Anthony Minoprio

Fairacres, Roehampton

Charles Anthony Minoprio (1900–1988) was a British architect and town planner. Much of his early work was in partnership with Hugh Spencely (1900–1983), a friend since they attended Harrow School together. Later he worked more as a town planner, particularly the New Town of Crawley.

## Early life and education

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Minoprio went to Harrow School and the University of Oxford, then studied for five years[1] at the University of Liverpool's School of Architecture, where he obtained a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1925 and an MA three years later.[2] His Beaux-Arts training informed his later work on designing "visually striking" town plans.[3] His architectural training also came in Liverpool under Charles Herbert Reilly, "a believer in grand neoclassical designs of wide avenues".[4] This influenced his views on the importance of good architecture being an integral part of the town planning process and an important feature in a town's civic pride.[4] He worked for a few months at an architectural firm in New York, then was awarded a scholarship to the British School at Rome to study architecture. He went into architectural practice in 1928 and initially worked on commissions for country houses.[1]

## Career highlights

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In 1932, Minoprio and Spencely designed an extension to the Royal School for the Blind, Liverpool, founded in 1791 by Edward Rushton.[5] Four years later, they designed Fairacres, Roehampton, a Grade II listed four-storey apartment block at Roehampton Lane, Roehampton, London.[6] It was built for the property developer Charles Kearley. The block of 64 flats in a semi-elliptical arc is modern in style with 1930s curved walls, but traditional in construction. It has been very little altered since being built.[6] The two architects worked together again between 1944 and 1946 when they produced an outline plan for the postwar redevelopment of Worcester. Their plans showed extensive areas of open space and parkland, especially around the cathedral, and a combined shopping centre and bus station, among other features.[7]

## Post-war work

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Minoprio was heavily involved with town planning after World War II, both in England and elsewhere. In September 1944 he prepared a survey and plan for the redevelopment of part of the Essex county town, Chelmsford. He proposed major changes to the town centre, which he considered to be "of no particular architectural merit", and a riverside civic centre with surrounding open space reminiscent of Oxford and Cambridge.[8] The "somewhat grandiose vision" was completed by two major new roads and ten residential "neighbourhood units".[9] Nothing came of the plan, but elements of it made their way into the 1952 Development Plan for the County of Essex which guided Chelmsford's later development.[10]

Three years later, Crawley Development Corporation appointed him as consultant planner in place of Thomas Wilfred Sharp after the latter's sudden decision to resign soon after submitting his master plan—"an extraordinary decision [... which was] never completely explained".[11] By June 1947 Minoprio had prepared a new draft plan, and this was approved and published in December 1947.[12] This time, Minoprio's vision of a carefully planned and balanced community was seen through to its conclusion by the Development Corporation[11] under the leadership of its "dogmatic and highly successful" chairman Thomas Bennett.[13] Crawley is now much larger than originally anticipated: the plan's target population of 50,000 was exceeded within 13 years of work beginning,[14] and there are now more than 105,000 residents.[15] Nevertheless, the town's design and layout remain substantially similar to Minoprio's plan.[16]

Minoprio worked again with Spencely and another town planner, Peter Macfarlane, on master plans for several cities outside England in the 1950s and 1960s. They designed plans for Kuwait City in 1951, Baghdad in 1956, Dhaka in 1959 and Chittagong in 1961.[1][17]

Back in England, Minoprio later designed the Whitgift Centre, a large split-level shopping centre in Croydon. The development was built between 1965 and 1970 by Fitzroy Robinson & Partners. Architectural historians Ian Nairn and Nikolaus Pevsner stated that "most of the architectural details are banal, but the centre functions unusually well as a shopping precinct".[18]

## Publications

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Minoprio published the following works:[19][20]

* The minor domestic architecture of Gloucestershire (1931, with Arthur T. Broadbent)
* A Restoration of the Basilica of Constantine, Rome (1932)
* Chelmsford Planning Survey 1945: a Survey and Plan for Chelmsford Borough and Rural District (1945)
* An Outline Development Plan for the County of the City of Worcester (1946, with Hugh Spencely)
* The Town and Country Planning Act, 1947 Administration in Counties: Together With the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947 Delegation to County Districts (1948, with G.N.C. Swift and C.W. Seddon)
* A master plan for Crawley new town (1949)

