Austin Winkley

Born in 1934 to a family of Lancashire cotton workers, Winkley has recounted that one of his earliest memories is of sitting in his pram watching his uncle lay floor tiles in a new church. He attended a Salesian school and with their help secured a grant to study at the Architectural Association in London.

Austin is married to Elizabeth (Lala), a drama teacher, who he met at a national Catholic Youth Association Conference. They have two daughters, Emma, a sculptress and Antonia who is a florist.[1]

At the celebrations for his 70th birthday, the Rt Rev John Austin, Bishop of Aston, said Winkley's work breathed "a truly Catholic spirit. It is a marvellous legacy that speaks and is indeed an invitation to participate in the life of God." Julian Filochowski, former director of CAFOD said: "Austin Winkley is a gentle and passionate apostle of Vatican II. A Gaudiem et Spes architect, and a deeply committed fellow pilgrim".[2]

Winkley studied at the Architectural Association in London under Robert Maguire and was a member of the New Churches Research Group. During the holidays he worked for the Salesians alongside school architect Jeffrey Williams. After qualifying in 1959 he worked for the London County Council school department (1959–60). In 1960 he went to the US, where he worked for two architectural practices, joining a firm of Christian architects and working on a library and Catholic Club at Harvard.[3]

In 1962 he volunteered to help build a clinic, housing and church in an area of Mexico City that had been devastated by an earthquake. He returned to the UK to set up his own practice, Williams & Winkley 1963-1987 before founding Austin Winkley & Associates in 1987. He began by designing homes for the Catholic Housing Aid Society (CHAS).[4] He gained a Post Graduate Diploma in Building Conservation from the Architectural Association in 1978.

Having studied under the innovative and influential church designers, Maguire & Murray, Winkley became an influential members of the UK architectural liturgical movement. His notable buildings include:

• Church of St Margaret of Scotland, Twickenham (1969) Grade II listed. Winkley's first church and according to its listing "an early and particularly well-made and well-detailed example of post-Vatican II planning".[5]
• St Elphege in Wallington (1971)[6]
• the Sacred Heart Church in Coventry (1979)[7]
• St Theodore's in Hampton upon Thames (1987).[8]

He has also been instrumental in reordering a number of churches and adapting them:

• Holy Family Church, Halton was reordered into a liturgical arrangement[9]
• St John Vianney, Ilford (1983) - reordering a RC Church by Donald Plaskett Marshall[10]

• Winkley has a road named Austin Terrace in Lambeth named after him.
• In 2000 he represented England at the Jubilee of Artists held at the Vatican.
• Winkley has served as a member of the Liturgy Commission.
• Member of English Heritage London Advisory Committee 2000-2002
• RIBA (since 1960)