Basil Spence

{{Infobox architect

| image = Basil_Spence.jpg

| honorific_prefix = Sir

| name = Basil Spence

| nationality = British

| alma_mater = Edinburgh College of Art

| birth_name = Basil Urwin Spence

| birth_date = {{birth date|1907|8|13|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India

| death_date = {{death date and age|1976|11|19|1907|8|13|df=yes}}

| death_place = Yaxley, Suffolk, England, UK

| practice = Basil Spence & Partners

| significant_buildings = Coventry Cathedral
Hyde Park Barracks
New Zealand parliament extension

| significant_projects =

| significant_design =

| awards =

}}

Sir Basil Urwin Spence, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OM|OBE|RA}} (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Modernist/Brutalist style.

Training

Spence was born in Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India,[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2007/oct/16/communities Let's be frank about Spence], The Guardian (16 October 2007). Retrieved: 10 October 2021. the son of Urwin Archibald Spence, an assayer with the Royal Mint. He was educated at the John Connon School, operated by the Bombay Scottish Education Society, and was then sent back to Scotland to attend George Watson's College in Edinburgh from 1919 to 1925. He enrolled at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) in 1925, studying architecture,[https://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/articles/2008/07/30/blast08_basil_spencel_feature.shtml Back to the Future in Modern Architecture], BBC (30 July 2008). Retrieved: 10 October 2021. where he secured a maintenance scholarship on the strength of the "unusual brilliance" of his work. He won several prizes at the college, and meanwhile carried out paid work drawing architectural perspectives for practising architects including Leslie Grahame-Thomson, Reginald Fairlie and Frank Mears.

In 1929–1930, he spent a year as an assistant, along with William Kininmonth, in the London office of Sir Edwin Lutyens, whose work was to have a profound influence on Spence's style,{{cite web|url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/BasilSpence|title=SPENCE, Sir Basil (1907–1976) – English Heritage|website=www.english-heritage.org.uk}} where he worked on designs for the Viceroy's House in New Delhi, India. While in London he attended evening classes at the Bartlett School of Architecture under A. E. Richardson. Returning to ECA in 1930 for his final year of studies, he was appointed a junior lecturer, despite the fact that he was still a student. He continued to teach at ECA until 1939.

Early career

File:Southside Garage, Causewayside Edinburgh.jpg

After graduating in 1931, Kininmonth and Spence set up in practice together, based in a room within the office of Rowand Anderson & Paul (at that time having Arthur Forman Balfour Paul as sole partner), in Rutland Square, Edinburgh. The practice was founded on two residential commissions which Kininmonth had obtained that year. Spence also received commissions to illustrate other architects' work, including the Southside Garage, on Causewayside, Edinburgh, in an Art Deco style (although credited to Spence his name appears nowhere on the official warrant drawings and only appears as a signature on the artist's perspective).City of Edinburgh Council: Building Warrant Archive{{Better source needed|reason=Not enough information in the citation to permit verification|date=October 2022}}

In 1934 Spence married, and the Kininmonth & Spence practice merged with Rowand Anderson & Paul. Balfour Paul died in 1938, leaving Kininmonth and Spence in charge of the renamed Rowand Anderson & Paul & Partners. Spence's work was now concentrated on exhibition design, including three pavilions for the 1938 Empire Exhibition in Glasgow, and country houses.

The first two of these, Broughton Place at Broughton near Biggar, and Quothquan in Lanarkshire, were executed in traditional Scottish styles at the client's request. The third was entirely modern. Gribloch was designed for John Colville, grandson of the founder of Colville's Iron Works, and his American wife. It was designed in a modernist Regency style, with assistance from Perry Duncan, an American architect hired by the Colvilles when Spence was too busy with exhibition work to progress the project.

