David Eyre Percival (June 1, 1914 – April 20, 1995) was a British Architect and Town Planner, known for his work as the City Architect of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, where he pioneered what has been called a

Vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

Revival Style. His work can be seen across the city of Norwich and several of his developments were awarded.

Career

David Percival first worked with

Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Kent in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes the Unitary authorities of England, unitary auth ...

Architects Dept in 1944. He then joined Newport Borough Council Architects Dept in 1947, and later the Ministry of Town and Country Planning in 1948 as Assistant Planning Officer for Wales. He was involved in the early studies for

Cwmbran Cwmbran ( ; , also in use as an alternative spelling in English) is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales. Lying within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire, Cwmbran was ...

. Later as Assistant Chief Architect in

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; ), sometimes referred to as EK, is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland, and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. Historically a small village, it was designated Scotland's first "new town" on 6 Ma ...

(Scotland) he was in charge of planning and contributed to substantial modification of the town master plan. He then became Deputy City Architect under Donald Gibson in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

. In 1955 he was appointed City Architect of

, when the City completed its general needs housing programme. During more than 20 years, he developed a representative range of local authority housing from cottage suburbs to mixed developments to deck-access and high-rise. By the 1970s,

had the highest proportion of council housing of any city in the country. He also served on the committees of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

and as President of the City and Borough Architects Society. Fluent in French, he was active in the Franco Britannique Association of Architects. He resigned in 1973 under the impact of local reorganisation when the City was due to lose its centuries old independence. He then became in 1974 a partner of Edward Skipper, son of George Skipper of Norwich whose practice was founded in 1882, and was able to continue in private practice.

Selected buildings and developments

* Heartsease Junior (1956) *Hewett School (1958) *Alderson Place (1958), a typically Picturesque integration of human-scale housing and historic context *Infants School (1960) *Norwich Livestock Market (1960) *New Housing Group in Rosary Road (1960) * St Augustine's St Swimming pool (1961), later demolished and replaced by a row of shops * Norwich Central Library (1962), for which he also designed all the furniture, destroyed by fire in 1994 * The Compass Tower (1964), the city's first experiment with eleven-storey tower blocks * The Ashbourne and Burleigh Towers (1964) * Winchester Tower (1965) *Pope's Buildings (1972) *Hopper's Yard (1973) *Langham Place (1979)

Honours

Good Design in Housing award from the

Ministry of Housing and Local Government The Ministry of Housing and Local Government was a United Kingdom government department formed following the Second World War, covering the areas of housing and local government. It was formed, as the Ministry of Local Government and Planning, ...

for his development at Alderson Place in Norwich (1959). Civic Trust Award for 131-133 Rosary Road in Norwich (1960). RIBA medal and Civic Trust Award for Norwich Central Library (1963). When the Norwich Central Library was opened by

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was al ...

in 1963, she said “It is always a very real pleasure to me to visit Norwich, and I am particularly glad that my visit today sees the completion of your Central Library, the fulfilment of many years of careful thought and planning.” OBE of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1973 for services to architecture .

Personal life

David Eyre Percival was born in 1914 in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

(Westminster) in a British family of artists. His father, Frank Percival Driver, was a musician, singer and music teacher. His mother Olive Mary Parkin was an actress. He was christened David Eyre Percival Driver, but in 1935 at the age of 21 he changed his name by deed poll to David Eyre Percival, as his brother changed his to Michael Percival at the same time. David attended the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, and qualified as

ARIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

in 1938. In 1944 he married Kathleen Margaret Jenkins in

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

, Barnet. She was the widow of Alan Fay Birley, a pilot officer/observer RAF killed in action in 1942, with whom she’d had a child, Michael. They had 5 sons : Richard, Roger, Andrew, Jonathan and Edward. After his wife died in 1987, he married Mauny Wood. David died 20 April 1995 in Norwich.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Percival, David Eyre Architects from Norwich 20th-century English architects Associates of the Royal Institute of British Architects Officers of the Order of the British Empire 1914 births 1995 deaths