Frederick Francis Charles Curtis

FRIBA 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 ...

(9 August 1903 – 16 June 1975) was the first chief architect for

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

from 1948.

Career

Curtis was born on 9th August, 1903, at

Frankfurt-on-Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...

. His father, Francis Curtis, was a lecturer in English at the

Technische Universität Darmstadt The Technische Universität Darmstadt (official English name Technical University of Darmstadt, sometimes also referred to as Darmstadt University of Technology), commonly known as TU Darmstadt, is a research university in the city of Darmstadt ...

, and from 1922 to 1927, Frederick Francis Curtis studied there. He then worked as an assistant and lecturer at the same institution until 1933. With the ascent of the National Socialist Party in 1933, he left Germany and moved to Britain where he worked with

Charles Holden Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

on the Southern Railway until 1936. He was a lecturer in the

Liverpool School of Architecture The School of Architecture is an architecture school in Liverpool, England, and part of the University of Liverpool. It was the first architecture school in the United Kingdom to be affiliated with a university, and the first to have degree pro ...

from 1936 – 1946 and during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

served in the Railway Engineers at General Headquarters, India Command. He is mentioned in The Black Book by the National Socialists and had the invasion of Britain been successful, he would have been arrested. He was appointed an architect to the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

company in 1947 in succession to Brian Lewis and became the first Chief Architect of

in 1948. He retired in 1968 and was succeeded as Chief Architect to British Railways by Bernard Kaukas.

Works

*Peverel, Shellwood Road, Leigh, Surrey, 1936. *British Transport Police Dog Training School, Elstree *

Perivale tube station Perivale is a London Underground station in Perivale in north-west London. It is located on the West Ruislip branch of the Central line, between Greenford and Hanger Lane stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 4. History The Great Western Railway ...

1947 (based on original designs by Brian Lewis) *

Hanger Lane tube station Hanger Lane is a London Underground station in Hanger Hill, Ealing, on the border between West and Northwest London. It is located on the West Ruislip branch of the Central line (London Underground), Central line, between Perivale tube station, ...

1947 (based on original designs by Brian Lewis) *

South Ruislip station South Ruislip is a station served by London Underground and Chiltern Railways in South Ruislip in North-West London. The station is owned, managed and staffed by London Underground. The station is in Travelcard Zone 5. History The GWR/GCR J ...

1948 *Mechanical Engineering Museum of the British Railways Technical Centre, Derby. *British Rail Technical Centre, London Road, Derby 1965–68. *Sunderland station

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis 20th-century English architects British railway architects Great Western Railway people British Rail people Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1903 births 1975 deaths Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni Academic staff of Technische Universität Darmstadt German emigrants to the United Kingdom