Ted Nicklin
Here is the 3rd genius who helped create our wonderful Kenton Bar Estate...
Ted Nicklin, third partner and later co partner and engineer...if we could of only been privy to those conversations betwixt him, Gordon and Peter as the estate was designed and built...alas Gordon and Peter have passed on to a better place...what about Ted?...
I wonder what he might have been talking about here?....
Ted died aged 69 in 1994. (It is on the Ryder Architecture brochure history page).
ReplyDeleteHe didn't influence the design of Kenton, of course, as he worked for Chamberlain Powell & Bonn.
Ah, I stand corrected :)
ReplyDeleteIt says he was involved in the London Barbican project and a big development in Sheffield so he was no stranger to social housing.
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't look a bit like the guy I met, who does look like the man in the 1968 photo of Ryder & Yates staff that I have sent to "The Master". I'm not certain Ted is any of the guys from that photo and it is possible that he joined the practise slightly afterwards.
ReplyDeleteTed Nicklin was my Dad. He died in February 1994 aged 68. Shades' dates are slightly out, Ted joined Ryder and Yates around mid-1963 from Chamberlain Powell and Bonn in London, where he worked on the Barbican. Prior to that he spent a short time with Basildon development corporation in Essex which he joined from Sheffield city council where he had worked on the Park Hill housing development.
ReplyDeleteHis first involvement at Ryder and Yates was Norgas House in Killingworth. He was subsequently closely involved in the Kenton Bar housing estate where he took over has chief architect part-way through the development (he was an architect, the firm also had engineers, principally Jack Humphrey and Leszek Kubic). He was involved in many other projects: the "tube" for Tyne Tees TV, the Gas Research Station at Killingworth, MEA House in Newcastle, the Vickers works at Scotswood and, finally, Barr and Stroud optronics new factory and offices in Glasgow. He became head of the practice on the retirement of Gordon Ryder in 1990 and remained so until a few weeks before his death.
The facebook picture (above) looks nothing like the 1968 picture of him with other Ryder and Yates staff. He is clean-shaven in the '68 picture and he's foreground, dead centre, hands in pockets with a big grin.
Like Gordon Ryder and Peter Yates, Ted was a big fan on le Corbusier, Lubetkin and Vanbrugh. He organised Gordon's retirement bash in Seaton Delavel Hall (it was derelict and he had to get special permission).
There is an excellent book on the Ryder and Yates partnership bu Rutter Carroll and the current practice has posted a good history of the firm on:
http://www.ryderarchitecture.com/
Peter - thanks for the great background. You wouldn't happen to have any pictures you would like to see on the blog? IF you had any of Kenton Bar it would be a bonus but a good quality picture of you Dad would be great too
ReplyDeletePeter-Im the ghost of mensforth(its a long story...) anyway, thank you for your interesting contributions and I hope you like the blog-hope you can give us some some contributions
ReplyDeleteFrom Peter Nicklin (I'm not really a blogger, so I'll need to coach myself in getting identity and pictures onto the blog - give me time!). The picture from Ryder that heads-up this thread is one of the best pictures of Ted that I have seen because it sums up his enthusiasm and expansiveness, and he did have a beard for many decades. My Mum has other pics of him so I'll have a rummage next time I'm at her place. Off-hand I can't think of any Kenton Bar pictures, but I'll take a look. I think Ryder or Newcastle City Council is the best source of Kenton Bar pictures.
ReplyDeletePeter - just post the pics and text to submit@thunderbirdink.com and I will put them on the blog for you.
ReplyDeletePeter, great that you have surfed by, I got my dates from the R&Y Rutter book and books aren't always totally accurate. (Or sometimes I don't entirely understand the nuances of the words).
ReplyDeleteI thought that the one with the hands in his pockets dead centre in the 1968 photo was actually Gordon Ryder! Which one was Gordon then? The one I'm convinced that I remembered was the one with light coloured trousers and glasses, standing to the (photo) right of Peter Yates and looking off to the right.
Ghost of Mensforth, you should ask your Ryder & Yates contact to agree to release the 1968 photo to the blog so that others know what we are talking about.
Will do...WHOOOOOHHH!....WHOOOOOHHHH!
