Charles Geoffrey Boutcher (1884–1964) was a London-born architect and a partner of the

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

Ipoh , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Ipoh in Perak , pushpin_map = #Malaysia#Asia#Earth , pushpin_mapsize = 275px , pushpin_map_caption = Ipoh in Malaysia , coordinates ...

and

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...

architectural firm, Stark & McNeill, in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. His most recognized project is the construction of the

Zahir Mosque The Zahir Mosque ( ms, Masjid Zahir) is a mosque in Alor Setar, Kota Setar, Kedah, Malaysia, and the state mosque of the state of Kedah. The Zahir Mosque is one of the grandest and oldest mosques in Malaysia, having been built in 1912. The Z ...

Alor Setar Alor Setar ( Jawi: الور ستار, Kedahan: ''Loqstaq'') is the state capital of Kedah, Malaysia. It is the second-largest city in the state after Sungai Petani and one of the most-important cities on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia ...

. In 1932, he started his own practice under the name of Boutcher & Co., located at 9 Weld Quay, Penang. Boutcher & Co. was the sole Penang-based architectural company to have been resuscitated after the European war. Boutcher also had offices at 19 Beach Street in Penang and at 21 Hale Street in

Ipoh , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Ipoh in Perak , pushpin_map = #Malaysia#Asia#Earth , pushpin_mapsize = 275px , pushpin_map_caption = Ipoh in Malaysia , coordinates ...

. The practice was terminated only after Boutcher retired in 1953.

Education

Boutcher studied at the Central School of Arts and Crafts and at the City of London College. He was certified in advanced geometry, architectural perspective, honours building construction, land surveying, mathematics, quantity surveying. In 1906, he studied a fourth-year course at the Architectural Association. He became the secretary of the Architectural Association's Camera, Sketch and Debate Club.

Career

His first workplace was the office of T. Hamilton, Crawford and George Jack. As from 1907, he worked with Leonard Stokes, Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He started his own practice at 40 Great James Street, Bedford Row,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

from 1909 to 1913. In 1910 he was appointed an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He went to Malaysia in 1913 and joined the Public Works Department (PWD) in Kedah. He designed various buildings in

, Kedah, among which are: the

, the Residence of the President of the State Council, English schools, hospitals, the Kedah Club buildings, the Central Market, government bungalows, the Central Police Station, government officers' quarters, the bridge approach, shophouses, Indian Club buildings. In 1920, he obtain a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) accreditation.

Partner architects

*John Mackie Venters:''John Mackie Venters''
Dictionary of Scottish Architects, 2014. Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects *Weng-Kuan Chan: Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects, Associate member of the Institute of Architects Malaya; partner at Ipoh atelier *Chiao Venzoong: Shanghai-born architectural assistant *M.P. Holmberg: Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects *Arthur Mylo: former partner of Stark & McNeill *V.R. Savi: Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects *George M. Davidson: Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects

References

1884 births 1964 deaths 20th-century Scottish architects Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects Associates of the Royal Institute of British Architects {{UK-architect-stub