Description | Summary
PERSONAL PAPERS
PERSONAL: journal, 1909-1916; A/FRIBA certificates, 1912, 1920; correspondence, 1934-1958; obituary from RIBA journal, 1973.
EXAM AND COURSEWORK: drawings of classical features, 1905; exam paper, [1906]; plans and details, 1906-1911; perspectives, 1907-[c.1912].
ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE
DRAWING REGISTERS: 1914-1972; index, 1921-1969.
LETTER BOOKS: 1910-1921.
MAJOR PROJECTS: survey of rectories and vicarages for the Archdeaconry of Berkshire, 1918-1923; Berkshire War Memorial, 1919-1931; Nettlebed Memorial Lych Gate, 1921-1925; Caversham War Memorial, 1921; Bradfield Rural District Council Architectural Advisory Panel work, 1931-1944; Northbourne Housing Scheme for Wallingford Rural District Council, 1919; council housing schemes for Bradfield Rural District Council, 1919-1921; council housing schemes for Henley Rural District Council, 1919-1924; council housing schemes for Wokingham Rural District Council, 1919-1926; Springfield Road Housing Scheme for Wantage Urban District Council, 1936-1940; general plans for housing schemes, [c.1920].
INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS: includes Arthur Hill Memorial Baths, Reading, 1910-1912; additions to Princess Christian Farm Colony, Hildenborough, Kent, 1915-196; alterations to The Bakers Arms public house, Reading, 1874-1948; alterations to The Grange Hostel, Sutton Courtenay, 1920-1924; houses in The Crescent, Shiplake, 1923-1929; alterations to the Ferry House, Shillingford, 1919-1942; All Saints' Church hall and institute, Reading, 1924-1925; rebuilding and additions to The Crown, Maidenhead, 1925-1936; alterations to The Royal Forresters, Ascot, 1927-1933; additions to Chalk House, Chalkhouse Green, 1918-1930; house for medical superintendent, female villa and staff housing, Berkshire Mental Hospital, 1928-1939; rebuilding The Waggon and Horses, Pinkneys Green, 1928-1940; alterations to Church House, St Mary's Church, Reading, 1928-1938; alterations to Swallowcliffe Manor House, Tilsbury, Wiltshire, 1929-1934; alterations to Watlington House, Reading, 1927-1967; rebuilding The Angel Inn, Woolhampton, 1930-1936; Evening Gazette offices, Reading, 1934-1938; conversion of St Paul's rectory into council offices, Wokingham, 1938-1939; repairs to Kintbury Church, 1954-1967; repairs to Purley Church, 1962- 1969.
PLANS SUBMITTED FOR COMPETITIONS (UNSUCCESSFUL): competition papers for county council offices, The Forbury, Reading, 1909-1911; competition papers for guildhall, Devonport, Devon, 1913; competition papers for public offices, London, 1913; papers and plan for chapel at Henley Road Cemetery, Caversham, 1927.
ARBITRATION AND COURT CASES: arbitration plans for Brain & Brain, solicitors, 1916-1934; court case of Edmonds v Smith, 1915; court case of Curran v Cunard, 1922; court case of Bosley v Stubbs, 1935; plan for licensing dispute relating to King's Road area, Reading, 1915.
SLUM CLEARANCE: cottages in Faringdon Rural District Council, 1933-1934; cottages in Wantage Rural District Council, [1930s]; cottages in Finchingfield, Essex, for Braintree Rural District Council, 1936; architect's reports for Melford Rural District Council, Suffolk, 1937.
GENERAL MATERIAL: index cards, [20C]; price book, 1913-1962; register of plans and photographs issued for illustrations, 1921-1964; descriptions and articles on buildings, 1911-1939; air raid precautions handbooks, 1938-1941.
PUBLISHED MATERIAL AND RELATED CORRESPONDENCE: 'Examples of Modern Architecture' by C B Willcocks & J R Greenaway, 1924; correspondence with journals, 1923-1960; draft copies of articles and speeches, 1928-1940s; correspondence re. Daily Mail publications, 1962-1969.
MISCELLANEOUS PLANS, DRAWINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS: plan of Grim's Bank, Padworth Common, [c.1920s-1930s]; plan of garden, Sandleford Priory, 1932; miscellaneous sketches, [c.1910s-1930s]; photographs of cottages, [c.1920s-1940s].
MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE AND PAPERS: relating to houses by Willcocks featured in articles, 1914-1942; with RIBA, 1916-1932; small jobs, 1919-1968; work for the Revd Thomas Brackner, 1936-1951; perspectives, 1928-1955; dissolving partnership, 1931; enquiries about builders and tradesmen, 1937-1961; work with Berkshire County Council and Reading Borough Council, 1939-1945.
ARCHITECTURAL COMMITMENTS
ARCHITECTURAL ADVISORY PANELS: correspondence, 1930-1952; minutes and papers of the Berkshire Advisory Panel Committee, 1936-1940.
SCHEME TO PROVIDE PLANS FOR SMALL HOUSES: papers, 1930-1935.
READING AND BERKSHIRE SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTS: correspondence and list of members of Reading Society of Architects, 1919-1925; correspondence re. Berkshire Society of Architects, 1926-1968.
BERKS, BUCKS & OXON ARCHITECTURAL SOCIETY: minutes and papers, c.1925-1968; correspondence, 1927-1969; year books, 1924-1927; papers relating to exhibitions and courses, 1922-1926.
READING & DISTRICT ARCHITECTS AND BUILDERS JOINT CONSULTATION BOARD: minutes and papers, 1929-1935.
COUNCIL FOR EDUCATION IN APPRECIATION OF PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT/ LATER COUNCIL FOR VISUAL EDUCATION: annual reports, 1944-1960; leaflets, 1943-1945; articles/booklets, 1943-1946; correspondence, 1943-1944.
LOCAL HISTORY COMMITMENTS
LOCAL HISTORY RECORDING SCHEME: scheme notes, [1920s]; correspondence, 1929-1964; Berkshire Branch annual reports, 1924-1964, agendas, 1925-1954, correspondence, 1922-1971, parish files, 1912-1969; Oxfordshire Branch correspondence, 1923-1953, local history record forms, 1925-1953; county files, 1920-1954; sale catalogues and plans, 1906-1952.
PROPOSED FORMATION OF A BERKSHIRE RECORD SOCIETY AND RECORD OFFICE: papers, 1931-1935, 1952; printed material, 1929-1937.
BERKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY: guide to St Peter's Church, Caversham, 1950; correspondence and pencil sketches for memorial to Thomas Hearne in White Waltham Church, 1934-1935.
BERKSHIRE ARCHITECTURAL RECORDS COMMITTEE: minutes, 1940-1947; correspondence, 1940-1942.
READING AND DISTRICT CIVIC SOCIETY: minutes, 1945-1951; correspondence, 1945-1949; draft constitutions, [1945]; papers, 1943-1949.
LOCAL HISTORY AND PRESERVATION INTERESTS: booklet relating to listing, 1946; correspondence relating to listing, 1951-1958; correspondence and papers relating to historic buildings and appeals: Southcote Manor House, [1840?]-1964, Bulmershe Manor, 1930-1936, Caversham Court, 1932-1933, Clock cottages, Stevenage, 1939, Great Tree Barns, Blewbury, 1942-1945, work with SPAM, 1942-1949, restoration of Shottesbrooke Church, 1946-1947, Church Cottage, Pangbourne, 1947, Charles Church, Plymouth, 1902-1954, Mapledurham House and Mill, 1952-1959, Bradfield Hall and Bere Court, Pangbourne, 1953, the Lamb Hotel, Wallingford, 1953-1970, Aldermaston Court, 1955-1958, Dovecote, Marcham, 1956-1972, gazebo at Caversham Court, 1958-1971, setting up Berkshire Historic Building Fund, 1956-1961, Friends of Friendless Churches, 1958, Flint House, Wallingford, 1965-1967; literature by the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, 1929-1960s; correspondence relating to requisition of iron railings, 1941-1943; correspondence relating to siting of Reading Civic Centre, 1936-1968; correspondence relating to new shopping centre, Caversham, 1966-1967; and correspondence, 1933-1963.
MISCELLANEOUS
Photographs and plans of property in Reading, 1905-1930; photograph of Priory Church, Christchurch, Dorset, [20C]; leaflets and booklets, relating to local businesses, [20C]; miscellaneous published material, 1904-1949. |
Admin History | Conrad Birdwood Willcocks was born in Apsley House, Malmesbury, Wiltshire on 18 June 1887, the middle child of the Revd Charles Anthony Willcocks and Sophia Birdwood. The family moved to Wye Villa, 24 Eastern Avenue, Reading in April 1892 and Willcocks attended Reading School from 1894. His father died on 15 December 1896.
