James William Archibald Cubitt [commonly known as James Cubitt] was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 1 May 1914. He subsequently moved to England and after Harrow School in Middlesex, studied at Brasenose, Oxford from 1932 to 1935. He then studied part-time at Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, and, from 1935 to 1940 attended the Architectural Association School in London. He received his AA Diploma in 1940. From 1940 to 1946 he served in the Royal Engineers in the Far East and West Africa.
After leaving the Army in 1946, he was in private practice in London. He also taught in the Department of Architecture at Kingston School of Art [now Kingston University] from 1946 to 1948. In 1949, with Fellow Architectural Association graduates Thomas William Fello Atkinson (1919-1982), Stefan Buzás (1915-2008) and Richard Macleod Maitland (1917-1976), he formed the architectural partnership James Cubitt & Partners.
Cubitt was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1940 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1955. He was president of the Architectural Association in 1965-66.
In addition to his work as an architect, Cubitt was also a sculptor. He attended classes in sculpture at St. Martin's School of Art in London in the late 1950s. Solo exhibitions of his work were held at at John Whibley Gallery, London in 1962; Burgos Gallerry, New York; and at Anthony Mould Gallery in London in 1985.
James Cubit died in London on 16 December 1983
Early work by the practice included the South African Travel Centre and offices for Quantas Airways at 70 and 69 Piccadilly, London (1951). During the 1950s, Cubitt opened offices in Ghana, Nigeria, Burma, Libya and Malaysia where they designed several academic institutions and schools. Other projects by the firm in which James Cubitt was involved include Churchill College, Cambridge (1959); two schools for disabled children in Putney, London (1960-62); St. Anthony's College, Oxford (1961); flats and houses for Harlow New Town in Essex (1961-65); homes for the elderly in Islington and Stoke Newington, London (1962-67); Highbury Secondary Modern School in London (1964-66); the redevelopment of the Nsukka Campus, University of Nigeria (1971); and a series of buildings for the University of Garyounis, Bezghazi, Libya (1974-78).
Cubitt, James and Koenigsberger, Otto. ‘James William Archibald Cubitt’ in Contemporary Architects. Edited by Ann Lee Morgan and Colin Naylor. London and Chicago, Illinois: St. James Press, 2nd edition 1987 pp. 200-202
Mills, Edward David. The New Architecture in Britain 1946-1953. London: The Standard Catalogue Co., 1953 [Discusses the South Africa Centre in Piccadilly, London designed by James Cubitt & Partners pp. 171-177]