Wallis, Gilbert and Partners

Hoover Factory, Western Avenue, Perivale

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.[1][2] Architects who did worked in partnership with the firm included James Warne and Harry Beken; later partners included Frederick Button,[3] Douglas Wallis (1901–1968), Agbolahan Adesegun (1935–2008) and J. W. MacGregor (d. 1994).

Notable buildings include the Hoover Factory,[4] 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.[5] The demolition of the Firestone Factory has been credited with the foundation of the Thirties Society, which later became The Twentieth Century Society.[6][7]

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.[8]

  1. ^ Skinner, J.S. (1997). "Chapter One: Thomas Wallis and Wallis, Gilbert & Partners". Form & Fancy: Factories & Factory Buildings by Wallis, Gilbert & Partners, 1916-1939.
  2. ^ "DSA Architect Biography Report: Thomas Wallis". Dictionary of Scottish Architects 1660-1980.
  3. ^ Joan S. Skinner (1997). Form and Fancy: Factories and Factory Buildings by Wallis, Gilbert & Partners, 1916-1939. Liverpool University Press. pp. 17–19. ISBN 978-0-85323-612-2. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  4. ^ Modern Age, 1900-2000: A Biographical Dictionary of Western Culture. 2006.
  5. ^ Bolter, Jon (1998). "The Works: Factories in London, 1918-1939. Part 1". AA Files (36): 41–54. ISSN 0261-6823.
  6. ^ Cavendish, Richard (1993). "Twentieth Century Society". History Today. 43.
  7. ^ Powers, A; Stamp, G (2004). "The Twentieth Century Society: A Brief History". Twentieth Century Architecture 7: The Heroic Period of Conservation.
  8. ^ "Notice". The London Gazette. No. 37436. 18 January 1946. p. 540.