On 14 February 1881, Rowland Plumbe was appointed Consulting Architect to the Artizans Company, with a brief to prepare a third estate. A leading architect of the period, Plumbe had primarily been a designer of hospitals, such as the London Hospital,[1] and Poplar Hospital;[16] he had been President of the Architectural Association in 1871–72 and a Council Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects since 1876.[15]