ReplyDeleteHi Shades,don't worry about the dates - it certainly didn't worry me!! Looking at the photograph in the Rutter Carroll book, I think we have, left to right, don't know, DK, Peter Yates, Eddie Shah (possibly), Leszek Kubik (structural engineer and WWII Polish resistance fighter), Ted, Gordon, Ru (Rufus) Williams, DK, DK and DK. So I think the person you met wmay have been Eddie. I'll ask my Mum about the DKs when I see her next. It would be good to put the '68 picture on the site - Mensforth (ghost of) if you hit a blank with the current Ryder people, let me know as I know the current principal (Peter Buchan).
ReplyDeleteThanks for filling in the blanks Peter. Gordon Ryder looks a little detached in that photo but looking back at the photos I can see that it it is indeed him.
ReplyDeleteSo what did Eddie shah do?
Peter, thanks for the help offered...I will update the blog asp with the results of mein mission...
ReplyDeleteOK - got all but three of the names on the '68 photograph, L to R: Peter Ashworth, Malcolm Newton, Peter Yates, DK, Leszek Kubik, Ted Nicklin, Gordon Ryder, Ru Williams, DK, DK, Eddie Khan. The one I thought was Eddie and that Shades met, I'm afraid I can't identify. Eddie was Khan, not Shah, as I misremembered. I have just heard back from Eddie's widow (since remarried to my oldest friend's uncle - small world!!). Eddie was at R&Y from '65 to '69,and he did work on Kenton Bar. I'll update further if anything comes my way.
ReplyDeleteOK - got all but three of the names on the '68 photograph, L to R: Peter Ashworth, Malcolm Newton, Peter Yates, DK, Leszek Kubik, Ted Nicklin, Gordon Ryder, Ru Williams, DK, DK, Eddie Khan. The one I thought was Eddie and that Shades met, I'm afraid I can't identify. Eddie was Khan, not Shah, as I misremembered. I have just heard back from Eddie's widow (since remarried to my oldest friend's uncle - small world!!). Eddie was at R&Y from '65 to '69,and he did work on Kenton Bar. I'll update further if anything comes my way.
ReplyDeletePeter, thanks for the help offered...I will update the blog asp with the results of mein mission...
ReplyDeleteFrom Peter Nicklin (I'm not really a blogger, so I'll need to coach myself in getting identity and pictures onto the blog - give me time!). The picture from Ryder that heads-up this thread is one of the best pictures of Ted that I have seen because it sums up his enthusiasm and expansiveness, and he did have a beard for many decades. My Mum has other pics of him so I'll have a rummage next time I'm at her place. Off-hand I can't think of any Kenton Bar pictures, but I'll take a look. I think Ryder or Newcastle City Council is the best source of Kenton Bar pictures.
ReplyDeleteTed Nicklin was my Dad. He died in February 1994 aged 68. Shades' dates are slightly out, Ted joined Ryder and Yates around mid-1963 from Chamberlain Powell and Bonn in London, where he worked on the Barbican. Prior to that he spent a short time with Basildon development corporation in Essex which he joined from Sheffield city council where he had worked on the Park Hill housing development.
ReplyDeleteHis first involvement at Ryder and Yates was Norgas House in Killingworth. He was subsequently closely involved in the Kenton Bar housing estate where he took over has chief architect part-way through the development (he was an architect, the firm also had engineers, principally Jack Humphrey and Leszek Kubic). He was involved in many other projects: the "tube" for Tyne Tees TV, the Gas Research Station at Killingworth, MEA House in Newcastle, the Vickers works at Scotswood and, finally, Barr and Stroud optronics new factory and offices in Glasgow. He became head of the practice on the retirement of Gordon Ryder in 1990 and remained so until a few weeks before his death.
The facebook picture (above) looks nothing like the 1968 picture of him with other Ryder and Yates staff. He is clean-shaven in the '68 picture and he's foreground, dead centre, hands in pockets with a big grin.
Like Gordon Ryder and Peter Yates, Ted was a big fan on le Corbusier, Lubetkin and Vanbrugh. He organised Gordon's retirement bash in Seaton Delavel Hall (it was derelict and he had to get special permission).
There is an excellent book on the Ryder and Yates partnership bu Rutter Carroll and the current practice has posted a good history of the firm on:
http://www.ryderarchitecture.com/
The third from the right in the photo taken outside Ryder and Yates office in Killngworth is Gordon Harris I am studying the rest all the names I can think off dont seem to match the DKs
ReplyDelete