Army service

In 1939, Spence was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Camouflage Training and Development Centre of the British Army.{{cite web | url=http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/273364/digital_images/edinburgh+ravelston+dykes+road+ravelston+house+garden/ | title=Edinburgh, Ravelston Dykes Road, Ravelston House, Garden | publisher=Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland | work=A set of oblique aerial photographs of Ravelston House garden with military vehicles, Edinburgh taken as a camouflage test. Sir Basil Spence Archive. | date= 14 March 1944 | access-date=2 August 2012 | pages=Canmore ID 273364}} He was initially based at Farnham in Surrey. His work included, prior to D-Day, the design of a counterfeit oil terminus at Dover as part of the Operation Fortitude deception plan for the Normandy landings.The Hidden War by Seymour Reit, published by Corgi Books 1980, page 35 Spence subsequently took part in the D-Day landings in 1944. He was demobilised in September 1945, having reached the rank of major and been mentioned in despatches twice.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2007/oct/16/communities|title=Matt Weaver examines the career of architect Sir Basil Spence|work=The Guardian|date=16 October 2007}}

Postwar career

Spence returned to Rowand Anderson & Paul & Partners briefly, before setting up his own practice, Basil Spence & Partners, with Bruce Robertson. He was awarded an OBE in 1948 for his work in exhibition design, work which he continued with the Sea and Ships Pavilion for the 1951 Festival of Britain.{{cite web|url=http://canmore.org.uk/collection/1028251|title=Festival of Britain, Sea and Ships pavilion.Floating dock.}} That year he opened a London office, moving there permanently from 1953. A second office was opened in 1956 at Canonbury, which became the creative hub of the practice. Spence was External Professor of Architecture at the University of Leeds from 1955 to 1957 and from 1958 to 1960 he was the President of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Basil Spence & Partners were responsible for the redevelopment and extension of the University of Glasgow's Kelvin Building, which houses its School of Physics and Astronomy. The project was carried out in three phases. The first, 1947–1952, added a new lecture theatre and housed a synchrotron. Teaching laboratories and another lecture theatre were added in the second phase, which was finished in 1959. A third phase was completed in 1966 and included a museum to showcase Lord Kelvin's old experimental apparatus.{{cite web |title=University of Glasgow School of Physics and Astronomy |url=https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/physics/theschool/kelvinbuilding/}} Some of this is still on display in the Kelvin Building today, with other items having been moved to form part of an exhibit at the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery.

= Coventry Cathedral =

[[Coventry Cathedral (1956–1962)|thumb|upright=1.3|right]]

On 14 November 1940, Coventry's Anglican Cathedral was extensively damaged by German bombing, a year into World War II.

In 1944, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott submitted a design proposal to rebuild the cathedral but this was rejected by the Royal Fine Arts Commission. In 1950, a competition was launched to find the most suitable design from a Commonwealth of Nations architect. Over 200 entries were received, and Spence's radical design was chosen. Work began in 1956 and the structure was completed in 1962.[http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=1068 Coventry Cathedral]. Engineering Timelines. Retrieved: 10 October 2021. Spence was knighted in 1960 for his work at Coventry,{{cite web|url=http://www.basilspence.org.uk/worship|title=Sir Basil Spence Archive Project|website=www.basilspence.org.uk}} while the cathedral was still being built.

On 23 February 2012 the Royal Mail released a stamp featuring Coventry Cathedral as part of its "Britons of Distinction" series.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-17138106 |title=Coventry Cathedral architect in Royal Mail stamp set |publisher=BBC |date= 23 February 2012|access-date=2012-01-02}}

=Later work=

File:SIF-Beehive-3-Cropped.jpg executive wing, the Beehive]]

In 1959, Spence secured two important commissions, for the British Embassy in Rome (completed 1971), and for the Hyde Park Cavalry Barracks in London (completed 1970). He designed the high-rise Hutchesontown C social housing in Glasgow. These replaced notorious slum tenements in the Gorbals area of the city. A dense concentration of social deprivation in the area, coupled to poor execution meant these developments developed many problems, and they were demolished by explosives in 1993, with the accidental loss of one life.

