Leslie Wilkinson was born in New Southgate, Middlesex, England on 12 October 1882. He was articled to James Glen Sivewright Gibson (1861-1951) in London in 1900 and remained as his assistant. He also attended the Royal Academy School of Architecture in London where he won the Silver Medal in 1903, the Gold Medal in 1905, and Travelling Studentships in 1904 and 1905, enabling him to visit France, Italy and Spain. In 1907 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA). In 1908 he was appointed assistant to Professor F. M. Simpson at University College, London.
In 1908 Wikinson commenced independent practice as an architect in London. That year, in partnership with Walter Symington Athol Gordon (1879-1968), he formed the architectural partnership Gordon & Wilkinson and entered a competition to design municipal buildings in Bethnal Green, London. Their designs are illustrated in British Competitions in Architecture vol. 2, no. 15, February 1908 (pp. 119, 120, 122). The partnership was probably formed specifically for this competition and subsequently dissolved.
In 1910 Wilkinson was made assistant professor at University College, London, a position he held until 1918 (although from late 1914 to 1918 he served in the University of London Officers' Training Corps).
In 1918 Wilkinson moved to Australia to take up the post of first Professor of Architecture at the University of Sydney. In 1919 he was appointed the University of Sydney architect, and from 1920 to 1947 was Dean of the Faculty of Architecture.
While working as an academic, Wilkinson maintained a private practice in Sydney and carried out various architectural commissions in New South Wales. These included several private houses, churches in Sydney and Vaucluse, and the Chemistry Building (1923) and the Physics Building (1926) at the University of Sydney.
Wilkinson was the first president of New South Wales state chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in 1933. He was awrded the Sulman Medal in 1934 and 1942, and the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1961. He died in Vaucluse, Sydney on 20 September 1973.
Laboratories, gymnasium, &c, at Guisborough Grammar School, Yorks; the Parsonage, Radway; additions to "Rowberry", Donhead, near Salisbury; the chapel, surgery. Ac, Welcome Institute, Millwall; flats at Ealing. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1914]
_____
Architectural projects by Leslie Wilkinson following his move to Australia included several private houses in New South Wales; St. John's Church in Penhurst Maroubra. Sydney, and St Paul's Church, Harris Park, Sydney; and several buildings at the University of Sydney
Catalogue of an exhibition of water-colour, pen and ink, and pencil drawings, 1904-1906. Sydney, N.S.W.: Wentworth Press, 1973 [Catalogue of an exhibition at the War Memorial Gallery of Fine Arts, University of Sydney]
Dupain, Max. Wilkinson: a practical architect with ideals. Sydney, N.S.W.: Bernard Leser Publications, 1982
Leslie Wilkinson. Observatory Hill, Sydney, N.S.W.: S.H. Ervin Museum and Art Gallery, 1982
Wilkinson, David; Johnson, Peter; and Molnar, George. Leslie Wilkinson, a practical idealist. Woollahra, Sydney, N.S.W.: Valadon Pub., 1982 [ISBN-10: 0959420215. ISBN-13: 978-0959420210]