Atkins & Bacon

Atkins and Bacon was a Wanganui-based architectural practice that moved to Wellington in 1907.  It was one of Wellington’s longstanding architectural practices, and despite many changes in names and partnerships, remained in business until the mid-1990s.

Alfred Atkins (1850-1919) was born in Birmingham, England. He trained primarily as a civil engineer in England and, on his arrival in New Zealand in 1875, worked on railway construction in the Wanganui district. He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1886 and two years later became a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He set up practice in Wanganui in both professions and, during the 1880’s, was in partnership with Frederick de Jersey Clere.

When Atkins moved to Wellington in 1907, Roger Bacon (?-1959) joined him in practice and the firm of Atkins and Bacon was established. Roger Bacon had trained in London and appears to have moved to New Zealand in c.1907. Shortly after the partnership was founded, C.H. Mitchell (1891-1949) was taken on as a draughtsman.

The firm maintained a branch in Wanganui and designed buildings at Wanganui Collegiate School (including the School Block, House Block, Hall and the headmaster’s residence) between 1909 and 1919. Hospital designs by the firm included Cook Hospital, Gisborne (1911); Wairoa Hospital (1912); and the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for Children, Wellington (1912). The firm was responsible for several branch buildings for the Bank of Australasia around New Zealand and for a number of residences in Wellington. Atkin’s own house (1907) stands today at 4 Mariri Road, and is an excellent example of the restrained Arts and Crafts style that he used at this time.

Owing to failing health Roger Bacon left the firm and moved to Blenheim about 1918, and Alfred Atkins died in 1919. C.H. Mitchell had been made a partner in the firm in 1918. Mitchell re-established the firm as a leading one in Wellington, it being known first as Atkins & Mitchell, later Mitchell & Mitchell and then Gooch Mitchell Macdiarmid.

Image of Alfred Atkins: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, Vol.1, Wellington Provincial District, 1897, p1408

Sources:
Fill, Barbara. “C. H. Mitchell, Architect, 1891-1949”, NZHPT
Dictionary of Scottish Architects
F.W. Furkert, “Early New Zealand Engineers”, Reed, 1953
NZHPT Glossary
WCC Heritage Inventory 2001