Spence was responsible for contextual modernist buildings on The Canongate in Edinburgh, near the new Scottish Parliament and in view of Holyrood Palace, named Brown's Close and listed in 2008. Other work in the 1960s included the concept design for the executive wing of the New Zealand Parliament Buildings in Wellington, nicknamed "The Beehive", and Abbotsinch Airport (now Glasgow Airport).

In 1960, Spence designed Mortonhall Crematorium in Edinburgh's Braid Hills area (based on the same angled fin concept as found at Coventry Cathedral). He provided architectural treatments for the elevations of Trawsfynydd nuclear power station, inaugurated in Snowdonia, north Wales, in 1968.Hirst, Clayton. [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/dec/21/snowdonia-nuclear-power-station-wales-architecture Pulling down Snowdonia's power station would be a nuclear waste]. The Guardian (21 December 2009). Retrieved: 10 October 2021.

Also in 1964, with support from the Nuffield Foundation, the University of Southampton built a theatre on its campus. Spence worked closely with Sir Richard Southern as consultant for the interior design and layout of the theatre.

The Spence practice was rearranged in 1964, with the Canonbury office being renamed Sir Basil Spence OM RA, and the second London office Spence Bonnington & Collins. The Edinburgh office was also renamed for its partners, Spence Glover & Ferguson. From 1961 to 1968, Spence was Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy.

Through the 1970s, Spence continued to work on public and private commissions, universities and offices including Aston University Library and Management Centre. His last work was for an unexecuted cultural centre for Bahrain, which he worked on during illness in 1976. Some of his final commissions were built after his death; for example, his design for the new Glasgow Royal Infirmary was completed in 1981.[http://www.glasgowarchitecture.co.uk/glasgow-royal-infirmary Glasgow Royal Infirmary: Building], Glasgow Architecture. Retrieved: 10 October 2021.

Spence died in November 1976 at his home at Yaxley, Suffolk and was buried at nearby Thornham Parva.{{cite web|url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/BasilSpence|title=SPENCE, Sir Basil (1907–1976)|website=English Heritage|access-date=2017-11-03}}

His practice, Spence, Ferguson and Glover, continued until 1992 when it was disbanded.

Assessment

File:Castro Pretorio - Osborne House ambasciata GB s Sede 051218-01.JPG]]

In 2004, following the bequest of Spence's drawings and office papers, the Sir Basil Spence Archive project was begun by the RCAHMS (now part of HES). A centennial exhibition Basil Spence Back to the Future was organised in Edinburgh, Coventry and London in 2007-8. In 2006, he was the subject of a BBC Scotland documentary, Rebuilding Basil Spence,{{cite web|url=http://www.stuartbrown.info/#ArtworksScotland_Spence|title=Researcher – Artworks Scotland, BBC Scotland, 2006: "Rebuilding Basil Spence". Retrieved: 10 October 2021}} which revised his place in 20th-century British architecture and asked why he had been for so long overlooked. In 2012, the book Basil Spence Buildings and Projects was published by the RIBA as the culmination of the RCAHMS archive project and the work of the AHRC research project led by Louise Campbell of Warwick University.

In 1993 Spence's Hutchesontown C complex was listed by the international conservation organisation DoCoMoMo as one of Scotland's sixty key monuments of the post-war years, in the same year as it was demolished.

