Owen Williams (1890-1969)
Evan Owen Williams was born in Tottenham in 1890, to a Welsh mother and father who had moved to North London to open a grocers shop. While serving an apprenticeship at the Metropolitan Electric Tramways Company, Williams studied Engineering by night class, eventually earning first class honours, before going to work for two engineering firms, Indented Bar & Concrete Engineering and then Trussed Steel Engineering. It was at these companies that Williams got to use and experiment with reinforced concrete, and explore its architectural possibilities. The first known building he was involved with was the Gramophone Factory in Hayes in 1913.
After the war Williams set up his own company and became involved in a project that would end up gaining him a Knighthood, the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley. Williams was chosen by the exhibition chief designer, Maxwell Ayrton, to assist in the creation of the Palaces of Industry, Engineering and Art. These buildings were not modernist in design, but were pioneering in terms of their concrete construction. Williams designed some of the most enduring modernist buildings of the 1920s and 30s; The Daily Express Building in Fleet Street, The Empire Pool at Wembley, the Boots Factory in Beeston and the Pioneer Health Centre in Peckham.
Williams' career never picked up the same momentum of the early thirties, although two of his greatest buildings would be built after the Second War War, the BOAC Maintenance HQ (1955) and the Daily Mirror building (1961), as well as the creation of the M1 motorway. Williams retired in 1966, with his son, also Owen taking over the company. Owen Sr died in 1969 in Hemel Hempstead.
Featured Buildings: Dollis Hill Synagogue, Empire Pool, Gramophone Building, Odhams Press, Palace of Industry, Warren Fields
See Also- British Empire Exhibition, Empire Pool, Owen Williams: The Concrete King
After the war Williams set up his own company and became involved in a project that would end up gaining him a Knighthood, the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley. Williams was chosen by the exhibition chief designer, Maxwell Ayrton, to assist in the creation of the Palaces of Industry, Engineering and Art. These buildings were not modernist in design, but were pioneering in terms of their concrete construction. Williams designed some of the most enduring modernist buildings of the 1920s and 30s; The Daily Express Building in Fleet Street, The Empire Pool at Wembley, the Boots Factory in Beeston and the Pioneer Health Centre in Peckham.
Williams' career never picked up the same momentum of the early thirties, although two of his greatest buildings would be built after the Second War War, the BOAC Maintenance HQ (1955) and the Daily Mirror building (1961), as well as the creation of the M1 motorway. Williams retired in 1966, with his son, also Owen taking over the company. Owen Sr died in 1969 in Hemel Hempstead.
Featured Buildings: Dollis Hill Synagogue, Empire Pool, Gramophone Building, Odhams Press, Palace of Industry, Warren Fields
See Also- British Empire Exhibition, Empire Pool, Owen Williams: The Concrete King