Editing Basil Spence (section)

==Training==

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Parlt-061.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Spence's sketch for the [[Beehive (building)|Beehive]]]] -->

Spence was born in [[Mumbai|Bombay]], [[Bombay Presidency]], [[British India]],<ref name=Frank>[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2007/oct/16/communities Let's be frank about Spence], ''The Guardian'' (16 October 2007). Retrieved: 10 October 2021.</ref> the son of Urwin Archibald Spence, an [[Metallurgical assay|assayer]] with the [[Royal Mint]]. He was educated at the John Connon School, operated by the Bombay Scottish Education Society, and was then sent back to Scotland to attend [[George Watson's College]] in [[Edinburgh]]<ref name="english-heritage.org.uk"/> from 1919 to 1925. He enrolled at [[Edinburgh College of Art]] (ECA) in 1925, studying architecture,<ref name=BBCBack>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/articles/2008/07/30/blast08_basil_spencel_feature.shtml Back to the Future in Modern Architecture], BBC (30 July 2008). Retrieved: 10 October 2021.</ref> where he secured a maintenance scholarship on the strength of the "unusual brilliance" of his work. He won several prizes at the college, and meanwhile carried out paid work drawing [[architectural perspectives]] for practising architects including Leslie Grahame-Thomson, [[Reginald Fairlie]] and [[Frank Mears]].

In 1929–1930, he spent a year as an assistant, along with [[William Kininmonth (architect)|William Kininmonth]], in the London office of Sir [[Edwin Lutyens]], whose work was to have a profound influence on Spence's style,<ref name="english-heritage.org.uk">{{cite web|url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/BasilSpence|title=SPENCE, Sir Basil (1907–1976) – English Heritage|website=www.english-heritage.org.uk}}</ref> where he worked on designs for the [[Rashtrapati Bhavan|Viceroy's House]] in [[New Delhi]], India. While in London he attended evening classes at the [[Bartlett School of Architecture]] under [[Albert Richardson (architect)|A. E. Richardson]]. Returning to ECA in 1930 for his final year of studies, he was appointed a junior lecturer, despite the fact that he was still a student. He continued to teach at ECA until 1939.<ref name=BBCBack/>