David Eyre Percival
{{Short description|British architect and town planner}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
David Eyre Percival (June 1, 1914 – April 20, 1995) was a British Architect and Town Planner, known for his work as the City Architect of Norwich, where he pioneered what has been called a Vernacular Revival Style.{{Cite book|last=Boughton, John (Historian)|title=Municipal dreams : the rise and fall of council housing|year=2018|isbn=978-1-78478-739-4|location=London|oclc=1011558137}} His work can be seen across the city of Norwich{{Cite web|title=Norwich Public Buildings|url=http://www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norwich/publicbuildings.htm|website=www.georgeplunkett.co.uk|access-date=2020-05-11}} and several of his developments were awarded.
Career
David Percival first worked with Kent County Council Architects Dept in 1944.
He then joined Newport Borough Council Architects Dept in 1947, and later the Ministry of Town and Country Planning in 1948 as Assistant Planning Officer for Wales. He was involved in the early studies for Cwmbran.
Later as Assistant Chief Architect in East Kilbride (Scotland) he was in charge of planning and contributed to substantial modification of the town master plan.
He then became Deputy City Architect under Donald Gibson in Coventry.
In 1955 he was appointed City Architect of Norwich,{{Cite web|title=100 facts about Norwich council housing|url=https://www.norwich.gov.uk/info/20384/a_century_of_norwich_council_housing/2458/100_facts_about_norwich_council_housing|last=Council|first=Norwich City|website=www.norwich.gov.uk|language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}} when the City completed its general needs housing programme.{{Cite web|title=Norwich Council Housing, 1955-74: David Percival and 'Regional Architectural Tradition'|url=https://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/norwich_architectural_tradition/|last=Dreams|first=Municipal|date=2015-09-29|website=Municipal Dreams|language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}} During more than 20 years, he developed a representative range of local authority housing from cottage suburbs to mixed developments to deck-access and high-rise. By the 1970s, Norwich had the highest proportion of council housing of any city in the country.{{Cite web|title=Celebrating a century of Norwich council housing|url=https://www.norwich.gov.uk/news/article/317/celebrating_a_century_of_norwich_council_housing|last=Council|first=Norwich City|website=www.norwich.gov.uk|language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}
He also served on the committees of the Royal Institute of British Architects and as President of the City and Borough Architects Society. Fluent in French, he was active in the Franco Britannique Association of Architects.
He resigned in 1973 under the impact of local reorganisation when the City was due to lose its centuries old independence.
He then became in 1974 a partner of Edward Skipper, son of George Skipper of Norwich whose practice was founded in 1882, and was able to continue in private practice.
Selected buildings and developments
- Heartsease Junior (1956){{Cite book|last=Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1902-1983.|title=Norfolk 1 : Norwich and North-East|date=1997|publisher=Penguin Books|others=Wilson, Bill.|isbn=0-14-071058-2|edition=2nd|location=Harmondsworth, Eng.|oclc=54272205}}
- Hewett School (1958)
- Alderson Place (1958), a typically Picturesque integration of human-scale housing and historic context{{Cite book|last=Glendinning, Miles, 1956-|title=The conservation movement : a history of architectural preservation : antiquity to modernity|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-54322-4|location=London|oclc=827243106}}
- Infants School (1960)
- Norwich Livestock Market (1960)
- New Housing Group in Rosary Road (1960)
- St Augustine's St Swimming pool (1961),{{Cite book|last=Goodrum, Pete|title=Norwich in the 1960s : ten years that altered a city.|date=15 October 2013 |isbn=978-1-4456-1650-6|location=Stroud|oclc=905527675}} later demolished and replaced by a row of shops{{Cite web|title=Lost city: St Augustines {{!}} Invisible Works|date=29 June 2015 |url=https://www.invisibleworks.co.uk/lost-city-st-augustines/|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-05-13}}
- Norwich Central Library (1962),{{Cite book|last=Black, Alistair|title=Libraries of light : British public library design in the long 1960s|others=Sequel to (work): Black, Alistair.|date=8 September 2016|isbn=978-1-4724-7294-6|location=London|oclc=960740411}} for which he also designed all the furniture,{{Cite web|title=Chapters in the varied history of Norwich libraries|url=https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/chapters-in-the-varied-history-of-norwich-libraries-1-4896318|last=Clark|first=Hannah|website=Eastern Daily Press|date=18 February 2017 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-12}} destroyed by fire in 1994{{Cite news|title=Norwich Central Library fire 25 years on|work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-norfolk-49194482/norwich-central-library-fire-25-years-on|language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}
