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 AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | 42, Lansdowne Gardens, Lambeth, London, England | Private/business | 1889 * | | | | 2 Prince's Mansions, Victoria Street, London, England | Business | 1894 * | | | | 6, Vigo Street, London, England | Business | 1907 * | | | | Vallenders, Burgh Heath Road, Epsom, Surrey, England | Private | 1914 * | | | | Islington, Alton, Hampshire, England | Private | Before 1923 | After 1926 | |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployers
RIBARIBA ProposalsThis proposed the following individuals for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details): | | Name | Date proposed | Notes | | William Roderick Macdonald | Late 1910 | for Licentiateship |
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | British Architectural Library, RIBA | 2001 | Directory of British Architects 1834-1914 | | | |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | RIBA Journal | March 1951 | v58 | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | p202 - obituary |
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