William Curtis Green [also known as W. Curtis Green] was born in Alton, Hampshire, England on 16 July 1875. He attended West Bromwich Technical School and Birmingham School of Art from 1892 to 1894. He then moved to London where he worked as an assistant to George Thomas Hine (1841-1916) in 1894 and was articled to John Belcher (1841-1913) from 1895 to 1897. After working briefly in the office of Henry Thomas Hine (1861?-1921). He also attended the Royal Academy Schools in London as student from 30 July 1885 to July 1900.
Green commenced independent practice as an architect in London in 1898 and in 1912 became a partner in the London architectural practice Dunn & Watson, an architectural practice formed in London by William Newton Dunn (1859-1934) and Robert Watson (1865-1916) in 1890. The practice was subsequently renamed Dunn, Watson & Curtis Green.
Following the death of Watson in 1916 the firm became Dunn & Curtis Green. The partnership was dissolved in 1919 when Dunn retired to Kenya. Green then worked on his own until 1927 when he took his son, Christopher Curis Green (1900-1976) and his son-in-law Antony Lloyd into partnership.
Green qualified as an architect in 1905. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1905 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1909. He was also elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1923 and a Royal Academician (RA) in 1933. In 1942 he was awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects Royal Gold Medal.
Between 1900 and 1932 Green exhibited at the Royal Academy in London; the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh; and at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts
Green retired from practice in 1958 and died at his home, 16-17 Pall Mall, London on 26 March 1960.
A biographical file on William Curtis Green is available on request from the Enquiry Desk, Royal Institute of British Architects Library, London
Power stations at Chiswlck for the London United Tramways and the Bristol Tramways respectively; Adult School Hall, Croydon; Church of the Good Shepherd, Frensham; the Institute, Painswick; Cemetery Chapel and other buildings for the Chislehurst D.C.; power stations for Messrs. Crompton; Wolseley House, Piccadilly (awarded the R.I.B.A. Medal for the best street front in 1922); No. 6, Duke Street, St. James's; decoration of the staircase at Lloyd's, Royal Exchange; new offices for the Tunnel Portland Cement Co., at Grays; offices and repair shops. Manor Street, Chelsea; for Wolseley Motors, Ltd.; additions to Westfield College; houses at Forest Row, Grays, Croydon, Radley, Turin and elsewhere; Standees Estate, Winchester; Hardwick Estate, Chepstow. In conjunction with William Dunn: — The Hardwick Housing Estate, Chepstow; Stanmore Estate, Winchester; various works in the City and the country, Including a number of power stations for. the Marconi Co.; completion of the Scottish Provident Institution Buildings, Lombard Street; the latter company's new branch in Pall Mall; banks at Hull and in Regent Street for National Provincial and Union Bank of England, Ltd.; and a new Insurance office in Carey Street, for the Clerical, Medical, and General Life Assurance Society. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1923]
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Notable among Green's later work were the Wolseley House, Piccadilly, London (1922–23); Westminster Bank on Piccadilly, London (1926-27); London Life Assurance Building, King William Street, London (1927); Stratton House, Piccadilly, London (1929); Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, London (1930); St. Christopher's Church, Farnborough, Hampshire (1934); Queen's Hotel. Leeds, Yorkshire (1934); Barclays Bank, Bond Street, London (1935); Scotland Yard on the Embankment, London (1935–40); houses and cottages at Tamerton Foriot, near Plymouth, Devon (1936); the Equity and Law Life Assurance Society, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, London (1936–37); and Robinwood House, Fairware, Sussex (1937).
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See also
Darley, Gillian. William Curtis Green RA, architect and draughtsman (1875-1960). London: Green Lloyd and Adams, 1978. [Catalogue of an exhibition at Heinz Gallery, Royal Institute of British Architects, 1978]
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
Gray, A. Stuart. Edwardian architecture: a biographical dictionary. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd., 1985
Hamilton, Alec. Arts & Crafts Churches. London: Lund Humphries, 2020
Harwood, Elain. Art Deco Britain: Buildings of the Interwar Years. London: Batsford, 2019
Reilly, C. H. Representative British architects of the present day. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1931
Scruton, Robert. ‘Curtis Green at Chiswick; Architect (1901)’ AA Files no. 10, 1985, pp. 18-26.
Stamp, Gavin. The English House 1860-1914. Catalogue of an exhibition of photographs and drawings. London: InternationalArchitect and the Building Centre Trust, 1980 p. 63
The drawings of Curtis Green. London: B.T. Batsford, 1949
10. W. Curtis Green, RA : architect and draughtsman, 1875-1960. [Published in connection with the exhibition held at the RIBA Heinz Gallery, January-March 1978]. London: Green Lloyd and Adams, 1978
Who’s Who in Architecture 1923. Edited by Frederick Chattertoin. London: THe Architectural Press, 1923
‘Obituary’. AA Journal vol. 75, May 1960 p. 229
'Obituary’. RIBA Journal June 1960 p. 307
14. ‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 198, 1 April 1960 p. 642
‘The Royal Gold Medal for Architecture 1942: Mr. W. Curtis Green.’ Architect & Building News 21 November 1941 pp. 114-116