[1] Rutherford was a Scot and, after graduating university, he moved to London initially, then to Lendal in York.

[2] The firm was established in January 1927, with Rutherford balancing both the new venture and one he had with Walter Henry Brierley,[3] who died just over a month earlier.

Syme worked alone until 1943, at which point he merged his business with Cecil Leckenby.

[1][4] York Library opened in 1927, shortly after the death of Brierley.

[5] One of the partnership's final projects was that of York Deanery, which was completed in 1939.