Wallis, Gilbert and Partners

File:Hoover Building 1.jpg]]

Wallis, Gilbert and Partners was a British architectural partnership responsible for the design of many Art Deco buildings in the UK in the 1920s and 1930s.

The partnership was established by Thomas Wallis in 1916. Wallis had previously served with Sir Frank Baines in the Office of Works.

The identity of Gilbert has not been established, and it is unlikely that a Gilbert ever worked at the partnership.{{Cite book |last=Skinner |first=J.S. |title=Form & Fancy: Factories & Factory Buildings by Wallis, Gilbert & Partners, 1916-1939 |date=1997 |chapter=Chapter One: Thomas Wallis and Wallis, Gilbert & Partners}}{{Cite web |title=DSA Architect Biography Report: Thomas Wallis |url=https://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=401395 |website=Dictionary of Scottish Architects 1660-1980}} Architects who did worked in partnership with the firm included James Warne and Harry Beken; later partners included Frederick Button,{{cite book|author=Joan S. Skinner|title=Form and Fancy: Factories and Factory Buildings by Wallis, Gilbert & Partners, 1916-1939|url=https://archive.org/details/formfancyfactori0000skin|url-access=registration|accessdate=5 August 2015|year=1997|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=978-0-85323-612-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/formfancyfactori0000skin/page/17 17]–19}} Douglas Wallis (1901–1968), Agbolahan Adesegun (1935–2008) and J. W. MacGregor (d. 1994).

Notable buildings include the Hoover Factory,{{Cite book |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=45449243&lang=en-gb&site=eds-live&scope=site |title=Modern Age, 1900-2000: A Biographical Dictionary of Western Culture |date=2006}} the Firestone Tyre Factory, and Abbey Road Studios. Wallis, Gilbert and Partners were responsible for designing nearly a quarter of the industrial buildings studied in one review of factories built in London during the interwar period.{{Cite journal |last=Bolter |first=Jon |date=1998 |title=The Works: Factories in London, 1918-1939. Part 1 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29544105 |journal=AA Files |issue=36 |pages=41–54 |issn=0261-6823}} The demolition of the Firestone Factory has been credited with the foundation of the Thirties Society, which later became The Twentieth Century Society.{{Cite journal |last=Cavendish |first=Richard |date=1993 |title=Twentieth Century Society. |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hft&AN=503173432&lang=en-gb&site=eds-live&scope=site |journal=History Today |volume=43}}{{Cite book |last=Powers |first=A |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asu&AN=32569125&lang=en-gb&site=eds-live&scope=site |title=Twentieth Century Architecture 7: The Heroic Period of Conservation |last2=Stamp |first2=G |date=2004 |chapter=The Twentieth Century Society: A Brief History}}

The firm also occasionally designed country houses, for instance, Limber and Ripley Grange at Loughton for Charles Frederick Clark, proprietor of the Caribonum group. The partnership was dissolved in 1945.{{cite news |title=Notice |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37436/page/540 |work=The London Gazette |issue=37436 |date=18 January 1946 |page=540 }}

Works

File:TILLING STEVENS FACTORY RIVER MEDWAY MAIDSTONE.jpg

File:General Electrical Company Witton Works, Electric Avenue.jpg, Birmingham]]

File:Pyrene Building (now Westlink House), frontage, Great West Road, Brentford, 20050123.jpg, Brentford, Middlesex.]]

File:Victoria Coach Station.JPG, London]]

Tilling-Stevens Factory, Maidstone, Kent, 1917, Grade II listed.{{NHLE |num=1408072|desc=Former Tilling-Stevens Factory |accessdate=16 February 2020}}
Caribonum Factory, Leyton, London, 1918.
General Electrical Company Witton Works, Electric Avenue, Birmingham 1920, Grade II listed.{{NHLE |num=1234517 |desc=GEC Birmingham |accessdate=12 May 2007}}
The Solex Factory, Marylebone Road, London, 1925.
Wrigley's Factory, Wembley, London, 1926.
The Shannon Factory, Kingston, London, 1928.
EMI factory, Hayes, 1927–29
Firestone Tyre Factory, Great West Road, Brentford, Middlesex, 1928-1929 (Demolished 1980).
Pyrene Building, Great West Road, Brentford, 1929-1930
Abbey Road Studios, 1929-31{{Cite book |last=Ryan |first=Kevin |title=Recording the Beatles |last2=Kehew |first2=Brian |author-link2=Brian Kehew |date= |publisher=Curvebender |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-9785200-0-7 |location=Houston, Tex |pages=15–16}}
Tower and extension to the 'Alaska' factory, Bermondsey, London 1930s.
Albion Motor Car Company Ltd Works, Scotstoun, Glasgow 1930.
India Tyre Factory, Inchinnan 1930-1931.
Daimler Hire Garage, 9 Herbrand Street, London 1931.[http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/images/conway/d9da244f.html Daimler Hire Garage] (Courtauld Institute of Art).
British Bemberg Factory, Doncaster, Yorkshire, 1931.
Hoover Factory, Western Avenue, Perivale 1931-1938.
Victoria Coach Station, London, 1931-1932.
Coty Cosmetics Factory, Great West Road, Brentford, 1932.[https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1270424 Historic England, entry 1270424].
ASEA Factory (latterly the Hawker Siddeley Power Transformer Factory before its closure in 2003),{{Cite web|url=http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/455124.former_hawker_siddeley_site_set_for_transformation/|title=Former Hawker Siddeley site set for transformation}} Walthamstow, 1936.
Simmonds Aerocessories, later Beecham's Pharmaceuticals Factory, Great West Road, Brentford, 1936-1942.[http://www.artofthestate.co.uk/london_photos/wallis_house.htm Wallis House] (Art of the State).
Richard Klinger Factory, Sidcup, London, 1937.{{NHLE|num=1387704 |desc=Richard Klinger Factory|accessdate=16 March 2013}}

The firm also designed a number of bus garages for London Transport and its predecessors Glazier, K (2006): London Transport Garages, Harrow Weald, Capital Transport Publishing at:-

Addlestone, Surrey
Amersham, Buckinghamshire
Epping, Essex
Grays, Essex
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
Hertford, Hertfordshire
Peckham, London (demolished 1995) [http://alternativefuturepeckham.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/peckham-bus-station/ Peckham Bus station] (Alternative Future Peckham).
Reigate, Surrey
St Albans, Hertfordshire (in collaboration with Adams, Holden & Pearson)
Tring, Hertfordshire
Northfleet, Kent
Windsor, Berkshire

Notes

Bibliography and references

{{cite book

| last = Curl

| first = James Stevens

| title = A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture

| url = https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofarch00curl_0

| url-access = registration

| year = 2006

| type = Paperback

| edition = Second

| publisher = Oxford University Press

| isbn = 0-19-860678-8

| page = [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofarch00curl_0/page/880 880]

}}

{{cite book

| last = Skinner

| first = Joan S.

| title = Form and fancy: factories and factory buildings by Wallis, Gilbert and Partner

| year = 1997

| type = Paperback

| edition = First

| publisher = Liverpool University Press

| isbn = 978-0-85323-622-1

| url-access = registration

| url = https://archive.org/details/formfancyfactori0000skin

}}

External links

[http://www.londonhistorians.org/index.php?s=file_download&id=18 Wallis, Gilbert & Partners - London Historians]

Category:Architecture firms of England

Category:Design companies established in 1914