHerbert, Richard, Tissington Hall (Derby, 2003), p. 5.Google Scholar

76 Anon., ‘Some Recent Designs in Domestic Architecture’, The Studio, 34 (1905), pp. 151–55.Google Scholar

77 Ibid., p. 155.

78 Listed building 440082 at http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=440082&mode=quick (accessed on 24 April 2009). The building is Grade II*.

79 Anon., ‘Some Recent Designs in Domestic Architecture’, The Studio, 34 (1905), p. 155.Google Scholar

80 Ibid.

81 Mitchell and Hawker designed the Winton Public Library, Bournemouth (c. 1907).

82 At http://www.orleyfarm.harrow.sch.uk/history (accessed on 10 December 2009). Edward Hastings, who founded Orley Farm School in 1850 (then known as Hastings), ‘purchased an additional house “Julians’” (i.e. Julian’s Way (c. 1905) was built on the site of this earlier house). Unbeknown to him, this property previously belonged to the family of Anthony Trollope, and when that author faithfully described it in his famous novel of 1862, Orley Farm, Hastings recognized the description and sought — and gained — the author’s permission to change the name of his school to ‘Orley Farm’.

83 Listed building 202109 at http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=202109&mode=adv (accessed on 24 April 2009).

84 The Royal Academy Exhibitors: 1905–10 (Trowbridge, 1973), p. 164.Google Scholar

85 Anon., ‘Recent Domestic Architecture’, The Studio, 26 (1902), p. 116.Google Scholar

86 Ibid., p. 116.

87 Listed building 462837 at http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=462837&mode=quick (accessed on 24 April 2009).

88 Listed building 5379 No. 274 [sic] at http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-428463-274-ipswich (accessed on 6 March 2012). Email from Ipswich Borough Council to author (9 February 2008).

89 Ibid.

90 Ibid.

91 Anon., ‘The Late Arnold Mitchell’, p. 89.Google Scholar

92 Conversation with the owners of 274 Norwich Road, Ipswich (11 March 2012); email from the owners of 274 Norwich Road, Ipswich, to author (12 March 2012).

93 Anon., ‘Standard A Cottage’, The Builder, 105 (28 November, 1913), pp. 574–76 (p. 575).Google Scholar

94 Weaver, Lawrence, The Country Life Book of Cottages (London, 1919), p. 15.Google Scholar

95 Ibid., p. 13.

96 Ibid., p. 12.

97 Ibid., p. 8.

98 Gradidge, , Dream Houses, p. 177.Google Scholar

99 Listed building 69567, Grade II* at http://www.imagesofenglandorg.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=69567&mode=adv (accessed on 17 June 2008).

100 Ibid.

101 Ibid.

102 Listed building 204898 at http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=204898&mode=adv (accessed on 18 July 2010). The hospital was formerly the Merchant Seaman’s Orphan Asylum; Mitchell was surveyor to the Orphanage from 1898–1913.

103 ’Upper Cobb House’, Wood, John, All Over the Town (Lyme Regis, 2008), pp. 9, 10.Google ScholarPubMed

104 Usher, H. J. K., Black-Hawkins, C. D. and Carrick, G. J., An Angel Without Wings, The History of University College School, 1830–1980 (Harrow, 1981), p. 58.Google Scholar

105 Ibid., p. 58.

106 Listed building 477435 at http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=477435&mode=quick (accessed on 24 April 2009). Mitchell also designed a ‘pair of Mistresses’ Houses’ at St Felix School, Southwold, Suffolk, in Wrenaissance style; see Anon., ‘St Felix Schools, Southwold’, The Builder, 86 (16 January 1914), p. 60.Google Scholar

107 Anon., ‘Agricultural Buildings, Cambridge University’, The Builder, 98 (14 May 1910), pp. 555–56.Google Scholar

108 Gray, , Edwardian Architecture, p. 262.Google Scholar

109 Ibid., p. 262.

110 Verity, Frank, Flats Urban Houses and Cottage Homes (London, 1907), p. 120.Google Scholar

111 Ibid., p. 120.

112 Gray, , Edwardian Architecture, p. 262.Google Scholar

113 AMA; letter from Sir Peter Shepheard to Mr Sweet-Escott (17 March 1997).

114 Ibid.

115 The Temple of Travel (1926), p. 2 (TCA). For information on this archive, see http://www.thomascook.com/about-us/thomas-cook-history/company-archives/.

116 Anon., ‘Editorial Notes’, The Oriental Travellers’ Gazette (January 1926), p. 5.Google ScholarPubMed

117 Ibid., p. 5.

118 Ground-floor plan of the Thomas Cook building, Berkeley Street, 1926. TCG/GB08/11/4, TCA.

119 The Temple of Travel, p. 7.

120 Ibid., p. 7.

121 Ibid., p. 7.

122 Anon., ‘Editorial Notes’, The Oriental Travellers’ Gazette (January 1926), p. 5.Google ScholarPubMed

123 Ibid., p. 5.

124 Anon., ‘The Magic Carpet of Mayfair’, The Globetrotter (February 1927), p. 6 (TCA).Google Scholar

125 Ibid., p. 6.

126 Ibid., p. 7.

127 Ibid., p. 6.

128 Anon., ‘Editorial Notes’, The Oriental Travellers’ Gazette (January 1926), p. 5.Google ScholarPubMed

129 Anon., ‘Architectural Association Excursion, 1900’, Architectural Association Notes, 15 (September 1900), p. 126.Google Scholar

