William Eden Tatton Brown (13 October 1910 - 2 February 1997) was an English

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. From 1959, he was the first chief architect to the UK's Ministry of Health, taking charge of large-scale hospital building until the mid-1970s.

Early career

William Tatton Brown was born on 13 October 1910 at

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, the son of Eden Tatton Brown, head of the Egyptian Customs Services and Pauline Stewart-Jones. The family lived in Egypt for some years before returning to England.Obituary: William Tatton Brown, ''The Times'', February 1997 William Tatton Brown then went to a school in

Rottingdean Rottingdean is a village in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. It borders the villages of Saltdean, Ovingdean and Woodingdean, and has a historic centre, often the subject of picture postcards. Name The name Rottingde ...

before attending

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin *Wellington College, Wellington, New Z ...

."Obituary: William Eden TATTON BROWN", ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

, 26 February 1997 Tatton Brown studied at the

Architectural Association The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in the world. Its wide-ranging programme ...

in 1928, then studied history at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, spending his final year studying architecture under

Hugh Casson Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson (23 May 1910 – 15 August 1999) was a British architect. He was also active as an interior designer, as an artist, and as a writer and broadcaster on twentieth-century design. He was the director of architecture for t ...

. Through Cambridge contacts in the

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

movement, he secured employment in France with architect

André Lurçat André Lurçat (August 27, 1894 – July 11, 1970) was a French modernist architect, landscape architect, furniture designer, city planner, and founding member of CIAM. He was active in the rebuilding in French cities after World War II. He was th ...

, an ardent

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. Tatton Brown returned to London in 1934 to work in the

Haymarket Haymarket may refer to: Places Australia * Haymarket, New South Wales, area of Sydney, Australia Germany * Heumarkt (KVB), transport interchange in Cologne on the site of the Heumarkt (literally: hay market) Russia * Sennaya Square (''Hay Squ ...

office of the radical architectural practice

Tecton The Tecton Group was a radical architectural group co-founded by Berthold Lubetkin, Francis Skinner, Denys Lasdun, Michael Dugdale, Anthony Chitty, Val Harding, Godfrey Samuel, and Lindsay Drake in 1932 and disbanded in 1939. The group was one ...

, founded by

Berthold Lubetkin Berthold Romanovich Lubetkin (14 December 1901 – 23 October 1990) was a Georgian-British architecture, architect who pioneered International style (architecture), modernist design in Britain in the 1930s. His work includes the Highpoint I, Hi ...

, where he worked on the Penguin Pool at

London Zoo London Zoo, also known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for science, scientific study. In 1831 o ...

and was job architect for the influential

Highpoint Highpoint can refer to: *Highpoint, Florida, an unincorporated community near Tampa Bay *Highpoint Shopping Centre in Melbourne, Australia *Highpoint (building), an apartment building in London, United Kingdom. *Highpoint I, a set of 1930s apartment ...

flats in

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisati ...

. An active member of late 1930s Modernist circles, he was a British delegate to the International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM). In 1936, Tatton Brown, his wife Aileen, and Hubert de Cronin Hastings (Architectural Press proprietor) formed a three-strong 'Town Planning Committee' within CIAM exploring ideas related to 'linear cities'; Tatton Brown subsequently presented a paper based on the work, ''The Theory of Contacts and its Application to the Future of London'', at the CIAM V Congress in Paris in September 1937. However, this work was subsequently regarded as a "a preliminary survey of London by a section of the MARS Group", and a new and larger Town Planning Committee was convened under

Arthur Korn Arthur Korn (20 May 1870 – 21 December/22 December 1945) was a German physicist, mathematician and inventor. He was involved in the development of the fax machine, specifically the transmission of photographs or telephotography, known as the B ...

