Banister Flight Fletcher was born in Bloomsbury, London, England on 15 February 1866 and was the son of the architect Banister Fletcher (1833-1899).
From 1884 to 1888 he was articled to his father and from 1886 to 1892 studied architectural design at the Royal Academy Schools in London, where he was taught by Richard Norman Shaw, Alfred Waterhouse and Sir Reginald Blomfield. His architectural education also included classes at the Architectural Association Schools in London from 1882 to 1888; two years at the Antique and Life Schools at King's College London; a period at University College London, where he was awarded certificates in Geology and Chemistry; and finally a spell at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris
After leaving his father's office he went to the office of William Henman (1846-1917) as an improver in 1885-86, after which he worked as Assistant Clerk of Works to Oxford Street buildings for Hyman Henry Collins (1832?-1905) and Banister Fletcher in 1887; improver with Sir Robert Edis (1837-1927); and assistant to Thomas Blashill (1830-1905) in the Architects' Department of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1888-89.
Fletcher qualified as an architect in 1889 and was made a partner in his father's practice. In 1893 his younger brother, Herbert Phillips Fletcher (1872–1916) also joined the practice which became Banister Fletcher & Sons. Following the death of his father in 1899, Banister Flight Fletcher took over the practice, which retained its original name. From 1936 he was in partnership with Herbert George Tilley (1898-1964).
He held several academic posts. In 1892 he was appointed Instructor in the Architectural Studio at King's College, London, and in 1899 succeeded his father as Acting Professor in Architecture at the College. Soon after the appointment the School of Architecture was transferred to University College, London. From 1890 he also taught at the Architectural Association, and from 1901 lectured at University College, London. In 1916 he was appointed Director of the Trades Training School in London and for several years was President of the School of Architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic in London.
Fletcher wrote extensively on architecture and architectural history, and over several years produced a series of revised editions of his father's monumental work, A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method for Students, Craftsmen and Amateurs, first published in 1896.
Among the many awards he received were the Architectural Association Medal for Design in 1888; Arthur Cates Medal & Travelling Bursary in 1889, the Godwin Bursary and Foreign Travelling Studentship in 1893; the RIBA Tite Prize for Design in 1895; the RIBA Medal of Merit in 1895; and the RIBA Silver Medal (Essay) in 1896.
He was an Honorary Corresponding member of the American Institute of Architects and of the Société Centrale des Architectes Français. He was also an Honorary Member and one of the Trustees of the British Academy of Arts at Rome, and a member of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, the Society of Authors, the London Society, the London Topographical Society, and a Foundation Member of the Hellenic Travellers’ Club. In November, 1908, he was called to the Bar as a Barrister-at-Law of the Inner Temple.
Honours he received from foreign countries includes Officier de la Légion d’Honneur of France, a Commander of the Orders of Leopold II of Belgium, of the Crown of Italy, of the Crown of Roumania, of George I of Greece, of St. Sava of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, of the Rising Sun of Japan, and a Knight- Commander of the Order of Ta-Shou Chia-Ho of China.
He was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1889 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1904. He was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (PRIBA) from 1929 to 1931 and was knighted for his services to architecture in 1919. Fletcher lived for most of his life in London. He died in London on 17 August 1953
Premises of Gosletts, 127-131 Charing Cross Road, London (1899); King's College School, Wimbledon, London (1899); Saint Ann's Vestry, Carter Lane, London (1905); 30a and 30b Wimpole Street, London (1912); the Roan School, Greenwich, in collaboration with Percy Boothroyd Dannatt (1926); Strawberry Hill Housing Estate, Twickenham (1927); Hospital and staff quarters, Moden College, Blackheath, London (1933); and Gillette razor blade factory, Great West Road, Osterley, London (1937).
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Public Buildings:
The church of St. Aidan, Stratford, E.; St. George’s Hall and schools, S.E.; the vestry hall of St. Ann, Blackfriars, E.C.; alterations and new laboratories at King’s College, London ; King’s College School, Wimbledon Common ; hospital and staff quarters at Morden College, Blackheath; and, jointly with Mr. Percy B. Dannatt, F.R.I.B.A., the Roan School, Greenwich. Several banks, including the Westminster Banks at Harrow and Hythe, and the London and Provincial Banks at Stamford Hill, N., and Maida Vale, W. Sir Banister was also responsible for the design of the Stand to Court No. 2 at the All-England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon.
He submitted competitive designs for the Town Hall at Crewe (premiated) and the Town Hall at Deptford, the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls, Rickmansworth, and the Board of Trade Offices, Whitehall.
Private Residences
Numerous country houses, including “ The Dormers,” Portishead ; “ Coneybury,” Walton Heath ; “ Abbess Grange,” Leckford ; “ Aulion,” Coombe Park ; many at Westgate-on-Sea, including “ Observatory House ” ; several at Potter’s Bar, including “ Seidown,” “ Homeleigh,” “ The Three Gables,” and the “ Georgian House,” and houses at Pinner, Hendon, Hertford, Crowborough, Fernhurst, West Clandon, Strawberry Hill, and Maidenhead ; Horsey Hall, Norfolk ; Longworth Manor, Oxfordshire. He has also developed many estates in the neighbourhood of London, including that at Strawberry Hill which has been designed to accommodate about 150 houses, and carried out restorations at the Old Palace, Croydon.
His designs for town houses included 30a and 30b Wimpole Street ; 20 Harley Street and 46 Harley Street ; and 5 Manchester Square, W.
