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R.S. Wilshere and his Modern Schools in Belfast: an Architecture of Individuality
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 January 2016
Extract
From time to time since his death in 1961, R.S. Wilshere has been referred to as a leading figure in the development of Modern architecture in Ireland, and his series of schools built in Belfast between the two world wars has been cited as an important part of that story. Yet the full significance of his schools has not hitherto been discussed in detail, while the full extent of his building achievement has not been outlined anywhere. The great esteem in which Wilshere and his Belfast schools were once held by contemporaries, however, merits both the recounting of his life and overall career, and an explanation of the nature of his special achievement in schools architecture.
In addition to the twin aims of re-establishing Wilshere's reputation as an architect of more than usual worth and revealing the notable qualities of some of his schools, this exploration of his career and buildings also points to other themes of the inter-war era which have not been fully explored elsewhere and would benefit from further research.
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- Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. 2013
References
Notes
1 As in Shanks, Donald, ‘Reginald Wilshere MC, FRIBA FRICS: an Appreciation of his Work of Fifty Years 1926-56’, RSUA Yearbook (Belfast, 1976), pp. 50–51 Google Scholar; Rothery, Sean, Ireland and the New Architecture (Dublin, 1991), pp. 153–55 Google Scholar; and Alan, Powers, Britain: Modern Architectures in History (London, 2007), p. 253.Google Scholar
2 Examples include Armstrong Primary School, Armagh (1929), Hart Memorial Primary School, Portadown (1935-36), and King's Park Primary School, Lurgan (1935-36), all in Co. Armagh and designed by the county education architect, James St John Phillips; and St Colman's Abbey Primary School, Newry, Co. Down (1937-38) by Thomas McLean.
3 Such as Ballynure Primary School, Co. Antrim (1931), and Limavady High School, Co. Londonderry (1931-32), both described briefly in ‘Belfast and Northern Topics’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 73 (17 January 1931), p. 52.Google Scholar
4 See Larmour, Paul, ‘Modern Movement Architecture in Ulster 1900 to 1950’, in Evans, David, Hackett, Mark, Hall, Alistair, Larmour, Paul, and Rattray, Charles, Modern Ulster Architecture (Belfast, 2006), pp. 2–19 (pp. 12 and 14)Google Scholar. It was not until the immediate post-war period when any notable schools by architects other than Wilshere appeared in Northern Ireland, namely Cregagh Primary School, Belfast (1949) by T.F.O. Rippingham of the Ministry of Finance, which was laid out on ‘the dormitory system', each classroom being separate (for which see Larmour, Paul, Belfast, An Illustrated Architectural Guide (Belfast, 1987), p. 94)Google Scholar, and St Patrick's School, Pennyburn, Londonderry (1948-54) by F.M. Corr and W.H.D. McCormick, which was inspired by Beaudouin and Lods’ pre-war school at Suresnes in Paris (see Larmour, Paul and O'Toole, Shane, North by Northwest: The Life and Work cfLiam McCormick (Kinsale, 2008), pp. 39–40, 223).Google Scholar
5 The same may be said for Wilshere's position in Ireland as a whole. While there have as yet been no published surveys of inter-war schools architecture in the Republic of Ireland, it is clear from the championing of Wilshere and his work by the Dublin-based journal The Irish Builder and Engineer that his achievement was also unmatched there.
6 The most useful accounts include Seaborne, Malcolm and Lowe, Roy, The English School: its Architecture and Organisation, Volume II: 1870-1970 (London, 1977)Google Scholar; Saint, Andrew, Towards a Social Architecture: The Role of School Buildings in Post-War England (New Haven and London, 1987), pp. 35–39 Google Scholar; and Harwood, Elain, England's Schools: History, Architecture and Adaptation (Swindon, 2010)Google Scholar. For a rare but brief survey of schools elsewhere in the British Isles than England, see MacKean, Charles, The Scottish Thirties (Edinburgh, 1987), pp. 122–26Google Scholar. What is still lacking are well-illustrated accounts of the full range of school-building activities of not only such a pioneer in the Edwardian era as George Widdows in Derbyshire, but also such others as Topham Forrest at the London County Council (LCC), W.T. Curtis and H.W. Burchett in Middlesex, E.P. Wheeler and H.F.T. Cooper at the LCC, John Stuart in Essex, W.H. Robinson in Kent, C.G. Stillman in West Sussex, S.E. Urwin in Cambridgeshire, and Bernard Widdows, all of whom were prominent enough to have been included in the RIBA's ‘Modern Schools’ exhibition held in 1937, as representative of good English practice at that time.
