BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Alexander Robert Hennell

March 14 1872 - February 19 1961

Royal Institute of British Architects (Fellow)
Island Arts & Crafts Society


A.R. Hennell was born in London, England, and was trained as an architect. He married Edith Rose Besson in England in 1905, and in 1906 he became a Fellow in the RIBA. By 1913 he was in practice in Victoria, with his wife remaining in England. She came to Victoria where their last son was born in 1917.

Interestingly, Alice Carr, the sister of Emily Carr was the Hennell's nanny, and remained lifelong friends with the family.

He exhibited with the Island Arts & Crafts Society from 1913 to 1917. In the 1917 exhibition Hennell entered a poster into a competition, but did not exhibit.

When World War One broke out, artist & architect William Ridgway Wilson made a partnership with Hennell while Wilson went into the army.

After the war Hennell moved to New York where he continued to work as an architect, and where he died in 1961. Prior to that, Alice Carr commissioned him to design a bridge that was built in Beacon Hill Park in honor of Emily Carr. It was dedicated February 10, 1953.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1913 Oct. 16 - 18 IACS Alexandra Club   4th Annual Near Ramsgate
Victoria Harbour
Tower of London
Selsea
Sandhills, Witley, Surrey
Interior Public Hall
Public Library, Forrest Hill
Mill Bay Hotel, Malahat Beach
1914 Nov. 19 - 21 IACS Alexandra Club   5th Annual Guilford, Surrey, England
Cowichan Bay
Cowichan Lake, B.C.
Loch Ranze, Isle of Arran
Riverside, the Pool
Riverside Inn, Cowichan River
Rain
Residence of H. Paterson, Oak Bay
On the Thames, Sunset
Residence of T.E. Pooley**
Residence of F.T. Marshall**
Copper Tray
Copper Cigarette Box
Copper Fender
Door-plate Letter Box
Copper Bowl
Copper Card Tray
Photo-Frame Copper and Oak
Copper Photo Frame
1915 Nov. 23 - 27 IACS Union Bank Bldg.   6th Annual Plan, Victoria Pavilion**
Bird's Eye Perspective, Victoria Pavilion**
1916 Oct. 24 - 28 IACS Union Bank Bldg.   7th Annual Chichester, England
Wind and Rain
Parliament Buildings
Victoria from West Bay
Oak Bay from Ten Mile Point
Sunset
The Arm, Victoria
Cedar Hill from Oak Bay
NOTE: ** indicates work done with William Ridgway Wilson

References

BUILDING THE WEST - Early Architects of British Columbia
      2003; Edited by Donald Luxton, numerous contributing authors and researchers
      Talonbooks, ISBN 0-88922-474-9. Revised second edition 2007
      560 pages, extensively illustrated in black and white, some colour
      Biographies of over 400 architects and firms; extensive bibliography
      Full page biography of Hennell and five illustrations.

Clippings

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