"McMorran & Whitby" are arguably one of the most unsung practices of post-war British architecture. Led from the late 1950s by Donald McMorran and George Whitby, two indisputable architectural heavyweights of the post-war era, the practice willingly rejected the experimentalism and fleeting faddishness that characterised the dominant paradigm of the age and from which so many of Britain's towns and cities are still blighted. The practice can be seen as part of an evolution in British classical tradition with direct linkages through other eminent figures such as Sir Edwin Lutyens and E. Vincent Harris. Their work found notable favour with public institutions, such as the police, county and city councils, and universities. These include Devon County Hall in Exeter, various buildings at Nottingham University, West Suffolk County Council buildings in Bury St Edmunds, but, above all, numerous significant commissions for the City Corporation such as Wood Street Police Station and the extension to the Central Criminal Courts, commonly known as the New Bailey.
This book is the first major publication on McMorran & Whitby's work, and therefore contains an inspiring combination of contemporary photography and previously unpublished archival material. It is an essential read for architects, students, and historians, not least because it highlights the importance in the arts of seeking longer perspectives than those which, all too often, our own ephemeral epoch permits. This book has been commissioned as part of a series of books on "20th Century Architects" by RIBA Publishing, English Heritage and The Twentieth Century Society.