- Frank Baines
Sir Frank Baines KCVO CBEFRIBA (1877 - 1933), was at one time thearchitect heading Her Majesty's Office of Works.His most famous work was
Thames House and its neighbourImperial Chemical House (1929-1930) inLondon ,England . Thames House is currently the headquarters of the British Security Service agency, commonly known asMI5 , and Imperial Chemical House was built as the headquarters forImperial Chemical Industries .Much of his work involved the conservation and preservation of old buildings, on which he had a world-wide reputation, including
Tintern Abbey ,Bylands Abbey ,Jedburgh Abbey ,Melrose Abbey , andDryburgh Abbey . He was also adviser on the restoration ofWestminster Hall ,Eltham Palace Hall, andCaernarvon Castle in connection with theinvestiture of thePrince of Wales , laterEdward VIII .Baines lived in
Loughton Essex, near his brother, Hubert, and sister; where he was a keen gardener. One of his last works was to design a new house for the brother and himself in Loughton.He died on Christmas Day,
December 25 ,1933 .References
*"
The Times ", Thursday,September 1 ,1927 . (The Times Digital archive 1785 - 1985)
* Chris Pond, "The Buildings of Loughton and notable people of the town", 2003
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