- The Compass Tower (1964), the city's first experiment with eleven-storey tower blocks{{Cite web|title=A century of council housing in the City of Norwich.|url=https://themilecrossman.wordpress.com/2019/11/20/a-century-of-council-housing-in-the-city-of-norwich/|last=Man|first=The Mile Cross|date=2019-11-20|website=The Mile Cross Man|language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}
- The Ashbourne and Burleigh Towers (1964){{Cite web|title=The forgotten streets of Norwich's 'village on the hill'|url=https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/the-forgotten-streets-of-norwich-s-village-on-the-hill-1-5050194|last=James|first=Derek|website=Eastern Daily Press|date=7 June 2017 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}
- Winchester Tower (1965){{Cite web|title=Geograph:: The Winchester Tower (C) Evelyn Simak|url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5824443|website=www.geograph.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}
- Pope's Buildings (1972){{Cite book|last=Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1902-1983.|title=Norfolk 2 : North-west and South|date=1999|publisher=Penguin Books|others=Wilson, Bill, 1954-|isbn=0-14-071060-4|edition=2nd|location=London|oclc=43705758}}
- Hopper's Yard (1973)
- Langham Place (1979)
Honours
File:Norwich central library.jpg
Good Design in Housing award from the Ministry of Housing and Local Government for his development at Alderson Place in Norwich (1959).{{Cite web|title=The fascinating story of how Opie Street in Norwich city centre was named|url=https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/the-fascinating-story-of-how-opie-street-in-norwich-city-centre-was-named-1-4879854|last=James|first=Derek|website=Eastern Daily Press|date=7 February 2017 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}
Civic Trust Award for 131-133 Rosary Road in Norwich (1960).{{Cite web|title=New Housing Group in Rosary Road {{!}} Civic Trust Awards|url=https://www.civictrustawards.org.uk/benet/schemes/new-housing-group-in-rosary-road|website=www.civictrustawards.org.uk|access-date=2020-05-12}}
RIBA medal and Civic Trust Award for Norwich Central Library (1963).{{Cite web|title=New Central Library {{!}} Civic Trust Awards|url=https://www.civictrustawards.org.uk/benet/schemes/new-central-library|website=www.civictrustawards.org.uk|access-date=2020-05-12}} When the Norwich Central Library was opened by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1963, she said “It is always a very real pleasure to me to visit Norwich, and I am particularly glad that my visit today sees the completion of your Central Library, the fulfilment of many years of careful thought and planning.”{{Cite web|title=When the Queen Mother opened a chapter in Norwich history|url=https://www.edp24.co.uk/features/queen-mother-norwich-1963-royal-visit-central-library-1-5372582|last=James|first=Derek|website=Eastern Daily Press|date=29 January 2018 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}
OBE of the Order of the British Empire in 1973 for services to architecture .{{Cite web|title=The London Gazette, Supplement 45984, Page 6483|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/45984/supplement/6483|last=|first=|date=|website=|access-date=}}
Personal life
David Eyre Percival was born in 1914 in Marylebone (Westminster) in a British family of artists. His father, Frank Percival Driver, was a musician, singer and music teacher. His mother Olive Mary Parkin was an actress.{{Cite web|date=2008-09-23|title=New british families : PERCIVAL, RUSSELL, COLDICOTT, LILYGREEN, NEGUS...|url=http://greg-wolf.com/new-british-families-percival-russell-coldicott-lilygreen-negus/|access-date=2020-06-18|website=Greg Wolf : généalogie & ADN|language=fr-FR}}
He was christened David Eyre Percival Driver, but in 1935 at the age of 21 he changed his name by deed poll to David Eyre Percival, as his brother changed his to Michael Percival at the same time.{{Cite web|last=Greg|date=2008-12-01|title=How the DRIVER family became the PERCIVAL family|url=http://greg-wolf.com/how-the-driver-family-became-the-percival-family/|access-date=2020-06-18|website=Greg Wolf : généalogie & ADN|language=fr-FR}}
David attended the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, and qualified as ARIBA in 1938.
In 1944 he married Kathleen Margaret Jenkins in Hendon, Barnet. She was the widow of Alan Fay Birley, a pilot officer/observer RAF killed in action in 1942, with whom she’d had a child, Michael. They had 5 sons : Richard, Roger, Andrew, Jonathan and Edward.{{Cite web|title=Informations généalogiques|url=http://greg-wolf.com/genealogie/|access-date=2020-06-18|language=fr-FR}} After his wife died in 1987, he married Mauny Wood. David died 20 April 1995 in Norwich.