Commercial Buildings
Dryden Chambers, Oxford Street, W. ; Nos. 127-131 Charing Cross Road, W.C. ; No. 27 High Street, Kensington, W. ; Messrs. Spence’s building, St. Paul’s Churchyard ; No. 17 Kingly Street, W. ; and premises in Canterbury Road, Westgate-on-Sea, in addition to reconstruction works at a number of premises, including Mudie’s Library, Oxford Street, W., and Old Broad Street, E.C. ; 50 Grosvenor Gardens, S.W. ; 4 Fenchurch Avenue, E.C. ; 173 Aldersgate Street, E.C. ; 151 Queen Victoria Street, E.C. ; 65 Fleet Street, E.C. ; and Grosvenor Crescent Mews, S.W.
Banister Fletcher & Sons also designed factories and warehouses in Kettering, and at Richmond, Clapham, Stratford and elsewhere in the metropolitan area.
Memorials
Monument to the late J. Lindsay-Smith, J.P., in Highgate Cemetery. The Banister Fletcher Mausoleum, Hampstead Cemetery ; Memorial (mural tablet) in memory of the late Major H. Phillips Fletcher ; War Memorials at Carpenters’ Hall ; at the City of London School ; and at Temple House for the Rt. Hon. Lord Marshall of Chipstead ; external memorial cross and internal tablet at Hitcham Church, Bucks; Commemoration Tablet for Morden College, Blackheath ; and Entrance Gates for H.M.S. Excellent, Portsmouth.
[Source: The Architectural Works of Sir Banister Fletcher by W. Hanneford-Smith (1934)
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Country houses, schools, banks, Institutes and city buildings, Including St. George's Mall and schools, Old Kent Road, S.E.; London County and Westminster Bank, Hythe; St Anne's Vestry Hall, Blackfriars, E.C.: King's Coll. School, Wimbledon, S. W.; St. Aldan's Church, Stratford; 30a, Wimpole Street, W.; Observatory House, Westgate-on-Sea; the " Georgian House", Potters Bar; Horsey Hall, Norfolk; and houses at Portishead, Hertford, Hampstead. Planer, Walton Heath, Hendon, Leckford, Weldon Park, &c.; restoration week at Old Palace and St. John's Parish Church, Croydon; shops and offices at Kensington; Oxford Street: Charing Cross Hoed, W.; Fleet Street, E.C.: Savile Row, W.; and factories In Lower Thames Street, K.C., Stratford, Garlick Hill, E.C., Kettering, Clapham, and Richmond. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1914]
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St. George's Hall, and School, Old Kent Road, S.E.1; St. Aldan Church, Stratford; alterations, additions and new laboratories at King's College, London; King's College School, Wimbledon Common; Westminster Banks at Hythe and Harrow; London and Provincial Banks at Stamford Hill and Maida Vale; restoration of the Old Palace and St. John's Parish Church, Croydon (1910); " Abbess Grange", Leckford; "Coneybury", Walton Heath; "The Dormers", Portishead; " Observatory House", Westgate-on-Sea; "Three Gables," "Seldown", "Homeleigh" and " The Georgian House", Potters Bar; "Neckfield," Crowborough; "Sandways", Camber; 30a and 30b, Wimpole Street, W.1; 20 and 46, Hurley Street, W.1; shops offices and residential flats at Dryden Chambers", Oxford Street, W.1; Nos. 127- 131, Charing Cross Road, W.C.; No. 27, High Street, Kensington, W.; Nos. 176-179, St. Paul's Churchyard; No. 17, Kingly Street; houses at Westgate-on-Sea; factories and warehouses at Stratford, Kettering, Clapham and Garlick Hill, London; several War Memorials at Hitcham, City of London School, Carpenters' Hall, etc., etc. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1926]
Avery, Derek. Victorian and Edwardian Architecture. London: Chaucer Press, 2003
Briggs, Martin Shaw ‘Sir Banister Fletcher: the man and his book’. London Society Journal May 1954 pp. 17, 19-26
Curl, James Stevens. Dictionary of Architecture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 2015
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
‘Gillette Factory, Great West Road’. Architect & Building News 2 October 1936 p. 17 [Architect: Banister Flight Fletcher]
Gray, A. Stuart. Edwardian Architecture: a Biographical Dictionary. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd., 1985
Hanneford-Smith, W. The Architectural Work of Sir Banister Fletcher. London: B. T. B. T. Batsford, 1934
Kelsall, Frank. ‘Banister Fletcher in Blackfriars’. London Society Journal no. 446, Winter 2003 pp. 3-6 [An unpublished drawing by Banister Flight Fletcher for a scheme to rebuild St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, London]
McKean, John. ‘Sir Banister Fletcher: Pillar to Post-Colonial Readings’. The Journal of Architecture, vol. 11, no. 2, 2009 pp. 187–204
‘Obituary’. Architect & Building News vo. 204, 27 August 1953 p. 238
‘Obituary’. AA Journal vol. 69, 1953 p. 88
‘Obituary’. Architects’ Journal vol. 118, 27 August 1953 p. 251
‘Obituary’. Architectural Review vol. 114, October 1953 p. 211
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 185, 28 August 1953 p. 310
‘Obituary’. RIBA Journal vol. 60, 1953 pp. 464-465
Richardson, Margaret. 'Banister Flight Fletcher' in Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architecture. Volume 2. Edited by Adolf K. Placzek. London: The Free Press/Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1982
Who's Who in Architecture 1914. London: Technical Journals Ltd., 1914
Who's Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The Architectural Press, 1926