CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
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 ...
and
town planner
An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning.
An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, town ...
who was chief architect for the new town of Crawley from 1947 to 1952 and was the first person to be appointed
City Architect of Birmingham
The City Architect of Birmingham was a high-ranking position within the Public Works department of Birmingham City Council and provided the holder with a lot of power in the planning decisions of Birmingham, especially in the post-war period in w ...
, where he remained from 1952 to 1964.
Life
Alwyn Gwilym Sheppard Fidler was born in Holywell, Flintshire on 8 May 1909. His father, William Ernest Fidler was a schoolteacher and his mother was Phoebe Maud, née Williams. He attended Holywell grammar school as a child. In 1927 he studied architecture under Charles Reilly and Patrick Abercrombie at the University of Liverpool.
Fidler married Margaret Isabella Kidner on 1 January 1936 at St Bride’s Parish Church, Liverpool. They had a son together. Fidler was appointed a
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
(CBE) in 1963. He died on 4 January 1990 of a cardiovascular disease.
Career
By 1937, Fidler had become chief architect to the
Land Settlement Association
The Land Settlement Association was a UK Government scheme set up in 1934, with help from the charities the Plunkett Foundation and the Carnegie Trust, to re-settle unemployed workers from depressed industrial areas,Carnegie Trust, designed to resettle the workers who had become unemployed when industry had taken a downturn. The following year he moved to be chief architect for
Barclay's Bank
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
.
After the outbreak of World War II, Fidler joined
Ministry of Home Security
The Ministry of Home Security was a British government department established in 1939 to direct national civil defence, primarily tasked with organising air raid precautions, during the Second World War. The Ministry for Home Security was headed ...
, where he served as a senior technical intelligence officer. He remained with the ministry until 1946. After leaving he became the chief architect for CrawleyNew Town.
In 1952, Fidler became the first
City Architect of Birmingham
The City Architect of Birmingham was a high-ranking position within the Public Works department of Birmingham City Council and provided the holder with a lot of power in the planning decisions of Birmingham, especially in the post-war period in w ...
, where he remained until 1964. He then set up his own practice, where he remained until 1974.