7 Examples such as Gravesend Secondary School for Girls by W.H. Robinson in the 1920s (illustrated in Architect and Building News, 117 (29 April 1927), p. 743), and Manchester Grammar School by Thomas Worthington & Sons with Francis Jones, in 1931 (illustrated in Architectural Review, 71 (1932), pp. 87-91, and Seaborne and Lowe, English School, pl. 37), while not of the same municipal elementary type that Wilshere was usually associated with, are cases in point.
8 Harwood, England's Schools, p. 64.
9 Typical examples are the King George V Grammar School, Southport, Lancashire (1924), by W.F. Granger and J.R. Leathart (illustrated in Seaborne and Lowe, English School, p. 143 and pl. 38), and High Storrs Grammar School, Sheffield (1933), by the City Architect's Department (illustrated in Harwood, England's Schools, p. 64).
10 Seaborne and Lowe, English School, p. 121.
11 See ‘The Luton Competition’, Architects' Journal, 83 (25 June 1936), p. 972.Google Scholar
12 See ‘Pinner Park Council School, Headstone Lane’, Architect and Building News 139 (20 July 1934), p. 71.Google Scholar
13 Stillman, C.G. and Cleary, R.C., The Modern School (London, 1949), P. 17.Google Scholar
14 Schools by W.T. Curtis and H.W. Burchett were among the most publicized in the inter-war years. Nineexamples of their work were included in the ‘Modern Schools’ exhibition arranged by the RIBA in 1937, while many were illustrated in the architectural press. See, for instance, ‘The New Schools of the Middlesex County Council’, Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 45 (21 July 1934), pp. 918–23 Google Scholar; Design and Construction, 7 (December 1936), pp. 69 and 70Google ScholarPubMed, and Design and Construction, 7 (January 1937), pp. 90–93, 107 and 110.Google ScholarPubMed
15 Harwood, England's Schools, p. 63. So referred to for reasons that are not entirely clear.
16 Wilshere, R.S., ‘Modern School Buildings’, Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 54 (1947), pp. 459–64.Google Scholar
17 Towndrew, F.W., ‘Schools’, Building, 9 (February 1934), pp. 54–59 (p. 54).Google Scholar
18 These include the Science Building, Marlborough College, Wiltshire (1933) by W.G. Newton; Burlington Secondary School, Hammersmith, London (1936-37), by Burnet, Tait and Lome; Impington Village College, Cambridgeshire (1938-40), by Walter Gropius and Maxwell Fry; and Richmond School for Girls, Richmond, North Yorkshire (1938-40), by Denis Clarke Hall.
19 Wilshere, , ‘Modern School Buildings’, p. 459.Google Scholar
20 Biographical details of Wilshere are found in the following: The Irish Builder and Engineer, 73 (1 August 1931), p. 678; ‘Topical Touches’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 73 (29 August 1931), p. 750 Google Scholar; ‘ Wilshere, R.S., ‘A Brief Biographical Sketch of One of the Most Promising Young Architects in Ireland’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 74 (2 January 1932), p. 10 Google Scholar; ‘New R.S.U.A. President’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 77 (15 June 1935), p. 513 Google ScholarPubMed; and Builder, 202 (12 January 1962), p. 74 (obituary).
21 My summary of this revolution is based on the following sources: Clay, Felix, Modern School Buildings, Elementary and Secondary, 2nd edn (London, 1906)Google Scholar; ‘Modern School Buildings’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 71 (12 October 1929), pp. 917–18Google Scholar; Wilshere, R.S., ‘The Quest for the Ideal Classroom’, The Irish Builder and Engineer 75th Anniversary 1859-1934, (1934), pp. 30–32 Google Scholar; Wilshere, , ‘Modern School Buildings’, pp. 459–64Google Scholar; and Seaborne and Lowe, English School.
22 Clay, Felix, Modern School Buildings, Elementary and Secondary (London, 1902), p. 171.Google Scholar
23 The Education Act 1902, which affected education in England and Wales only. The practice of regular medical inspections in schools was then made law in 1907.
24 For the relevance of Dr (later Sir) Leonard Hill for schools architecture, see Widdows, George H., ‘School Design’, Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 29 (26 November 1921), pp. 33–45.Google Scholar
25 Seaborne and Lowe, English School, pp. 75-76, 82-83. The plan of a comparable school by Hutchings, at Biddulph Road, Staffordshire, was illustrated in Kirkby, Reginald G., ‘Elementary School Planning’, Builder 97 (21 August 1909), pp. 209–13 (p. 209).Google Scholar
26 See Kirkby, ‘Elementary School Planning’, pp. 209-10; ‘The Derbyshire Schools’, Builder 105(31 October 1913), pp. 460–61Google Scholar; and Widdows, ‘School Design’.
