Arnold Dunbar Smith (2 December 18667 December 1933) was an English architect who in 1897 formed Smith & Brewer (18971949) with Cecil Claude Brewer (18711918) who were responsible for the design of the Mary Ward House in London (1899) and the National Museum and Gallery in Cardiff (1912) which are both Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Early life and education

Smith was born on 2 December 1866 in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

north London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

, England. Smith attended the Brighton School of Art, the Architectural Association School and later went onto the

Royal Academy Schools The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

Professional career

In 1883 Smith was an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...

to John George Gibbins in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

then later between 1884 and 1896 he went onto work as an assistant for a number of other architects including Frederick Mew, and to Frank (Francis) Thomas Baggallay & Walter John Nash Millard. He also travelled in France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland and before he started his independent practice in 1895. By 1895 Smith and Cecil Claude Brewer (18711918) had won a limited competition for the design of a new building for the settlement in for the Passmore Edwards Settlement in Tavistock Place, London. Later in 1897 the two men had formed the Smith & Brewer partnership. Both men were members of the Art Workers' Guild. Brewer was elected in 1901 while Smith was elected in c1922. Brewer was also on the Art Workers Guild Committee from 1906 to 1907 and was one of the founding leaders of the Design and Industries Association. The Passmore Edwards Settlement building established the partnership's reputation as arts and crafts architects working in the "Free Style" of the 1890s. The partnership designed mainly for the residential houses, such as The Fives Court, in Pinner. That was until 1909 when again they won a design competition, this time to design the National Museum of Wales building in Cathays Park, Cardiff. The conditions of competition had the following guidelines: ''"From the position of the site on the east side of the

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

and the relation of the Law Courts on its west side, to that building as a centre, it is thought desirable that externally the Museum building should be designed in harmony with these buildings, that, so far as possible, it may be in sympathy with the general scheme adopted."'' The partnership worked with the Welsh sculptor Sir William Goscombe John (1860–1952) to design the sculptures that would decorate the building. They became pioneers of the Neo-Classical Revival with this building, and it played an important role in establishing the American Beaux-Arts style of

classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...

in the United Kingdom. Later in 1916 they designed Heal's furniture store in Tottenham Court Road in London (1916). After Cecil Brewer's death in 1918, Smith continued the work and he designed many residential houses as well as additions to the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities University museum, museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard ...

(1924–1933). In 1930, Joseph Abraham Meikle (1876–1942) and Kenneth William Furneaux Harris (1902–1991) became partners under the firm name of A. Dunbar Smith. After Smith's death in 1933, Meikle, Harris and Sidney Charles Clark (1894–1962) continued the work under the original partnership's name of Smith and Brewer. The firm ended with the death of Clark in 1949.

Significant buildings by Smith and Brewer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Arnold Dunbar Alumni of the University of Brighton 1866 births 1933 deaths Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture 19th-century English architects 20th-century English architects English designers Alumni of the Royal Academy Schools Architects from London Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects Masters of the Art Worker's Guild