Atkins & Mitchell

Atkins and Mitchell, and later Mitchell and Mitchell were part of a dynasty of practices that were active in Wanganui and then Wellington from 1883 to c.1996.  The Wanganui practice of Atkins and Clere (1883 – 1888) became Atkins and Bacon in 1907 when Alfred Atkins (1850-1919) moved to Wellington and formed a partnership with Roger Bacon (?-1959).

Cyril Hawthorn Mitchell (1891-1949) was taken on as a draughtsman in 1909. He qualified as an architect and engineer in London in 1913, gaining experience in England during the war in the erection of large steel framed buildings. He re-joined Atkins & Bacon on his return to New Zealand in 1918 and was made a partner soon after. The partnership was short-lived, however, as Roger Bacon moved to Blenheim owing to failing health and Alfred Atkins died in 1919, leaving the young Mitchell on his own. C.H. Mitchell built up the firm of Atkins and Mitchell, renaming it Mitchell and Mitchell when joined by his brother Allan Hawthorn Mitchell (d. 1973) in 1932. The firm Mitchell and Mitchell continued until about 1996 as Gooch Mitchell Macdiarmid.

During his time in the firm (1909-1949) C.H. Mitchell was responsible for such buildings as the Commercial Travellers Club Building (1929); the Waterloo Hotel (1936); the Central Fire Station (1935); and M.L.C. Building, 33-37 Hunter Street (1940). He was architect to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the National Bank, and he studied the construction of banking chambers in Europe. Examples of the firm’s work for the National Bank still stand in Masterton, (1924) Wanganui, (1929) and New Plymouth, (1939), as well as in Courtenay Place.

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

Sources:
C. H. Mitchell, Architect, 1891-1949, Barbara Fill, NZHPT
NZHPT Glossary
WCC Heritage Inventory 2001