LONG CAREER AS ARCHITECT

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26117, 20 May 1950, Page 3

LONG CAREER AS ARCHITECT

Achievements of Mr A. G. Henderson CHILDHOOD SPENT IN NEW ZEALAND (From the London Correspondent of "The Press") LONDON. May 4. For the first time in.its long history an architect who is not a native of England has been elected president of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He is Mr A. G. Henderson, A.R.S.A., F.R.1.8.A., tvho was born in Auckland. However, Mr Henderson to-day regards himself more a Scot than a New Zealander, for he left Auckland in 1897 with his family when he was only nine years of age. He now speaks with a pronounced but pleasant Scottish accent. "Of course I still have many pleasant memories of the green fields about Mount Eden where we lived,” said Mr

Henderson, “but my most vivid memory is being carried from our burning house wrapped in a blanket Perhaps that is one of the reasons, I favour brick houses so much to-day.” Since he left New Zealand Mr Henderson has lived in Glasgow where he is no wa senior partner in the oldestablished firm of Keppie, Henderson, and Gleave. An earlier partner, with whom he worked, was the famous Mr Charles Rennie Mackintosh whose advanced buildings caused a revolution in European design during the 1890’s. Probably the best known of Mr Henderson’s work is the Vale of Leven Trading Estate, a model housing and industrial scheme for light industries in the Glasgow area. He has also built up a sound reputation for his designs for schools, banks, and shops in and about Glasgow. He was elected an Associate member of the R.1.8.A.-in 1910 and a Fellow in 1931. From 1933-34 he was president of the Glasgow Institute of Architects and he held a similar office with the Royal Incorporation of Architects' in Scotland from 1946-47. A talented water colour painter until he was severely wounded in his right arm in 1916, Mr Henderson has always taken a keen interest in art,- and in 1943 was elected an associate member of the Royal Scottish Academy.

Modem Building Problems Speaking of difficulties in the building industry to-day, he shid that the greatest problem was the lack of timber and of good quality materials. New techniques employing prestressed concrete, high tensile steel, aluminium and glass were interesting post-war developments, he continued, but in his opinion the common brick was still unsurpassed for houses and was likely to remain so for many years. He thought costs had reached a peak. With increased competition in industry, they might now be expected to decline slightly. Of his election as president of the R.1.8.A. Mr Henderson said: “I feel that in electing, an architect from Scotland who was born in New Zealand, the institute has made a gesture to emphasise the wide bonds that tie its members together. These wide bonds, which extend to the daughter associations in the Dominions, can do much to bridge international barriers.”