Willcocks left Reading School in December 1903 and in 1904 the family moved for a short period to Woodside Cottage in Peppard, Oxfordshire, before moving to Willstead, Matlock Road, Caversham Heights in June 1905. At this date Willcocks also began his architectural career, becoming articled to architect W G A Hambling for three years. During this period Hambling designed a house for artist Holman Hunt in Sonning.
Willcocks sat his exams at University College, Reading, between 1906 and 1909, becoming a probationer of RIBA in 1906 and a student in 1907. He passed his RIBA final exam in December 1911, and was elected ARIBA in 1912, and FRIBA in 1920. In 1909 he started a diary (D/EWK/B1/1/1) in which he lists key events up to that date, including holidays and exams sat with results and comments. He continued the journal until July 1916 when he joined the Royal Flying Corps as an Assistant Equipment Officer.
In August 1908 Willcocks left Hambling's office and in December 1909 became a temporary assistant in the offices of W Roland Howell in Reading. He stayed there for six months before joining the firm of Collcut & Hamp in Bloomsbury Square, London, where he stayed for a few months before leaving to concentrate on his own work. He had received his first private commission in October 1908 to design a pair of cottages in Whitley Wood for Mrs Phippen (D/EWK/B2/4/1). In 1910 Willcocks entered a limited competition to design the new Arthur Hill Memorial Baths in Reading (D/EWK/B2/4/3), which he won, and went on to oversee the construction of the project, with the building being opened on 29 November 1911 (the day before he sat his final RIBA exams).
Between 1908 and 1916 Willcocks received about 30 commissions, mostly for houses and cottages. In 1914 he built a house for himself, his mother and sister Winifred, in St Peter's Avenue, which he also called Willstead, and where he lived for the rest of his life.
Before joining up in 1916 Willcocks started working with local surveyor Joseph Reginald Greenaway, leaving him to oversee his projects for the rest of the war. In particular, Greenaway oversaw the completion of alterations and additions to the Princess Christian Farm Colony in Hildenborough, Kent (D/EWK/B2/4/25). When Willcocks returned from the war in 1919 he set up a partnership with Greenaway and they continued to work together until they dissolved the partnership in August 1931, although they both continued to work out of the same office at 11 Friar Street, Reading.
During their partnership they worked on several council housing schemes for local rural district councils; undertook rebuilding and alteration work to public houses in Berkshire and Oxfordshire for brewers Dymore Brown & Sons; carried out significant alterations and additions to Church House, St Mary's Church, Reading; designed the hall and institute for All Saints Church, Downshire Square, Reading; as well as designing large numbers of houses and preparing plans for alterations and additions to large properties, mostly in Berkshire and Oxfordshire, with a large proportion being in Reading and Caversham. They also provided road layout plans for arbitration work relating to road traffic accidents for solicitors Brain & Brain.
After the partnership was dissolved Willcocks' output dropped slightly, although he was still involved with a prolific number of projects until the end of the 1930s, undertaking work throughout the south of England. During the Second World War, in common with all architects, Willcocks' private architectural work was greatly reduced although he continued to be very busy, working on war damage reparations and industrial work, as well as being a member of the Home Guard. He constructed rifle ranges in his garden and his platoon practiced there every Sunday afternoon. After the war he continued to practice although at a reduced rate, and was continuing to design houses and act as a consultant for projects right into his late seventies.
Willcocks' early style was influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement, and this can be seen particularly in his own house and other houses he designed in St Peter's Avenue and Woodcote Road in Caversham. He believed in designing houses which worked as living spaces. Many of his clients were women and he was particularly interested in how the design of the house could make house work easier (even though most of his clients still had maids). As well as designing the house he also designed much of the furniture for the house, including cupboards and dressers and the whole layout of the kitchen. In his designs for public houses he included full size drawings of the tables and chairs to be used in the bar. In his obituary in the RIBA Journal one of his pupils describes him as a 'perfectionist' and states he 'became, to contractors, a force to be reckoned with, for his insistence on standards of materials and workmanship was second to none'. It concludes 'he will be missed for his quiet competence and the essential Englishness of his art'.
