The first of the Atkinson dynasty of architects was Peter Atkinson senior (1735-1805). Atkinson had been Principal Assistant to York's most important Georgian architect, John Carr (1723-1807), and his family line carried on this legacy. Atkinson took his son, another Peter (c.1776-1843) into partnership in 1801. Peter Atkinson junior then took his elder son, John Bownas Atkinson (1807-74), into partnership in 1831. Due to a "financial crisis" in 1832 (see Hall), this partnership only lasted until 1833, but then John Bownas went into partnership with his younger brother William (1811-86) in 1837. Although the architectural scene had changed now, and was no longer dominated by any one partnership (see Nuttgens 94), these two, as J. B. and W. Atkinson, were certainly among the most prolific architects in York during the Victorian period, "producing many accomplished Classical buildings and a few less-assured Gothic churches" (Pevsner and Neave 90). The partners were joined in 1877 by James Demaine (1842-1911), who carried the practice forward into the Edwardian period. — Jacqueline Banerjee

Works

Church Restorations

Note: Only the first one in this list provides a link to more material.

Bibliography

Hall, Ivan. "Atkinson, Peter (bap. 1780, d. 1843), architect." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Web. 28 November 2020.

Nuttgens, Patrick. York: The Continuing City. York: Maxiprint, 1989.

Pevsner, Nikolaus, and David Neave. Yorkshire: York and the East Riding. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002.


Last modified 15 May 2023