Biography

William McKenzie Angus was born in Naseby in 1883. At age 14 he moved to Wellington to work as a blacksmith but changed to carpentry and worked in several North Island centres before coming to Napier in approximately 1907. He founded the firm W M Angus Ltd in 1923, with approximately 4-5 employees. At the time of his death in July 1968 the firm had 200 employees. His first major job in Napier, the Chief Post Office, withstood the 1931 Hawkes Bay earthquake as did the other buildings he had erected in Napier by this time. (Registration Report for the Waiapu Diocesan Office Building and Synod Hall, 2008).

Name

Angus, William McKenzie

Type

Builder

Biography

The firm of Atkins and Bacon was established in Wellington in 1908 by Alfred Atkins (1850-1919) and Roger Bacon. Cyril Hawthorn Mitchell (1891-1949) was taken on as a draughtsman in 1909 and became a partner in 1918. This partnership was shortlived, however, as Roger Bacon moved to Blenheim owing to failing health and Alfred Atkins died in 1919 leaving the young Mitchell on his own. C.H. Mitchell built up the firm of Atkins and Mitchell, renaming it Mitchell and Mitchell when joined by his brother Allan Hawthorn Mitchell (d.-1973) in 1932. The firm of Mitchell and Mitchell continues today as Gooch Mitchell Macdiarmid. During his time in the firm (1909-1949) C.H. Mitchell was responsible for such buildings as the Commercial Travellers Club Building (1929), the Waterloo Hotel (1936), the Central Fire Station (1935) M.L.C. Building, 33-37 Hunter Street, (1940). He was architect to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and studied the construction of banking chambers in Europe.

Name

Atkins & Mitchell

Type

Architectural Partnership