[2] The marriage did not last and Frank Wilson returned to Australia (where he later remarried), leaving his sons to be raised by their mother.
[1] Wilson subsequently completed his professional examinations in 1928 and was admitted to the New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA).
After gaining his professional qualifications Wilson in the company of an architect friend travelled to the United States where he spent six months exploring California, with the exception of a mule-back tour of the Grand Canyon.
[2] The onset of the Great Depression caused him to return home where he took up an associate partnership with Gummer and Ford.
[6] Not only was Wilson largely responsible for the Department's organisation and development, he was also in charge of the design aspects of state housing.
[3] Their previous experience with the design of mass housing in Europe influenced Wilson’s thinking and was utilised by him in developing the government’s first rental apartment blocks in the 1940s.
In 1946 Wilson travelled to the United States where he met architects Walter Gropius, Carl Koch and Hugh Stubbins.
While in the United Kingdom he discussed the design of New Zealand House in London with its architect Robert Matthew.
[6] Wilson was awarded the New Zealand Institute of Architects' Gold Medal in 1948 for the design of the Dixon Street State Flats.
[1] Wilson married American, Virginia "Ginny" Abigail Smith, who was just off the boat from California[10] on 4 March 1937 at St Paul’s Cathedral Church in Wellington.