In August 2010, English Heritage recommended that the Spence-designed Sydenham School be given Grade II listed status: the building was due to be demolished to make way for a new building. However the government's decision was that the school was not of sufficient merit to warrant listing.{{cite web|url=http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/8685729.SYDENHAM__Head_welcomes_school_s_English_Heritage_listing_failure/|title=SYDENHAM: Head welcomes school's English Heritage listing failure|website=News Shopper|date=24 November 2010 }}

List of projects

File:HomeOffice QueenAnnesGate.jpg

File:Falmer House, University of Sussex.JPG

Broughton Place (country house in the style of a 17th-century Scottish tower house in Broughton, Peeblesshire with decorative reliefs by architectural sculptor Hew Lorimer) (1938)
Dinnington High School, Rotherham. House bases and block complex (c. 1954)
Gribloch (country house near Kippen, Stirling) (1938–39)
Kilsyth Academy, Kilsyth (opened 1954, designed 1930)
St Ninian and St Martin Church, Whithorn, Wigtownshire. (unrealised) [https://canmore.org.uk/site/216578/whithorn-george-street-st-martins-and-st-ninians-roman-catholic-church?display=image]
Sea and Ships Pavilions for Festival of Britain (1951)
Duncanrig Secondary School, East Kilbride, Greater Glasgow (1953)
Basildon Town Centre is a planned town centre developed during the creation of the town of Basildon, Essex.{{cite web |title=Seeking to Keep Important Mosaic on Public View |url=https://c20society.org.uk/news/seeking-to-keep-important-mosaic-on-public-view |website=Twentieth Century Society |access-date=13 January 2025}}
Bannerfield Housing Estate, Selkirk, Scottish Borders, 1947-1962
St Paul's Church, Wordsworth Avenue, Sheffield
Sydenham School, Sydenham, London (1956)
Agricultural Science Building, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington campus (1956–58)
The churches of St Oswald, Tile Hill{{cite web |title=St Oswald |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/scapvc/arthistory/research/projects/basil_spence/images/churchofstoswald/ |website=University of Warwick |access-date=15 January 2025}} – St Chad, Wood End{{cite web |title=St Chad |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/scapvc/arthistory/research/projects/basil_spence/images/churchstchad/ |website=University of Warwick |access-date=15 January 2025}} – St John the Divine, Willenhall.{{cite web |title=St John the Divine |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/scapvc/arthistory/research/projects/basil_spence/images/churchwillenhall/ |website=University of Warwick |access-date=15 January 2025}} Built simultaneously in Coventry (1957)
Thurso High School Thurso, Scotland (1957)
The Chadwick Physics Laboratory (1957–9), University of Liverpool
St. Hugh's Church, Eyres Monsell Estate, Leicester (1955–58)
Campus development plan at the University of Nottingham (1957–60) including Chemistry Building, Physics and Mathematics Building, Mining and Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, Pope Building, Coates Building
St Catherine of Siena, Richmond in Sheffield (1959)
Thorn EMI House, 5 Upper St. Martin's Lane, London (1959) (Spence's original exterior was demolished in the 1990s; reborn as Orion House with a full-height floor plate addition and re-skinned elevations. A {{convert|60|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} metal sculpture by Geoffrey Clarke for the original façade (incorporating allusions to electric lamp filaments) has been remounted onto the added lift and service riser.)
Great Michael Rise and Laverockbank Crescent, social housing developments in Newhaven, Edinburgh
Erasmus Building, Friars Court, Queens' College, Cambridge (1959–1960)
Froude Building, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton (1959–1966){{Cite web|url=https://data.southampton.ac.uk/building/28.html|title=Froude {{!}} Open Data Service {{!}} University of Southampton|website=data.southampton.ac.uk|access-date=2019-09-20}}
9 and 10 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh (1956-62){{Cite web |title=9 AND 10 ST ANDREW SQUARE (LB43349) |url=https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB43349 |access-date=2024-02-09 |website=portal.historicenvironment.scot |language=en}}
Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre (originally 'Swimming Baths'), London (1962–4) (demolished in 1999)Taylor, David. [https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/archive/camden-gets-set-to-demolish-spences-swiss-cottage-pool Camden gets set to demolish Spence’s Swiss Cottage pool], Architects' Journal (11 November 1999). Retrieved: 10 October 2021.
