Donald Hanks McMorran was born in Wallasey, Cheshire, England on 3 May 1904 and was articled to Horace C. N. Farquharson (1875-1966) in 1921. From 1927 to 1935 he worked as an assistant to Emanuel Vincent Harris (1876-1971), architect of several important municipal buildings including Manchester City Library, Sheffield City Hall and Leeds Civic Hall.
McMorran commenced independent practice as an architect in London in 1935 and that year formed a partnership with Farquharson as Farquharson & McMorran. George Frederick Whitby (1916–1973), subsequently joined the practice which was renamed Farquharson, McMorran & Whitby. By the late 1950s Farquarson had withdrawn from the partnership which became McMorran & Whitby.
Notable among the buildings design by McMorran and the practices with he was associated were Hammersmith Police Station in Hammersmith, London (1939); Phoenix School in Tower Hamlets, London (1951-52); 100 Pall Mall, London, with Duke & Simpson, (1956-58); Cripps Hall and Lenton Hall, halls or residence, Nottingham University (1957-59); Wood Street Police Station, City of London (1963-66); Suffolk Record Office in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (1963-65); and New Shire Hall in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (1965). McMorran also design several housing estates in and around London, notably the Holloway Estate in Islington in the 1950s.
McMorran was a Pugin Student in 1925. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1931; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1943; an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1955, and a Royal Academician (RA) in 1962. He was also elected a member of the Art Workers Guild in 1941 and was Master of the AWG in 1956. From 1941 he lived in Dorking, Surrey where he died on 6 August 1965.
Notable among the buildings design by McMorran and the practices with he was associated were Hammersmith Police Station in Hammersmith, London (1939); Phoenix School in Tower Hamlets, London (1951-52); 100 Pall Mall, London, with Duke & Simpson, (1956-58); Cripps Hall and Lenton Hall, halls or residence, Nottingham University (1957-59); Wood Street Police Station, City of London (1963-66); Suffolk Record Office in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (1963-65); and New Shire Hall in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (1965). McMorran also design several housing estates in and around London, notably the Holloway Estate in Islington in the 1950s.
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See also Historic England [link below]
Denison, Edward. McMorran & Whitby. London: English Heritage and The Twentieth Century Society, 2009 [ISBN: 978-1-8594632-0-8]
Going Modern and Being British: Art, Architecture and Design in Devon c.1910-1960. Edited by Sam Smiles. Exeter, England: Intellect Books, 1998