Architect. Born Islington.
From University of Texas:
"Smith and Brewer formed a partnership in 1895 in London. Both men were members of the Art Workers Guild (Brewer elected in 1901 and Smith elected in c1922). Brewer also served on the Art Workers Guild Committee from 1906 to 1907 and was one of the founding leaders of the Design and Industries Association.
In 1895, Smith and Brewer won the competition for the Passmore Edwards Settlement in Tavistock Place, London which established their reputation as arts and crafts architects working in the so-called “Free Style” of the 1890s (an attempt to create a new architectural style for England). The firm designed mainly domestic work utilizing vernacular traditions (such as Fives Court, Pinner Middlesex) until 1909 when they won the competition for the National Museum of Wales (1910) in Cathays Park, Cardiff. This monumental building, one of the earliest in Great Britain to utilize the Beaux-Arts style then popular in the United States, signaled a change in direction for the firm. The Arts and Crafts Movement was failing and architects were returning to classicism, particularly for large, public buildings. The innovative design of Heal's Furniture Store (1916), however, suppressed the classical imagery in favor of an honest expression of the steel frame structure of the building.
After Brewer's death in 1918, Smith continued the work of the firm and designed many houses as well as additions to the Fitzwilliam Museum (1924-1933). In 1930, J.A. Meikle and K.W.F. Harris became partners under the firm name of A. Dunbar Smith. After Smith's death in 1933, Meikle, Harris and Sidney Clark continued the practice under the original firm name of Smith and Brewer. The firm was dissolved with the death of Clark in 1949."