27 Such as Letchworth Elementary School, Hertfordshire (1909), by Urban Smith (for which see Kirkby, ‘Elementary School Planning’, pp. 210 and 211), and Maltby New School, West Riding (1912), by John Stuart (for which see Clay, Felix, Modern School Buildings, Elementary and Secondary, 3rd edn entirely rewritten (London, 1929), pp. 101 and 102)Google Scholar. For Ilkeston School, see ‘County School, Ilkeston, Derbyshire', The Modern Building Record, 5(London, 1914), pp. 106–11.Google Scholar
28 My main sources for the nineteenth-century background to educational administration in Belfast and subsequent twentieth century changes are Robb, J.H., ‘Northern Ireland Today (II). Record of Progress. Educational Reform’, The Western Morning News and Daily Gazette, 16 November 1937Google Scholar, and McNeilly, Norman, Exactly 50 Years. The Belfast Education Authority and its Work (1923-73) (Belfast, 1973).Google Scholar
29 What appears to have been a rare example of the ‘central hall’ plan was built in Northern Ireland, at Campbell College in Belfast in 1892-94 to the designs of William Henry Lynn, but that was an ambitious and elite project of the English ‘public school’ type, far removed in scale, accessibility and facilities from the normal cramped Irish ‘National School’ type of the early nineteenth century that was standard for elementary education.
30 ‘Belfast's Schools’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 73 (19 December 1931), pp. 1089–92 (p. 1089).Google Scholar
31 As described in McNeilly, 50 Years, p. 9.
32 As quoted in McNeilly, 50 Years, p. 9.
33 ‘Belfast Schools' Architect’, The Irish News, 8 April 1924, p. 4.Google Scholar
34 ‘Architect to Belfast Education Authority’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 66 (19 April 1924), p.358.Google Scholar
35 ‘New Belfast Schools’, Belfast Telegraph, 26 November 1924, p. 12.Google ScholarPubMed
36 ‘Progress in Education. New Public Elementary Schools’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 3 July 1926, p. 11.Google Scholar
37 Ibid.
38 See ‘Belfast and Northern Topics’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 70 (28 April 1928), pp. 360, 363-64.Google Scholar
39 See ‘School Building in Belfast’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 70 (24 November 1928), pp. 992, 995-96.Google Scholar
40 ‘School Building in Belfast’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 70 (4 February 1928), p. 103.Google Scholar
41 See ‘County School, Ilkeston, Derbyshire’ (n. 27 above).
42 ‘Building Work in Ulster. One of the Finest of Belfast's New Large Schools’, Belfast News-Letter, 21 June 1930, p. 12.Google Scholar
43 Ibid. See also ‘School Building in Belfast. New School in Riga Street’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 72 (24 May 1930), pp. 462, 464, 467Google Scholar; and ‘The Art of the Builder. Splendid New School Completed in Belfast’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 26 July 1930, p. 10.Google Scholar
44 ‘The Art of the Builder. Mountcollyer School, Belfast, Masterpiece’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 9 August 1930, p. 10.Google Scholar
45 ‘Get Rid of Dirt and Darkness. Governor Opens New School’, Belfast News-Letter, 23 August 1930, p. 6.Google Scholar
46 ‘Eighth School Opened. Belfast Solving New Problem’, Belfast Telegraph, 3 October 1930, p. 15.Google Scholar
47 ‘The School with an Ideal Site. Fresh Air and Recreation for Strandtown Children’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 24 January 1931, p. 10.Google Scholar
48 Boyle, Revd D.D., as quoted by Wilshere, , reported in ‘Boys Cheer School Designer’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 23 February 1932, p. 8.Google Scholar
49 For Strandtown School, see ‘A Pavilion for Belfast Playing Fields’, Belfast News-Letter, 6 December 1930, p. 10 Google Scholar, and ‘Building Work in Ulster’, 17 January 1931, p. 10; ‘The School with an Ideal Site’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 24 January 1931, p. 10 Google ScholarPubMed; ‘Belfast and Northern Topics’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 73 (1710 January 1931), p. 52 Google Scholar; ‘Belfast Schools’ (n. 30 above), pp. 1089-92; and ‘The Strandtown Elementary School, Belfast', Architect and Building News, 127 (4 September 1931), pp. 270–72Google Scholar. For the award of the Ulster Architecture Medal, see ‘Ulster Architecture Medal. Royal Institute's Award for a Belfast School’, Belfast News-Letter, 6 August 1931, p. 10 Google Scholar, and ‘Notes from the Minutes of the Council, 6 July 1931’, journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 38 (8 August 1931), p. 707.Google Scholar
