Sir Arnold Thornely (7 October 1870 – 1 October 1953) was an English architect who practised in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Although most of his designs were for buildings in Liverpool and the northwest of England, he is best known for the Parliament Buildings in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, Northern Ireland (commonly known as Stormont). Thornely was knighted in 1932, and in the following year received the Bronze Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects for Ulster.

Biography

Arnold Thornely was the son of a cotton mill manager, born in 1870 in Godley, which was at that time in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. He was educated at a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

in Derbyshire, and then at the Liverpool School of Art. After being articled to Francis Usher Holmes and George Holme, he became an assistant in the Liverpool firm of Willinck and Thicknesse. In 1898 he established his own practice in Liverpool. He married Caroline Thornely in 1902 in St Paul's Church, Helsby, and with her had two children. In 1906 Thornely joined in partnership with Frank Gatley Briggs and Henry Vernon Wolstenholme, and was later joined by F. B. Hobbs. Latterly he worked with his brother Herbert Lionel Thornely, and they had an office in the

Royal Liver Building The Royal Liver Building is a Grade I listed building in Liverpool, England. It is located at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Cunard Building and Port of Liverpool Building is one of Liverpool's '' Three Graces'', which line the ...

in Liverpool. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1907, and was President of the Liverpool Architectural Society in 1910–11. In 1932 Thornley was knighted, and in the following year was awarded the Bronze Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects for Ulster. In his later years he lived in

Cobham, Surrey Cobham () is a large village in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, centred south-west of London and northeast of Guildford on the River Mole. It has a commercial/services High Street, a significant number of primary and private s ...

, where he died in 1953. His estate amounted to over £89,000 (equivalent to £ as of ). ()

Works

Although most of his designs were for buildings in and around Liverpool, Thornely is best known for his design of the Parliament Buildings in Belfast, Northern Ireland (commonly known as Stormont), which were built between 1928 and 1932. With Hobbs he designed the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board Building (1903–07), and with Briggs and Wolstenholme a building for the

Bank of British West Africa Bank of British West Africa (BBWA) was a British Overseas bank that was important in introducing modern banking into the countries that emerged from the UK's West African colonies. In 1957 it changed its name to Bank of West Africa, and in 1965 wa ...

(completed in 1920). In 1923, with Herbert J. Rowse, he won a competition for the design of India Buildings in Liverpool. With Briggs and Wolstenholme, he also designed laboratories for the Geology Department of the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

(1927–29), and an extension to the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

(1931–33). Away from the centre of Liverpool, Thornely designed new premises for Liverpool Blue Coat School (1906), King Edward VII School, Lytham St Annes (1908), and town halls at

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Pe ...

(1914–19),

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

, and

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thornely, Arnold 1870 births 1953 deaths 20th-century English architects Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects Architects from Cheshire Architects from Liverpool