130 Anon., ‘Selections from the St. Louis Architectural Club Exhibition of 1900’, Inland Architect and News Record, 35 (May 1900), p. 32.Google Scholar

131 Katerlog der International Baukunst Ausstellung (International Architecture Exhibition) (Vienna, 1908), p. 21.Google Scholar

132 Ibid.

133 Maule, ‘Some Recent Architectural Designs’, p. 187.Google Scholar

134 Lombaerde, Piet, Leopold II (Amsterdam, 1995), frontispiece.Google Scholar

135 Ibid., pp. 102–03; Ranieri, Liane, Leopold II Urbaniste (Brussels, 1973), pp. 265–68.Google Scholar

136 Maule, ‘Some Recent Architectural Designs’, pp. 186–87 (p. 187).Google Scholar

137 Lombaerde, , Leopold II, p. 103.Google Scholar

138 Gotch, J. A., The Architecture of the Renaissance in England (London, 1891), p. xiii.Google Scholar

139 The Golf Club at Le Pau (1856) in France is the oldest in Europe. Their history recounts that, after the Napoleonic Wars and the Battle of Orthez (1814), two Scottish officers, who were confined to the area, became struck by the terrain and setting of the plain of Billière, which was perfect for their game of golf. These ‘strange characters in Scottish kilts […] tirelessly beat a little white ball using oddly shaped wooden sticks’. This is believed to be how the game of golf (as played by the Scots) was introduced to France; at http://www.paugolfclub.com/history (accessed on 16 March 2012).

140 Zweig, Stefan, Die Welt von Gestern (Stockholm, 1942)Google Scholar; citation from the English translation, The World of Yesterday (London, 2009), p. 242.Google ScholarPubMed

141 Anon., Everything is Berndorf, Everything is Krupp, p. 1 Google Scholar, Kruppstadt Museum, Berndorf, at www.berndorf-usa.com/story/kap_e25.htm (accessed on 26 March 2009).

142 Royal Academy Exhibitors, p. 164.

143 Kruppstadt Museum, Berndorf, Austria; email from Susanne Schmieder-Haslinger of the Kruppstadt Museum, Berndorf to author (28 May 2009).

144 Archives of the Evangelische Kirche Berndorf; email from The Revd Andreas Hankemeier to author (13 September 2009).

145 Field, Horace and Bunney, Michael, English Domestic Architecture of the XVII and XVIII Centuries (London, 1905), p. 1.Google Scholar

146 Anon., ‘Modern Domestic Architecture’, Architect and Contract Reporter, 87 (12 January 1912), p. 21.Google Scholar

147 Ibid., p. 21.

148 Ibid., p. 21.

149 Royal Academy Exhibitors, p. 164; Station at Antofagasta, Chili [sic]’, The Builder, 106 (8 May 1914), p. 556.Google Scholar

150 Davey, Arts and Crafts Architecture, p. 106 Google Scholar. Davey wrote that Mitchell also ‘designed buildings in Germany […] and at the Asswan [sic] Dam’; these have yet to be identified. Likewise the biographical file for Mitchell in the RIBA states that he designed two termini in South Africa, which also remain unidentified.

151 Royal Academy Exhibitors, p. 164.

152 Anon., ‘Station at Antofagasta’, p. 556.Google Scholar

153 Ibid., p. 556.

154 Email from Jorge Lyons of the Antofagasta Railway Company PLC to author (1 February 2010).

155 Ibid.

156 Muthesius, , Die englische Baunkunst, p. 32.Google Scholar

157 Gray, , Edwardian Architecture, pp. 321–23.Google Scholar

158 Ibid., pp. 85–86.

159 Ibid., pp. 304–07.

160 Davey, Arts and Crafts Architecture, p. 106.Google Scholar

161 Gray, , Edwardian Architecture, pp. 294–97.Google Scholar

162 Ibid., pp. 204–06.

163 Ibid., pp. 85–86.

164 Birch, Gary, Lott’s Bricks (Bushey, 2008), pp. 16 (p. 3).Google Scholar

165 Ibid., p. 1.

166 Ibid., p. 4.

167 Ibid., p. 6.

168 Muthesius, , Das englische Haus, pp. 126, 168Google Scholar. Muthesius showed Westover Hall as an example of the small country house in England. Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner, London 3: North West (London, 1951, 1991), p. 48. Pevsner refers to Mitchell’s ‘distinctive comfortably homely free classical style’.

169 Anon., ‘The Late Arnold Mitchell’, p. 89.Google Scholar

170 Anon., ‘Obituary Arnold Mitchell’, p. 375.Google Scholar

171 Anon., ‘Architects Own Homes — Mr. Arnold Mitchell’s Town House Walpole House, The Mall, Chiswick’, The Architects’ Journal, 60 (8 October 1924), pp. 528–36.Google Scholar

172 Ibid., p. 528.

173 Ibid., p. 536.

174 Anon., ‘The match king [sic]’, The Economist (22 December 2007), pp. 107–09 (p. 107).Google Scholar

175 Telephone conversation with John Wood, 17 March 2012.

176 AMA; letter from Sir Peter Shepheard to Mr Sweet-Escott, 17 March 1997.

177 Maule, ‘Some Recent Architectural Designs’, p. 179.Google Scholar

178 Ibid., p. 180.