David Barclay Niven was born in Dundee, Forfarshire, Scotland in 27 May 1864 and was articled to Charles Ower (1849-1921) and Leslie Ower (1851-1916) in Dundee from 1881 to 1885. He then worked as an assistant to John Murray Anderson (1844-1901) from 1885 to 1889 and to Aston Webb (1849-1930) from 1889 to 1891. He also attended classes at the Architectural Association and the Royal Academy in London. He qualified as an architect in 1889 and commenced independent practice as an architect in London in 1892.
In 1893 he formed the partnership Niven & Wigglesworth, with Herbert Hardy Wigglesworth (1866-1949). In 1900 Harold Falkner (1875-1963) became a partner in the firm which was renamed Niven, Wigglesworth & Falkner. Although Falkner left the business in 1903, the title of the firm remained unchanged until 1909 when it reverted to Niven & Wigglesworth. The partnership was eventually dissolved in 1926.
Niven subsequently developed an interest in town and garden planning issues in London and was a founder of the London Society. In 1919, with Thomas Raffles Davison (1853-1937), he produced a scheme for the architectural improvement of Charing Cross, and in 1921 his book 'London of the Future.' was published.
Niven's address was given as 2 Colchester Street, Lupus Street, London in 1889; 34 Mecklenburgh Square, London in 1900; Gwydir Chambers, 104 High Holborn, London in 1914; 7 John Street, Bedford Row, London in 1926; South Lodge, South Bolton Gardens, London in 1930 and 1939. Following damage to his home in London during an air-raid in World War Two, he moved to the home of his son in Cobham, Surrey where he died on 9 January 1942.
With David Barclay Niven: Lynch House, Clarendon Road, Sevenoaks, Kent (1893); Interior of Carisbrook Castle ship for the Castle Line (1895); Teith View, Doune, Perthshire (1895); Nethercliffe, Walton on Thames, Surrey (1895); 3 houses for J. G. Hardy, Walton on Thames, Surrey (1898); Hillington, Walton on Thames, Surrey (1899); Willingdon House, Station Avenue, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey (1899); Piper's Hill, Byfleet, Surrey (1900); British Sailors' Society Hostel, corner of Commercial Road and Beccles Street, Stepney, London (1901); 54 Harley Street, London (1904); Salvation Army hostel, Garford Street, Poplar, London (19050; Office building, 19-21 Hatton Garden, Holborn, London (1907); Ottershaw Park, Ottershaw, near Chertsey, Surrey (1910); Swedish Church, Harcourt Street, Marylebone, London (1910); Dunfold Lodge, Woring, Surrey (1914); and Hambro's Bank, 41 Bishopsgate, City of London (1926)
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. 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
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 162, 16 January 1942 p. 62
‘Obituary’. RIBA Journal vol. 49, January 1942 pp. 36
‘Obituary’. RIBA Journal vol. 49, February 1942 pp. 67