50 The same could be said of the Roman Catholic and Nationalist minority who, although essentially averse to all things British, had no other viable architectural direction. There appears to have been very little new school building by the Roman Catholic authorities in Belfast during this period, however, probably because they were already well provided with schools from the nineteenth century, and, for new schools, only half the costs for such buildings outside the state system were covered by the Ministry of Education. For two that are known, however, it was Wilshere who, on behalf of the Belfast Education Committee in 1927, provided the designs, construction of which was delayed by educational disputes, being eventually supervised by other architects employed by the clients. These were St Comgall's PE School, Divis Street supervised by Thomas J. Houston in 1931-32, and St Kevin's PE School, Falls Road, supervised by Hugh Lamont and J.J. Brennan in 1931-32. Both were two-storeyed, of quadrangular plan, and Neo-Georgian in style. While laying the foundation stone of St Comgall's, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Mageean, criticized the Education Act of 1930, but thanked the Belfast Education Committee for handing over the plans which had been drawn up by Wilshere, adding, ‘I congratulate him on the beauty of general outline and on the arrangement of the class halls with a view to efficiency in school-work’, as quoted in ‘Catholic Schools' Burden’, The Irish News and Belfast Morning News, 7 May 1932, p. 5, continued on p. 6 as ‘The Catholic Schools’.
51 ‘Building Work in Ulster. Modern Design and Construction in Belfast's Latest School’, Belfast News-Letter, 15 August 1931, p. 10.Google Scholar
52 Ibid.
53 ‘Belfast's Schools’ (n. 30), p. 1090.
54 Ibid., p. 1092.
55 Ibid. See also ‘An Architectural Triumph', The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 18 August 1931, p. 10 Google ScholarPubMed; and ‘Senior Public Elementary School, Belfast’, Architects' Journal, 76 (13 July 1932), pp. 35–37.Google Scholar
56 ‘Modernism in Architecture’, Architect and Building News, 119 (25 May 1928), pp. 766–69 (p. 766).Google Scholar
57 Other significant early examples were by outside architects. For the development of Modernism in Northern Ireland, including Wilshere's part in it, see Larmour, ‘Modern Movement Architecture in Ulster 1900 to 1950’.
58 See ‘Building Work in Ulster’ (n. 49), p. 10; ‘Triumph in School Architecture’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 2 January 1932, p. 10 Google Scholar; and ‘Another Notable Belfast School’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 74 (26 March 1932), pp. 284–86.Google Scholar
59 See ‘A New Belfast School’, Belfast News-Letter, 13 August 1932, p. 10 Google Scholar; ‘Denominational Education', The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 10 January 1933, p. 10 Google ScholarPubMed; ‘Elmgrove Public Elementary School’, Architecture Illustrated, 9 (December 1934), pp. 199–202 Google Scholar; and ‘Belfast's Model Elementary Schools’, The Brick Builder, 10(June 1935), PP. 31–34.Google Scholar
60 Such houses, designed as an integral part of the scheme, were to become a feature of a number of Wilshere's schools from here on, while vandalism on the sites of a number of earlier schools necessitated a house to be added later, as for instance at Linfield School in 1936.
61 English publications in which Dudok's buildings were illustrated included Robertson, Howard, ‘Modern Dutch Architecture’, Architectural Review, 54(September 1923), pp. 97–100 and pl. IVGoogle Scholar; Mieras, J.P. and Yerbury, F.R. (eds), Dutch Architecture of the XXth Century (London, 1926)Google Scholar; Robertson, Howard, ‘Dudok Enjoys Himself’, Architect and Building News, 124 (8 August 1930), pp. 180–83Google Scholar; Robertson, Howard, ‘Dudok Enjoys Himself, Again’, Architect and Building News, 124(15 August 1930), pp. 209–11Google Scholar; Robertson, Howard, ‘In Villag Mood’, Architect and Building News, 124 (22 August 1930), pp. 239–41Google Scholar; Robertson, Howard, ‘A Theme with Variations. The Hilversum Schools of W.M. Dudok’, Architect and Building News, 125 (6 February 1931), pp. 216–19Google Scholar; Yerbury, F.R., Modern Dutch Buildings (London, 1931)Google Scholar; and ‘The News of the Week. The Royal Gold Medalist’, Architect and Building News, 141 (18 January 1935), pp. 92–93 Google Scholar. An introduction to Dudok's influence on British architects is provided by Furneaux Jordan, R., ‘Dudok and the Repercussions of his European Influence’, Architectural Review, 115 (April 1954), pp. 236–41Google Scholar. The influence of Dudok on Wilshere, which is so visibly evident, was confirmed in conversation between Wilshere and his successor the late Donald Shanks, as related by Shanks in conversation with this author.
