Basic Biographical Details

Name: John Reginald Best
Designation:  
Born: 1866
Died: 31 December 1950
Bio Notes: John Reginald Best was born in 1866. He was articled to Cole Alfred Adams in London in 1883 and gained some experience as a clerk of works to the scholar architect John Alfred Gotch. He worked in the office of John Thomas Wimperis and attended the Architectural Association prior to passing the qualifying exam in 1889 and being admitted ARIBA on 3 June of that year, his proposers being Adams, Thomas Verity and Herbert Duncan Appleton. He subsequently worked in partnership with Charles Ashton Callon before being taken into partnership by Edmund Walter Wimperis, son of John Thomas and by then sole partner of the firm, sometime between 1900 and 1903.

The Wimperis & Best partnership seems not to have been a success and was dissolved in or about 1910 when Edmund Wimperis succeeded Colonel Estace Balfour as architect to the Grosvenor Estate.

Best died on 31 December 1950. Best's RIBA obituarist credits him in particular with the restoration of a number of old houses and with the design of the Technical School at Bootle which was completed in 1900. .

Private and Business Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this :
 AddressTypeDate fromDate toNotes
Item 1 of 542, Lansdowne Gardens, Lambeth, London, EnglandPrivate/business1889 *  
Item 2 of 52 Prince's Mansions, Victoria Street, London, EnglandBusiness1894 *  
Item 3 of 56, Vigo Street, London, EnglandBusiness1907 *  
Item 4 of 5Vallenders, Burgh Heath Road, Epsom, Surrey, EnglandPrivate1914 *  
Item 5 of 5Islington, Alton, Hampshire, EnglandPrivateBefore 1923After 1926 

* earliest date known from documented sources.


Employment and Training

Employers

The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate fromDate toPositionNotes
Item 1 of 6Cole Alfred AdamsOctober 1883March 1886Apprentice 
Item 2 of 6John Alfred GotchMarch 1886November 1886Clerk 
Item 3 of 6Cole Alfred AdamsNovember 18861887Apprentice 
Item 4 of 6John Thomas Wimperis18871888Assistant 
Item 5 of 6Best & CallonBefore 18981903(?)Partner 
Item 6 of 6Wimperis & Best1900 or 1901 or 1902 or 1903c. 1910Partner 

RIBA

RIBA Proposals

This proposed the following individuals for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate proposedNotes
Item 1 of 1William Roderick MacdonaldLate 1910for Licentiateship

References

Bibliographic References

The following books contain references to this :
 Author(s)DateTitlePartPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 1British Architectural Library, RIBA2001Directory of British Architects 1834-1914   

Periodical References

The following periodicals contain references to this :
 Periodical NameDateEditionPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 1RIBA JournalMarch 1951v58London: Royal Institute of British Architectsp202 - obituary