In addition to his private practice Willcocks was a leading figure in local architectural groups and was particularly interested in local history, with this work taking up more of his time in his later years. He was one of the founding members of the Reading Society of Architects in 1920, and was the first honorary secretary, becoming chairman in 1928. The society became the Berkshire Society of Architects in 1925. In 1921 he also helped to form the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Architectural Association, being on the council until the late 1940s, and a member until it was disbanded in 1969. From the 1940s to 1960s he represented the Berkshire Society of Architects in discussions with Reading Borough Council about the listing of historical buildings.
Willcocks was a leading supporter of the compulsory use of architectural panels by local councils for approving elevations and was a member of the Central Panels Committee and was Panel Convenor for Berkshire from around 1937 to the late 1940s. He was also a panel architect for Bradfield Rural District Council from 1933 to 1944. He was a member of the Reading & District Architects and Builders Joint Consultation Board from 1930-1935. He was also a founding member and honorary secretary of the national Council for Education in Appreciation of Physical Environment (later the Council for Visual Education) from 1943 until at least 1960. The council was set up with the aim to educate people in the appreciation of the physical environment by providing lectures, exhibitions, books etc.
In addition to his architectural commitments Willcocks' was a member of many other committees relating to local history interests. He was a member of the Berkshire Archaeology Society for many years becoming vice-chairman in 1954. He was involved in early planning for setting up a Berkshire record society and record office as part of the Berkshire Archaeology Society Records Committee from 1929 to 1935.
In 1921 Willcocks founded the Local History Recording Scheme, with the aim to preserve interesting facts of local history which might be lost owing to their not having been chronicled. This was set up as a national scheme and several other counties did found their own branches, but the Berkshire branch was by far the most active, running from 1924 until at least 1972, and having correspondents in most parishes in the county. It acted as the forerunner to the Berkshire Local History Association. Willcocks was also responsible for the formation of the Berkshire Architectural Records Committee in December 1940, which was set up to produce a photographic record of buildings before they might be destroyed by bombing. He acted as honorary secretary from 1940 until 1947 when the committee became the Architectural Records Sub-committee of the Berkshire Archaeology Society. It has also been claimed that it was his idea which resulted in the National Buildings Record being set up.
In addition to these organisations in which Willcocks played a central role he was also a member of many other societies which aimed to preserve local history and protect historic buildings including the Reading & District Civic Society from 1945; the Thames Valley branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England from 1930, (being on the executive committee of the Berkshire Branch from 1939); and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAM), for whom he undertook survey work of local buildings.
As well as being a member of these national and county level organisations he also became involved with protecting individual buildings. He was part of an unsuccessful appeal to save Southcote Manor House from demolition in 1920, but was successful in the 1930s when he managed to save Bulmershe Manor. In the 1950s he provided a testimony against plans to build Reading Civic Centre on the site of Albion Place and Watlington House garden.
Willcocks never married and little is known about his personal life. After his mother died in 1937 he continued to live with his sister Winifred at Willstead and they shared many of the same interests. He had been very close to his mother and many of his early clients appear to have come through her friends and contacts. One client, Miss Gezelschap, describes Willcocks in the 1920s as 'a perfect angel of kindness & patience & goodness, your mother is quite right in saying this so often' (D/EWK/B2/4/85/1). When his sister died in 1966 Willcocks continued to live at Willstead and in later years was much supported by his secretary Miss Williams. He died on 25 December 1972 and left his house to the National Trust and his records to Berkshire Record Office.
Willcocks was a very committed record keeper and the collection includes records relating to all aspects of his professional life. He kept all the plans and papers relating to nearly every project that he ever worked on. His register of drawing plans shows that there are a handful of projects not included in the collected and it is probably that in these cases the papers and plans were given to the owner of the property or another interested party. In some cases the plans amounted to more than a hundred sheets for an individual project, with many details of fixtures and fittings and in these cases some appraisal has been undertaken in order to reduce the number to a manageable size, with some of the full size details of furniture and duplicate plans being destroyed. Most of the projects include both papers and plans, but before 1916 he does not appear to have kept separate papers for projects with the letters being retained in letter books.
Willcocks also kept very detailed records of his work for all of the different organisations. In some cases, such as the Local History Recording Scheme and the Berkshire Architectural Records Committee, these include the official minutes of the organisation. More information about all of the different organisations that he was involved with can be found in the Architectural Commitments and Local History and Preservation Sections. |