Swiss Cottage Library (1962–1964), Grade II Listed Building since 1997.[https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1272259 Swiss Cottage Library], Historic England. Retrieved: 10 October 2021.
Spence House, near Beaulieu, Hampshire (designed 1961, for Spence's own use and listed Grade II)
Coventry Cathedral, completed 1962
The initial campus design at the University of Sussex (1960s){{cite web|url=http://www.sussex.ac.uk/fiftyyears/events/spence|title=Sir Basil Spence exhibition : Events and activities : Fifty years : University of Sussex|website=www.sussex.ac.uk}} including Falmer House (1962, now a Grade I listed building)
Hutchesontown C flats, Gorbals, Glasgow (1962 – demolished in 1993)
Physics Building, Streatham Campus, University of Exeter
Herschel Building, Newcastle University (1962){{cite web|url=http://www.pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/9567/|title=PMSA|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303210111/http://www.pmsa.org.uk/pmsa-database/9567/|archive-date=3 March 2016}}
Nuffield Theatre, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton (1964)
St Aidan's College, University of Durham (1964)
The Beehive, the executive wing of the New Zealand Parliament Buildings Wellington, New Zealand (1964)
Worshipful Company of Salters Hall, 1976. Spence died weeks before opening.
Trawsfyndd Nuclear Power Station (1965)[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10334691 No listed status for Trawsfynydd nuclear power station], BBC News (19 June 2010). Retrieved: 10 October 2021.
Edinburgh University Main Library{{cite web|url=http://www.ajbuildingslibrary.co.uk/projects/display/id/1120|title=AJBL – Basil Spence, Ferguson, Glover|website=www.ajbuildingslibrary.co.uk}}
Glasgow Airport (1966) (Spence's original façade was covered over in 1989 when an extension was built to house new check-in desks. The original structure can now be seen only from the check-in hall, departure gates and runway.)
British pavilion, Expo 67 (1967){{cite web |url=http://citynoise.org/article/8785/ |title=Ex. 4 |work=Expo 67 press kit |publisher=Citynoise |access-date=13 December 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027073307/http://citynoise.org/article/8785 |archive-date=27 October 2009}}
Newcastle Central Library (1968){{cite web|url=http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/286495/details/tyne+and+wear+newcastle+upon+tyne+city+library/|title=Tyne And Wear, Newcastle Upon Tyne, City Library}} – demolished in 2007
65 – 103 Canongate, social housing developments in The Canongate, Edinburgh
Civic Centre, Sunderland (1970){{cite web|url=https://www.architecture.com/Explore/Revealingthecollections/SunderlandCivicCentre1970.aspx|title=RIBA Library and Collections|website=www.architecture.com}} - demolished in 2022{{cite web |title=Sunderland Civic Centre demolition begins |url=https://visionbuildmaintain.co.uk/uk-construction-news/sunderland-civic-centre-demolition-begins/ |website=Vision Build Maintain |access-date=12 January 2025}}
Hyde Park Barracks, London (1970){{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8261945/The-Household-Cavalry-may-seek-new-household.html|title=The Household Cavalry may seek new household|first=Richard|last=Eden|date=4 November 2017|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}
Sturmer Way, London (1970)
British Embassy, Rome (1971)[https://www.e-architect.co.uk/rome/british-embassy British Embassy Rome Architecture], e-architecture. Retrieved: 10 October 2021.
Glasgow Royal Infirmary redevelopment – Phases 1 & 2 (1971–82) – now known as the Queen Elizabeth Building and University Block
Kensington and Chelsea Town Hall (1972–6), including chambers, offices, and public areas{{cite web|url=http://www.c20society.org.uk/botm/kensington-and-chelsea-town-hall|title=Kensington and Chelsea Town Hall – The Twentieth Century Society}}{{cite web|url=http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/284748/details/greater+london+kensington+and+chelsea+chelsea+kensington+and+chelsea+civic+centre/&biblio=more|title=Greater London, Kensington And Chelsea, Chelsea, Kensington And Chelsea Civic Centre}}
Aston University Library (1975) (Sir Basil Spence, Glover and Ferguson). Extended and remodelled in 2010[https://web.archive.org/web/20101113170103/http://www1.aston.ac.uk/about/news/releases/2010/november/library-development/ Library development enhances Aston University student experience] Aston University (4 November 2010). Retrieved: 10 October 2021.
50 Queen Anne's Gate (the former Home Office building), London (1976)
The Sydney Jones Library (1976) at the University of Liverpool{{cite web|url=http://www.designinglibraries.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=1191|title=Designing Libraries – Sydney Jones Library|first=Carol|last=Kay|website=www.designinglibraries.org.uk}}

