Twist, Walter Norman 1879 - 1970

Walter Norman Twist was born Handsworth, Staffordshire England in 1879 and was articled to F. W. Baker in Birmingham, England from 1896 to 1899.  He then worked as an assistant to Oliver Essex (1855-1939), John Coulson Nicol (1848-1933), and John Goodman (1865-1952) of Essex, Nilcol & Goodman for five years; to Jethro Anstice  Cossins (1830-1917), Frank Barry Peacock (1859-1937), and Ernest Chawner  Bewlay (1872-1942) of Cossins, Peacock & Bewlay; to Joseph Crouch (1859-1936), Edmund Butler (1862-?) and Rupert Savage (1871-1956) of Crouch, Butler & Savage; and to Thomas George Price.  He also attended Birmingham School of Art.  He passed the SA qualifying exam in 1904 and began practising as an architect in Birmingham in 1909.  From 1921 he was in partnership with Samuel Nathaniel Cooke (1882-1964) as S. N. Cooke & W. N. Twist.

Twist's first known architectural project was the People’s Hall at the Parish Church of St. Mary in Selly Oak, Birmingham (1910). Notable work by him was the first all electric house in Birmingham at 25 Vicarage Road, Edgbaston (1931), commissioned the British Electrical Development Association; and "The Black Horse" public house (1933), Thompson Avenue, Wolverhampton, for Davenports Brewery Ltd,

Twist was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1911 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1920.  During World War One he served in the Artists Rifles.   

His address was given as 7 Temple Chambers, Birmingham in 1905; 33 Newhall Street, Birmingham and 33 Hall Road, Handsworth in 1911; 117 Colmore Row. Birmingham in 1913 and 1914; Heathergate, Thornhill Road, Streetly, Staffordshire in 1920; Queen's College, Paradise Street, Birmingham in 1923 and 1926; and Sun Building, Bennett's Hill, Birmingham in 1930 and 1939.  He died in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire in 1970.