62 See ‘Making Lessons Attractive for Donegall Road Children’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 12 August 1933, p. 3 Google Scholar; ‘The Grosvenor P.E. School’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 75 (26 August 1933), pp. 717–18Google Scholar; ‘The Grosvenor Public Elementary School, Belfast’, Architect and Building News, 141 (25 January 1935), pp. 130–33Google Scholar; ‘Belfast's Model Elementary Schools’, The Brick Builder, 10 (June 1935), pp. 31–34 Google Scholar; and ‘Belfast, Northern Ireland. Grosvenor Senior Public Elementary School’, Design and Construction, 7 (January 1937), p. 101.Google Scholar
63 For such doorways in Dudok's buildings, see Mieras and Yerbury, Dutch Architecture, pls XXXII (a school in Hilversum of 1922), and XXXIV (the abattoir in Hilversum of 1923).
64 ‘The Grosvenor P.E. School’, p. 718.
65 See ‘Seaview P.E. School’, Belfast Telegraph, 23 January 1934, p. 14 (illustration but no description)Google Scholar; ‘Seaview Elementary School’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 76 (19 May 1934), p. 47 Google Scholar; and ‘Belfast's Model Elementary Schools’, pp. 31–35 (note that the upper illustration on p. 35 is of Seaview School and not Grosvenor as identified).
66 See ‘Extension of a Belfast school’, Belfast News-Letter, 13 August 1934, p. 10 Google Scholar; ‘Finiston School, Belfast’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 76 (3 November 1934), pp. 933–34Google ScholarPubMed; Leathart, JR., ‘Current Architecture’, Building, 12 (June 1937), pp. 234–37Google Scholar; and ‘Finiston Public Elementary School, near Belfast’, Design and Construction, 18 (January 1938), p. 31.Google Scholar
67 The arrangement of a broad-arched surround of thin flooring tiles set in a squarish blank wall recalls that of Dudok's abattoir in Hilversum of 1923, illustrated in Mieras and Yerbury, op. cit., pl. XXXIV, while the scale and elevational treatment of the semicircular bay resembles that of one of his schools which was illustrated in Robertson, ‘Theme with Variations', p. 219 (Fig. 4), and Yerbury, Modern Dutch Buildings, pl. XXXV.
68 ‘Another Notable Belfast School’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 74 (26 March 1932), p. 284.Google Scholar
69 Wilshere, , ‘Modern School Buildings’, p. 463.Google Scholar
70 ‘Avoniel Junior School, Belfast’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 77 (5 October 1935), pp. 917–18Google Scholar. For Avoniel School, see also ‘Avoniel Public Elementary School, Beersbridge Road, Belfast’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 13 August 1935, p. 3 Google Scholar; and ‘Belfast, Northern Ireland. Avoniel Senior Public Elementary School’, Design and Construction, 7 (January 1937), p. 100.Google Scholar
71 ‘Belfast's Educational Programme’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 78 (17 October 1936), pp. 923–24.Google Scholar
72 ‘A Belfast School Rebuilt’, Belfast News-Letter, 2 October 1936, p. 12 Google Scholar. For McQuiston School, see also ‘Belfast's Educational Programme’, pp. 923–24, and ‘Senior Schools’, Architects’ Journal, 87 (6 January 1938), p.48.Google Scholar
73 See ‘New Model School, Belfast’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 80 (15 October 1938), pp. 864,866Google Scholar; ‘Belfast's New Model School to be Opened Today', The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 19 October 1938, p.9 Google Scholar; ‘The Model School, Belfast’, Builder, 161 (8 August 1941), pp. 120–23Google Scholar; and ‘Senior School, Cliftonville, Belfast’, Architectural Design and Construction, 12 (November 1942), p. 236.Google Scholar
74 ‘Belfast's New Model School to be Opened Today’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 19 October 1938, p. 9.Google Scholar