References

Long, Philip and Thomas, Jane, (eds.) Basil Spence: Architect, National Galleries of Scotland/RCAHMS, 2007
Campbell, L, Coventry Cathedral: art and architecture in postwar Britain (OUP, 1996)
Campbell, L, Glendinning, M and Thomas, J, Basil Spence - Buildings and Projects (RIBA, 2012)
Campbell,L 'Reconstruction, Englishness and Coventry Cathedral', Storia Urbana, no.158 (2018), pp.87-110
Campbell, L, 'Le phenix et la cite: nation, cathedrale et urbanisme a Coventry', Le Havre 44 Nouveaux Regards (Le Havre/Octopus, 2022).

External links

{{Art UK bio}}
{{cite web |url=http://www.southlondonpress.co.uk/News.cfm?id=28246 |title=Heritage listing threatens Sydenham School rebuild |work=South London Press |date=2010-08-06 |author=Stringer, Michael |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724171742/http://www.southlondonpress.co.uk/News.cfm?id=28246 |archive-date=24 July 2011}}
{{cite web |url=http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/284783/details/greater+london+southwark+camberwell+and+dulwich+dartmouth+road+sydenham+school/ |title=Site record for Greater London, Southwark, Camberwell And Dulwich, Dartmouth Road, Sydenham School |work=CANMORE}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20091014175632/http://waleshome.org/2009/10/save-this-beautiful-ruin/ Article published by WalesHome about Trawsfynydd, October 2009]
[http://claytonhirst.wordpress.com/trawsfynydd/ Last-ditch attempt to save Sir Basil's Trawsfynydd from demolition]
{{cite web |url=http://www.basilspence.org.uk |title=Sir Basil Spence Archive Project |publisher=RCAHMS}} Homepage for the archive of nearly 40,000 items held by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS).
{{cite web |url=http://www.codexgeo.co.uk/dsa/architect_full.php?id=M003352 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070220030252/http://www.codexgeo.co.uk/dsa/architect_full.php?id=M003352 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-02-20 |title=Basil Urwin Spence |work=Dictionary of Scottish Architects }} Architect biography.
{{cite web|url=http://www.royalscottishacademy.org/pages/exhibition_frame.asp?id=169 |title=Basil's Bairns |publisher=Royal Scottish Academy |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020085606/http://www.royalscottishacademy.org/pages/exhibition_frame.asp?id=169 |archive-date=20 October 2007}} Exhibition held from 1 January 2008 at the Royal Scottish Academy, looking at careers of the architects who worked in the studio of Sir Basil Spence.
{{cite web |url=http://living.scotsman.com/ViewArticle.aspx?articleid=2808791 |title=Rebuilding Sir Basil Spence's battered reputation |work=The Scotsman |location=UK |date=2006-09-08 |author=Rudden, Liam}}
{{cite web |url=http://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/basil-spence-archive-exclusive/1801 |title=Basil Spence archive exclusive |work=Wallpaper* |date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015042738/http://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/basil-spence-archive-exclusive/1801 |archive-date=15 October 2007}} Extract from the Sir Basil Spence archive, featuring 57 images of his work.