Sir Banister Fletcher - Practising Architect

Practising Architect

He trained at King's College, London and University College, London, and joined his father's practice in 1884, also studying at the Royal Academy Schools, the Architectural Association, and the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris. He became a partner in 1889, and on his father's death in 1899 took over the practice, which continued to be called Banister Fletcher & Sons. Fletcher worked closely with his younger brother Herbert Phillips Fletcher (1872–1916) as well as his father. Herbert was also a partner in the family firm and they co-authored some books together. He was "regarded as a minor figure in the modernist movement" in his early career, and generally preferred to write rather than design.

Banister's work as an architect included:

• the Gillette factory on the Great West Road, in Brentford, Middlesex
• John Roan School (Maze Hill site), Greenwich
• the Great Hall at King's College School
• Abbess Grange, Leckford, Hampshire

In 1908 he qualified as a barrister at the Inner Temple, and undertook arbitrations and advice on property matters.

He was knighted in 1919 and elected president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1929 (until 1931). Fletcher was surveyor to the Worshipful Company of Carpenters, and became Master in 1936, a position also held by his father. He married twice, in 1914 and in 1933 after his his first wife died, but had no children.