Francis George Broadbent (1909,

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

– 13 January 1983,

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

, London) was a 20th-century English

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

known for his work in designing churches and schools for the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Career

Broadbent was a partner in the architectural firm Goodhart-Rendel Broadbent & Curtis in the 1950s and 1960s and took over the practice when

Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel (1887 in Cambridge – 21 June 1959 in Westminster, London) was a British architect, writer and musician. Life Harry Stuart Goodhart was born on 29 May 1887 in Cambridge, England. He added the additional name Rende ...

died. Subsequently, he became senior partner in Broadbent Hastings Reid & New, retiring in 1980.

Works

Broadbent completed the restoration work on

Prinknash Abbey Prinknash Abbey (pronounced locally variously as "Prinidge/Prinnish") (International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) is a Catholic Church in England and Wales, Roman Catholic monastery in the Vale of Gloucester in the Diocese of Clifton, near the villa ...

, which had been started by Goodhart-Rendel in 1939. He also restored

Tyburn convent The Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Montmartre OSB is a Catholic order of Benedictine nuns, often known as "Tyburn nuns". The order was founded in Paris but later moved to a new Mother House in London and established additional monasteries ...

(1962). He worked, from 1959 to 1960, with Goodhart-Rendel on the design and construction of St Martin and St Ninian Catholic Church in

Whithorn Whithorn ( �ʍɪthorn 'HWIT-horn'; ''Taigh Mhàrtainn'' in Gaelic), is a royal burgh in the historic county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about south of Wigtown. The town was the location of the first recorded Christian ...

Wigtownshire Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975 the area has f ...

, Scotland. The churches he designed include: * Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Richmond, London (1953–54) * The Church of the Holy Name,

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London near the London-Surrey Border, and with Esher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of the Greater London Built-Up Ar ...

(1960) * St Ann's, Kingston Hill (1960) * St Thomas More,

Knebworth Knebworth is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England, immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Hert ...

(1961) * The Holy Name,

Claygate Claygate is an affluent suburban village in Surrey, England, southwest of central London. It is the only civil parish in the borough of Elmbridge. Surrounded by green belt, it lies inside the Greater London Built-up Area. Claygate was once in t ...

(1961) *St John Fisher, Cannon Hill Lane, Merton (1962) * St John the Evangelist,

Tadworth Tadworth is a large suburban village in Surrey, England in the south-east of the Epsom Downs, part of the North Downs. It forms part of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. At the 2011 census, Tadworth (and Walton-on-the-Hill) had a population o ...

(1966) * The Holy Spirit,

Fetcham Fetcham is a suburban village in Surrey, England west of the town of Leatherhead, on the other side of the River Mole and has a mill pond, springs and an associated nature reserve. The housing, as with adjacent Great Bookham, sits on the lower s ...

* St Pius X,

New Malden New Malden is an area in South West London, England. It is located mainly within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Merton, and is from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities include Kingston, Norbiton, Raynes ...

* St Theodore, Cranbrook * Our Lady of Dover, Buckland (1960s)

Personal life

Broadbent lived at 71 Christchurch Road,

East Sheen East Sheen, also known as Sheen, is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its long high street has shops, offices, restaurants, cafés, pubs and suburban supermarkets and is also the economic hub for Mort ...

Death and legacy

Broadbent died on 13 January 1983, aged 73. His correspondence with Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel from 1941 to 1959 is held by the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

in its Archives and Drawings Collection.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Broadbent, Francis 1909 births 1983 deaths 20th-century English architects Architects from London Architects of Roman Catholic churches People from East Sheen People from Fulham People from Wandsworth