War, America, and Modernity: Anscombe's revival of the Combination Factory

Abstract

Following the success of the design of the 1939-40 Centennial Exhibition, Edmund Anscombe began investigating factory architecture. This interest - which had entertained him since before his 1919 publication Modern Industrial Development - characterised the last eight years of his life, apparent in his office's factory designs for: Samuel Brown Ltd (1940,1943), the Disabled Soldiers' Vocational Centre/Rehabilitation League (1942-43), Die Castings Ltd, Lower Hutt (1943) and the WH Symmington & Co.'s factory, Palmerston North (1948). This paper examines this work in relation to his visit to America in 1940 and his proposal for a combined factory on Aotea Quay (1943).