William Keay (1869-1952) was an English

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

and

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 ...

particularly associated with works in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

Career

Born in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, Keay began his career as a civil engineer working with Everard, Son and Pick from 1911, while also developing his own partnership and extending into architecture (a member of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

, he was also eventually elected a fellow of Royal Institution of British Architects). In 1923 his practice merged with the Pick Everard practice, which was joined by Martin Gimson in 1925 to become Pick, Everard, Keay and Gimson (since 1991 known as

Pick Everard Pick Everard is a UK based multi-disciplinary consultancy, operating primarily in the built environment. They offer services including Architecture, BIM services, Building services engineering, Civil engineering, Cost and commercial management, En ...

). Keay was also county architect for

Leicestershire County Council Leicestershire County Council is the county council for the English non-metropolitan county of Leicestershire. It was originally formed in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888. The county is divided into 52 electoral divisions, which return a to ...

with an office in the medieval Castle House in the Leicester Castle Close. In this role, his projects included: *extensions to Carlton Hayes Hospital (1930s) *the County Offices on the corner of Friar Lane and Greyfriars, Leicester (1936) *

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England. It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in the administrative county of Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughbor ...

police station (1937) *Hinckley cottage hospital extensions (1936-9) *St John's church, Coventry Road, Hinckley (1948) Other works included: *overall planning and early buildings of the

Leicester University , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...

College campus, including Wyggeston boys and girls grammar schools (from 1921) *Holy Apostles Church on Fosse Road South (1923-4) *assistance to Sir

Charles Nicholson Sir Charles Nicholson, 1st Baronet (23 November 1808 – 8 November 1903) was an English-Australian politician, university founder, explorer, pastoralist, antiquarian and philanthropist. The Nicholson Museum at the University of Sydney is nam ...

on work at

Leicester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Martin, Leicester, commonly known as Leicester Cathedral, is a Church of England cathedral in Leicester, England and the seat of the Bishop of Leicester. The church was elevated to a collegiate church in 1922 ...

(1927) *St Christopher’s Church in Marriott Road, Leicester (1928 – now the Church Hall) *an extension to

Ernest Gimson Ernest William Gimson (; 21 December 1864 – 12 August 1919) was an English furniture designer and architect. Gimson was described by the art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest of the English architect-designers". Today his reputatio ...

’s “Inglewood” in Ratcliffe Road, Leicester (1930) During the 1930s, he made a detailed record and carried out archaeological excavations on the site of

Ulverscroft Priory Ulverscroft Priory is a former hermitage and priory in Ulverscroft, Leicestershire. History The priory was founded by Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester, in 1139, as a hermitage for eremites of the Order of St Augustine. Before 1174, fol ...

Charnwood Forest Charnwood Forest is a hilly tract in north-western Leicestershire, England, bounded by Leicester, Loughborough and Coalville. The area is undulating, rocky and picturesque, with barren areas. It also has some extensive tracts of woodland; i ...

. He lived for a time in Glenfield at a house called "The Gynsills" (now a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

), formerly owned by the Ellis family associated with the

Bardon Hill Bardon Hill is the highest Hill in Leicestershire and on a clear day the Malvern and Shropshire Hills (approx. 50–60 miles), summits in Derbyshire (approx. 30–40 miles) and Lincoln Cathedral (almost 50 miles away) can be seen. However, ...

quarrying business, Ellis and Everard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keay, William 1869 births 1952 deaths Architects from Leicester People from Glenfield, Leicestershire