## References

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1. ^ a b c Thomas, W.H.J. (30 March 1972). "Englishman Says Planning Lags Needs". The News and Courier. Evening Post Publishing Co. p. 11C. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
2. ^ Larkham 2007, p. 118, note 38.
3. ^ Larkham 2007, p. 105.
4. ^ a b Lescenko Fuller & Home 2007, p. 14.
5. ^ "The Blind School Extension". Friends of Liverpool Monuments. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
6. ^ a b Historic England. "Fairacres (1065482)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
7. ^ "Worcester City – the 1946 plan to redevelop the city (slideshow)". BBC Hereford and Worcester website. BBC News. 11 January 2011. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
8. ^ Lescenko Fuller & Home 2007, p. 16.
9. ^ Lescenko Fuller & Home 2007, p. 17.
10. ^ Lescenko Fuller & Home 2007, p. 19.
11. ^ a b Gwynne 1990, p. 157.
12. ^ Hudson, T. P., ed. (1987). "A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 3 – Bramber Rape (North-Eastern Part) including Crawley New Town. Crawley New Town". Victoria County History of Sussex. British History Online. pp. 74–75. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
13. ^ Gwynne 1990, pp. 159–160.
14. ^ Gwynne 1990, p. 168.
15. ^ "Area: Crawley (Local Authority) – Population Density, 2011 (QS102EW)". 2011 UK Census statistics for Crawley. Office for National Statistics. 30 January 2013. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
16. ^ Gray 1983, p. 17.
17. ^ Ward 2010, pp. 61–62.
18. ^ Nairn & Pevsner 1971, pp. 118–119.
19. ^ "Books " "Anthony Minoprio"". Amazon.com. 1996–2014. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
20. ^ Minoprio, Anthony (2012). A Restoration of the Basilica of Constantine, Rome.

## Bibliography

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* Gray, Fred, ed. (1983). Crawley: Old Town, New Town. Paper No. 18 (Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex ed.). Falmer: University of Sussex. ISBN 0-904242-21-8.
* Gwynne, Peter (1990). A History of Crawley. Chichester: Phillimore & Company. ISBN 0-85033-718-6.
* Larkham, Peter J. (2007). "Chapter 6 – Selling the future city: images in UK post-war reconstruction plans". In Boyd Whyte, Iain (ed.). Man-Made Future: Planning, education and design in mid-twentieth-century Britain. Routledge. pp. 99–121. ISBN 978-0-203-00395-4.
* Lescenko Fuller, Ana; Home, Robert (2007). "On the planning history of Chelmsford" (PDF). Papers in Land Management. 9. Cambridge: Anglia Ruskin University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 December 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
* Nairn, Ian; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1971) [1962]. The Buildings of England: Surrey (2nd ed.). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-300-09675-5.
* Ward, Stephen V. (2010). "Chapter 3 – Transnational planners in a postcolonial world". In Healey, Patsy; Upton, Robert (eds.). Crossing Borders: International exchange and planning practices. Routledge. pp. 47–72. ISBN 978-0-203-85708-3.

* v
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Crawley, West Sussex

Administration|

* Constituency
* Local Elections
* MP: Henry Smith
* Public services

The New Town|

* Crawley Development Corporation
* Thomas Bennett
* Anthony Minoprio

Neighbourhoods
and other areas|

* Bewbush
* Broadfield
* Fernhill
* Forge Wood
* Furnace Green
* Gossops Green
* Ifield
* Langley Green
* Lowfield Heath
* Maidenbower
* Manor Royal Industrial
* Northgate
* Pound Hill
* Southgate
* Three Bridges
* Tilgate
* Tinsley Green
* West Green
* Worth

Geography|

* Gatwick Stream
* River Mole

Transport|

* Crawley Station
* Gatwick Airport Station
* Ifield Station
* Three Bridges Station
* M23 motorway
* A23 road
* Metrobus
* Fastway
* Gatwick Airport
* Timeline
* Proposed expansion

Education|

* Central Sussex College
* Ifield Community College
* The Gatwick School
* Hazelwick School
* Holy Trinity School
* Oriel High School
* St Wilfrid's School
* Thomas Bennett Community College
* Schools in Crawley, West Sussex

Places of worship|

* Friary Church of St Francis and St Anthony
* Ifield Friends Meeting House
* St John the Baptist's Church
* St Margaret's Church
* St Michael and All Angels Church
* St Nicholas' Church

Buildings|

* Ancient Priors
* Brewery Shades
* Broadfield House
* Charlwood House
* City Place Gatwick
* Crawley Hospital
* Dyers Almshouses
* George Hotel
* Ifield Water Mill
* Old Punch Bowl
* The Beehive
* Town Hall
* Tree House
* White Hart Inn

Heritage|

* Conservation areas
* Listed buildings
* Locally listed buildings

Leisure|

* Broadfield Stadium
* Celtic and Irish Cultural Society
* Crawley and District Football League
* Crawley Rugby Club
* Crawley Town F.C.
* Hawth Theatre
* Tilgate Nature Centre
* Tilgate Park
* Worth Park Gardens
* Worth Way

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