75 See ‘Botanic P.E. School, Belfast’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 81 (13 May 1939), pp. 387–88Google Scholar; ‘New P.E. School in Belfast’, Belfast News-Letter, 18 May 1939, p. 5 Google Scholar; ‘Botanic Public Elementary School’, Architect and Building News, 164 (6 December 1940), pp. 142–44Google Scholar; ‘The Botanic Elementary School, Belfast’, Builder 160 (5 June 1941), 5 June, pp. 543–46Google Scholar; ‘School at Belfast: The Botanic Elementary School’, Architects’ journal (2 October 1941), pp. 229–32Google Scholar; and ‘Current Architecture. School’, Architectural Review, 90 (1941), pp. 141–43.Google Scholar
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78 Wilshere had been aware of the reflective values of different colours, and their effect on lighting conditions, as early as 1934, as evident in his article ‘The Quest for the Ideal Classroom’ (n. 21 above), but what prompted Wilshere in this direction other than his own investigative approach to school design is not known. In his experiments in this field he appears to have been in advance of others such as the Hertfordshire education architects of the late 1940s, and official publications such as the Ministry of Education Building Bulletin No. 9, Colour in School Building(HMSO, 1953), which was drawn largely from the Hertfordshire experiments (see Saint, Social Architecture, pp. 90-91).
79 Its inclusion and that of some other accommodation was an enforced afterthought when the Ministry of Education decided to change the school from junior to senior status after the original scheme had been drawn up.
80 ‘North of Ireland Notes’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 82 (25 May 1940), p. 344.Google Scholar
81 ‘Beauty in the School’, The Irish Times, 19 October 1936, p. 6.Google ScholarPubMed
82 These sources are all cited in the references elsewhere in the notes for individual buildings by Wilshere, . To these may also be added ‘Types of Modern Schools’, The Brick Builder, 8 (December 1933), pp. 36–42 (pp. 36-39).Google Scholar
83 ‘Foreword 1859–1934’, The Irish Builder and Engineer 75th Anniversary 1859–1934, 23 July 1934, p. 17.Google Scholar
84 ‘Belfast's Model Elementary Schools’, p. 31.
85 As was reported in ‘Education in Ulster’, Belfast News-Letter, 19 June 1937, and ‘New Belfast School’, Belfast News-Letter, 10 June 1939.
86 ‘Education Costs’, Belfast Telegraph, 1 December 1937, p. 6 Google ScholarPubMed. This viewpoint, and the information on comparative costs, were stated at a meeting of Belfast City Council by Alderman H.C. Midgley, who would later become Northern Ireland Minister of Education in 1950. Some sample costs of Wilshere schools were as follows: Fane Street: £25,671; Mersey Street: £24,791; Mountcollyer: £29,467; Strandtown: £28,504; Glenwood: £25,778; Linfield: £26,950; Elmgrove: £28,739; Grosvenor: £25,442; Avoniel: £19,192; Seaview: £17,086; Finiston: £19,008; Nettlefield: £17,386; McQuiston: £9,034; Model: £29,550; Grove: £23,315; Botanic: £20,380; Carr's Glen: £26,110; Charters Memorial: £19,435; Wheatfield: £66,340.
87 Myles Wright, H. and Gardner-Medwin, R., The Design of Nursery and Elementary Schools (London, 1938), pp. 58 (McQuiston), 92 (Grosvenor), and 108 (Botanic and The Model).Google Scholar
88 ‘Belfast's Latest School. New Buildings Praised by English Professor’, Belfast News-Letter, 29 April 1938, p. 12 Google Scholar. Holford had a tour of inspection of Wilshere's schools when he was in Belfast to deliver a series of lectures on town planning.
89 New schools by Wilshere in this period, in addition to those discussed in the text, also included Argyle, North Howard Street (1933-37,now demolished); Edenderry, Tennent Street (1934-37); Beechfield, Beechfield Street (1937-38); Orangefield, Marina Park (1938-39); and Edenderry Nursery, Sydney Street West (1939-40, now demolished); as well as two designed on behalf of Belfast Education Committee but built by the Roman Catholic Church authorities, namely St Kevin's, Falls Road (1927-32) and St Comgall's, Divis Street (1927-32). Two other jobs for the Belfast Education Committee were a sports pavilion at the Ulster Playing Fields, Ormeau Road (1935-36), and an unbuilt design for a Domestic Science College in May Street (c. 1937).