's leadership in December 1937 to produce a revised plan for London under the auspices of the

MARS Group The Modern Architectural Research Group, or MARS Group, was a British architectural think tank founded in 1933 by several prominent architects and architectural critics of the time involved in the British modernist movement. The MARS Group came afte ...

which exhibited the initial city ideas at its

New Burlington Galleries The New Burlington Galleries was an art gallery at 5 Burlington Gardens, Mayfair, London. From 11 June to 4 July 1936, they held the ''International Surrealist Exhibition'', the first full exhibition of surrealist art in the UK. From 7 June to 28 ...

exhibition in 1938. In the same year, Tatton Brown set up in independent practice, then formed a partnership with

Lionel Brett Sir Lionel Brett (19 August 1911 – 10 September 1990) was an expatriate Solicitor General of Nigeria who later became a Justice of the Supreme Court in 1958. Brett was born in Belfast, the son of Henry Robert Brett and Constance White. He was ...

, later Lord Esher.

Post-war career

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Tatton Brown joined the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

and served in India and Burma. After the war, he returned to the Architectural Association, to study

town planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

, and then joined the new

Ministry of Town and Country Planning Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

, working with, among others, Casson,

Percy Johnson-Marshall Percy Edwin Alan Johnson-Marshall Order of St Michael and St George, CMG (20 January 1915 – 14 July 1993) was a British urban designer, regional planning, regional planner and academic. Born in India, he was educated at Liverpool University ...

and

Peter Shepheard Sir Peter Faulkner Shepheard FRTPI FILA (11 November 1913 – 11 April 2002) was a British architect and landscape architect. Biography He was born in Oxton, Birkenhead and educated at Birkenhead School. His father was an architect. He a ...

. In 1948, Tatton Brown was appointed Deputy County Architect for

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, leading the county's school building programme. Despite severe post-war materials shortages, he led a team of talented architects including David and Mary Medd to deliver prefabricated buildings combining lightweight structures, panels and tubular steel trusses. In 1959, Tatton Brown became the first Chief Architect to the Ministry of Health, overseeing a department of over 120 architects managing a large-scale hospital building programme through to the mid-1970s. He was awarded CB in the

1965 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1965 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lond ...

, and was a member of the Construction Research Advisory Council established in 1967. Despite officially retiring in 1971, he continued to work for several years, and in 1985, a book he co-wrote with Paul James, ''Hospitals: Design and Development'', was published.

Works

*Chilston Grange,

Winkfield Winkfield is a village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest unitary authority of Berkshire, England. Geography According to the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 14,998. The parish includes the hamlets of Winkfield, Maidens Green ...

, near

Ascot, Berkshire Ascot () is a town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is south of Windsor, east of Bracknell and west of London. It is most notable as the location of Ascot Racecourse, home of the Royal Ascot meeting, ...

(1940; with Lionel Brett)Building 2814
''UK Modern House Index''. Accessed: 28 February 2023. *Stratton's Tower refurbishment,

Little Berkhamsted Little Berkhamsted is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, five miles south-west of the town of Hertford. The village is in a hilly location, some 120 metres (400 feet) above sea level. It has a row of weather-boarded cottage ...

(1971) *

Greenwich District Hospital Greenwich District Hospital was an acute district general hospital situated in the Maze Hill district of Greenwich, London. It was built in the 1960s on the site of St Alfege's Hospital, Greenwich, on the east side of Vanbrugh Hill, south of i ...

(1972)

Personal life

In 1936 Tatton Brown married Aileen Sparrow, a former pupil of

Leslie Martin Sir John Leslie Martin (17 August 1908, in Manchester – 28 July 2000) was an English architect, and a leading advocate of the International Style. Martin's most famous building is the Royal Festival Hall. His work was especially influenced ...

and one of three women working at Tecton. They lived initially in fellow architect

Jane Drew Dame Jane Drew , (24 March 1911 – 27 July 1996) was an English modernist architect and town planner. She qualified at the Architectural Association School in London, and prior to World War II became one of the leading exponents of the Modern ...

's house in

Woburn Square Woburn Square is the smallest of the Bloomsbury squares and owned by the University of London. Designed by Thomas Cubitt and built between 1829 and 1847, it is named after Woburn Abbey, the main country seat of the Dukes of Bedford, who develope ...

. They later lived in

Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town ...

, and had four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tatton Brown, William 1910 births People from Lewes People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire Alumni of King's College, Cambridge English architects British Army personnel of World War II Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture People from Berkhamsted 1997 deaths Modernist architects from England