Form & Fancy - Factories and Factory Buildings by Wallis, Gilbert & Partners 1916-1939

In 1916 Thomas Wallis founded a new practice, Wallis, Gilbert & Partners, primarily to collaborate with an American company in the design of factories to be constructed of reinforced concrete. Up to this time, the designing of factories was not popular among architects and many manufacturers regarded the employment of an architect as a wanton extravagance. They became designers of factories and some of the best known inter-war industrial buildings Firestone, Hoover, The Gramophone Company, Glaxo Laboratories to name only a few were their work.