90 See ‘Corporation's First Three Housing Estates Completed’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 17 October 1949, p. 6 Google Scholar, for illustrations of both pitched and flat-roofed examples of Wilshere's housing. For Edenvale in particular, Wilshere's most attractive estate, designed in 1947, and for which he gained a special award in a housing competition promoted by the Northern Ireland Ministry of Health and Local Government in connection with the Festival of Britain celebrations in 1951, see The Irish Builder and Engineer, 93 (18 August 1951), pp. 850 and 852, and 15 September 1951, p. 948. Wilshere was relieved of his extra housing responsibilities when J.W. Adamson was appointed the Housing Architect to Belfast Corporation in 1949.
91 See ‘Charters Memorial P.E. School, Belfast’, Architect and Building News, 192 (17 October 1947), p. 49 Google Scholar, and 'New Belfast School — Charters Memorial Primary School’, Belfast News-Letter, 13 June 1951, p. 8 Google Scholar, and ‘Lord Mayor Opens New Belfast School’, Belfast News-Letter, 9 August 1951, p. 3.Google Scholar
92 See ‘Belfast Corporation's New School at Glenard’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 31 August 1951, p. 5.Google Scholar
93 This term was used in, for example, the London-based journal Illustrated Carpenter, January 1939, in the article ‘Northern Ireland. Big Rush of New Year Building Plans’.
94 See ‘Ballygolan Primary School’, Belfast News-Letter, 4 January 1955, p. 8.Google ScholarPubMed
95 For the Bristol system described and illustrated, see Sheppard, Richard, ‘Aluminium Unit Construction for School Buildings’, Architectural Design, 18 (February 1948), pp. 42–44 Google Scholar, and Sheppard, Richard, ‘Aluminium Unit Construction and Various Applications of the System’, Architectural Design, 19 (April 1949), pp. 96–100 Google Scholar. For the school at Lockleaze, see ‘Prefabricated School Units’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 91 (14 May 1949), pp. 442, 444, 446.Google Scholar
96 Now all demolished, these were Annadale Grammar School (designed 1948; built 1953); Sydenham Primary School (designed 1949; built 1950), for which see ‘New School in Belfast’, Belfast News-Letter, 24 May 1951, p. 3 Google ScholarPubMed; Ashfield Girls’ School (designed 1949; built 1951-52); Ashfield Boys’ Secondary Intermediate (later High) School (designed 1952; built 1954), for which see ‘Councillor to Open New Belfast School’, Belfast Telegraph, 25 August 1953, p. 5 (illustration but no article)Google Scholar; Lowwood Primary School (1954), for which see ‘Raising school Leaving Age in Northern Ireland’, Belfast News-Letter, 1 July 1954, p. 8 Google Scholar; and Taughmonagh Primary School (1954).
97 Wilshere, , ‘Modern School Buildings’, p. 463.Google Scholar
98 See ‘Lord Mayor Opens New School’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 27 August 1953, p. 3.Google Scholar
99 As at the Girls’ Model School (1951-55; now demolished), for which, see ‘The New Girls’ Model School at Dunkeld Gardens, Old Park, Belfast’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 1 February 1955, p.6 Google Scholar, and the gymnasium (designed 1950, built 1954-55) added to Graymount School, Grays Lane.
100 See ‘“Belfast Builds Schools” Exhibition’, Belfast News-Letter, 9 April 1954, p. 7, for a photograph of the model of the building.Google Scholar
101 These included Wheatfield Infants’ School, Alliance Road, and Garnerville College of Domestic Science, the latter redesigned by Shanks in 1956.
102 The most prominent was the King George VI Hall, May Street (1958-60; now demolished), for which see 'Belfast's Fine New Youth Centre’, The Northern Whig and Belfast Post, 29 January 1960, p. 7.Google Scholar
103 Belfast News-Letter, 2 January 1962, pp. 4 (obituary) and 10 (notice of death). His address at the time was 18 Wood Lane, Highgate, London N6.
104 McNeilly, 50 Years, p. 33. In addition to these six assistants Wilshere was also recorded as having a typist in 1930, and a graded clerk and a maintenance surveyor in 1939. His personal control of all aspects of design was emphasized by his successor Donald Shanks in conversation with the author this article, but the precise roles of the assistants are not known.
