Basic Biographical Details Name: | Niven & Wigglesworth | Designation: | | Born: | 1893 | Died: | 1926 | Bio Notes: | In 1893 David Barclay Niven entered into partnership with another Scottish-trained architect, Herbert Hardy Wigglesworth, who had been articled to Alexander Marshall Mackenzie and was shortly to become his brother-in-law when Niven married his sister Sarah. By 1895 the practice was obtaining major domestic commissions, and by 1900 when Niven became FRIBA and had visited the USA, the office moved to Gwydir Chambers, 104 High Holborn. In that year Niven moved house to Farnham, Surrey, and took in partnership a brilliant draughtsman of the F L Griggs school, Harold Falkner. Born in Farnham on 28 November 1875, Falkner was a well-off pupil of Reginald Blomfield who had commenced practice there in 1896. The practice title became Niven, Wigglesworth & Falkner, but the full name was not always used for business outwith Surrey. Falkner's sometimes wayward arts-and-crafts habits of business at Farnham soon created problems, and the partnership was effectively dissolved in 1903, although the practice title of Niven, Wigglesworth & Falkner was used in Surrey up until 1906 and survived as late as 1909. Except for a brief period in partnership with a Niven & Wigglesworth pupil, Guy Maxwell Aylwin, from 1927 onwards, Falkner thereafter practised alone in Farnham in ever-increasingly autocratic eccentricity until his death on 30 November 1963.
Niven and Wigglesworth's London office was a mecca for aspiring architectural assistants from Scotland. Niven took a particular interest in architectural education, attending RIBA Council and Committee meetings and serving on the Board of Architectural Education: Wigglesworth recalled that 'he enjoyed direct contact with those seeking qualification… they always aroused his most sympathetic interest.'
Much of the attraction of the office was Niven's personality. Of him Wigglesworth wrote: 'David Barclay Niven was one of those militant beings whose ardent and earnest enthusiasm contributed generously to architecture. His energy was untiring, he worked at high pressure and at furious speed. His power of acceleration was amazing. Neither in the office nor on the job was the pace allowed to slacken. Buildings were completed ahead of time more often than not and difficulties were overcome with joyous ease and efficiency. Complacency and inability he incontinently brushed aside. The physical and mental fatigue which ensued were to him a small price to pay for the exhilaration so thoroughly enjoyed.'
Although the practice recovered quickly after the First World War, after the building of Hambro's Bank in Bishopsgate in 1925 there were no significant new commissions in view and partly because of illness Wigglesworth's contribution to the practice income was significantly less than Niven's and the partnership was dissolved in the following year to enable Niven's interest in the practice to be sold to Arthur Kenyon who had been an assistant since 1906, with an office at 7 John Street, Bedford Row, Wigglesworth merging his practice with the London office of Alexander Marshall Mackenzie & Son. These arrangement were achieved amicably, the Niven and Wigglesworth families remaining as close as they had been. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | 34, Mecklenburgh Square, London, England | Business | 1893 | 1902 | There is a conflict of information about the dates at which they worked here - RA catalogues suggest 1897-1902. | | 9, Barton Street, London, England | Business | 1894 | 1895 | From RA catalogues | | Gwydir Chambers/104, High Holborn, London, England | Business | Before 1900 | 1919 | | | 7, John Street, Bedford Row, London, England | Business | 1921 | 1928 | |
Employment and TrainingEmployees or Pupils
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Gray, A Stuart | 1985 | Edwardian Architecture: A Biographical Dictionary | | | | | Osmond, Sam | 2003 | Harold Falkner: More than an Arts & Crafts Architect | | | |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | Builder | 16 January 1942 | | | Niven's obituary | | RIBA Journal | February 1942 | | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | p67 - obituary of Niven by Wigglesworth | | RIBA Journal | December 1949 | v57 | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | p72 - obituary of Wigglesworth |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | Professor David M Walker personal archive | Professor David M Walker, notes and collection of archive material | | Personal information from Frank Thomson. |
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