105 Such as ‘School Planning’, a talk delivered to Belfast Rotary Club, reported in Belfast News-Letter, 17 October 1928, p.12; ‘The development of the modern school plan’, Irish Architect and Builder, 1 (April 1934), pp. 8–9 Google Scholar; Wilshere, , ‘The Quest for the ideal Classroom’, pp. 30–32 Google Scholar; ‘The Public Elementary School’, a talk delivered to the Architectural Association of Ireland, Dublin, in The Irish Builder and Engineer, 80 (5 March 1938), p. 180 et sea., and 19 March, p. 229; and ‘Modern School Buildings', pp. 459-64; and Architects’ journal, 105 (19 June 1947), pp. 525-26. Amongst other subjects was ‘Modern Architecture in Central Europe’, a talk delivered to the Royal Society of Ulster Architects following a tour with the Third International Reunion of Architects in September 1935, reported in ‘Modern Architecture’, Belfast News-Letter, 7 February 1936, p. 5. In relation to this tour, and Wilshere's views on European architecture, see also ‘Functionalism in Continental Architecture. A chat with Mr Wilshere, F.R.I.B.A.', The Irish Builder and Engineer, 78 (21 March 1936), pp. 227-28.
106 Wilshere, , ‘The Quest for the Ideal Classroom', pp. 30–32 Google Scholar, and ‘Modern School Buildings’, pp. 459-64. The National Institute for Industrial Psychology was founded in 1921 by Dr Charles Myers, Director of the Cambridge Psychological Laboratory, an organization for the study of industry and commerce. It ceased operations in 1976.
107 Wilshere, R.S., ‘The Public Elementary School’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 80 (5 March 1938), pp. 180 Google Scholar et sea., from which subsequent quotes here on the Luton, Lyndhurst, and News Chronicle designs are taken.
108 For the premiated designs, see ‘The Luton Competition’, Architects’ Journal, 83 (25 June 1936), pp. 972–80Google Scholar. For the completed winning building, see ‘Luton Modern School for Bpys', Design and Construction, 9 (January 1939), pp. 18, 20-21.Google Scholar
109 See Hill, Oliver, ‘Lyndhurst Grove L.C.C. Elementary Junior Mixed’, Design and Construction, 7 (December 1936), pp. 63–66 Google Scholar; and Wright and Gardner-Medwin, Nursery and Elementary Schools, p. 56.Google ScholarPubMed
110 See ‘News Chronicle Schools Competition’, Architects’ Journal, 85 (25 March 1937), pp. 511–44 (pp. 517-20)Google Scholar; and Wright and Gardner-Medwin, Nursery and Elementary Schools, pp. 9, 78-79.Google ScholarPubMed
111 Wilshere, , ‘Modern School Buildings’, p. 462.Google Scholar
112 As reported in ‘Belfast's Schools’ (n. 30), p. 1090.
113 He was elected a member of the RIBA Council for the years 1933-37, was twice elected to the presidency of the Royal Society of Ulster Architecture (for the periods 1935-36 and 1954-55), and was twice appointed as assessor for important architectural competitions in Northern Ireland, namely the Belfast Municipal Sanatorium in 1933 (unbuilt) and the Whitla Memorial Hall at Methodist College, Belfast in 1934.
114 ‘New R.S.U.A. President’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 77 (15 June 1935), p. 513.Google ScholarPubMed
115 ‘School-Building in Belfast’, The Irish Builder and Engineer, 70 (4 February 1928), p. 86.Google Scholar
116 ‘Three Belfast Schools’, The Brick Builder, 54 (June 1939), p. 28.Google Scholar
117 The series has unfortunately been depleted by demolitions which include Grosvenor, Finiston, Argyle, Grove, Edenderry Nursery, Charters Memorial, and Wheatfield (partial). One later development which affected all his pre-war schools, and those of Davies, was the decision to fill in the open verandahs in the 1960s and 1970s, something which had been suggested as early as 1937 but which Wilshere had resisted. The outstanding quality of Wilshere's work overall has, however, been officially recognized by the statutory listing by the government of a number of examples. These are, with official grades in parentheses, Fane Street (Bi), Mersey Street (Bi), Glenwood (B2), MountcoUyer, later known as Currie (B2), Strandtown (B+), Linfield (Bi), Elmgrove (B+), Seaview (B2), Avoniel (Bi). Nettlefield (Bi), Edenbrooke (B2), McQuiston, later known as School of Music (Bi), The Model, later known as Cliftonville (Bi), Botanic (Bi), and Sydenham (Bi, but now demolished). W.G. Davies's first two schools have also been listed for their historical significance, namely Templemore Avenue, later known as Rupert Stanley College (Bi), and Euston Street (Bi).