Louis Bowser Cumpston (1865–1931) was a British architect. He mostly designed buildings in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Early life

Louis Bowser Cumpston was born on 27 November 1865 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 ...

, England. His father, Louis Philippe Cumpston, was a builder who went bankrupt in 1873 and decided to emigrate to Australia later that year. After being briefly educated on the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

, Louis, his brother and two sisters joined their father in

Echuca Echuca ( ) is a town on the banks of the Murray River and Campaspe River in Victoria, Australia. The border town of Moama is adjacent on the northern side of the Murray River in New South Wales. Echuca is the administrative centre and largest s ...

, about 200 km away from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. By 1885, Louis Philippe Cumpston, who had reinvented himself as an accountant, went bankrupt again. Meanwhile, in the 1880s, Louis completed his secondary education and spent two years living in England.

Career

Cumpston returned to Australia, and became

articled Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

to architect John Robertson in Melbourne. Shortly after, he worked for James Moore & Sons, a building firm. However, due to the economic downturn in Melbourne at the time, he decided to move to

, where he became a successful architect. In 1892, he designed a building on the corner of

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

streets in Perth for a prominent businessman at the time named Wesley Maley. He later designed Mitchell's Buildings located at 136-142 on William Street for Mrs Harriet Mitchell. He also designed houses on the corner of Harvest Terrace and Hay Street in 1896 and the Osborne hotel in

Claremont Claremont may refer to: Places Australia *Claremont, Ipswich, a heritage-listed house in Queensland * Claremont, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart * Claremont, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth ** Claremont Football Club, West Australian Footba ...

in 1901. He also designed the Ocean Beach Hotel in Cottesloe, perhaps his best known hotel. Additionally, he went on to design several other hotels: Exchange Hotel in

Greenbushes Greenbushes is a timber and mining town located in the South West region of Western Australia. The 2021 population was 365. History Greenbushes was founded as a mining town in 1888 following a surveyor's discovery of tin in 1886. Greenbushes wa ...

, the Gosnells Hotel in Gosnells, the Boyup Brook Hotel in Boyup Brook, the Nungarin Hotel in Nungarin, the

Parkerville Tavern The Parkerville Tavern was opened in 1902 in Parkerville a hills suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It was originally called ''The Railway Hotel'' and later ''The Parkerville Hotel'' before adopting its current name in the 1970s. Killing of ...

in Parkerville, the Railway Hotel in Mullewa, the Salmon Gums Hotel in Salmon Gums, and the Cunderdin Hotel in Cunderdin. In 1905, he designed the warehouse on King Street. In 1909, he designed St Columba's Presbyterian Church in

Peppermint Grove, Western Australia Peppermint Grove is an affluent western suburb of Perth, Western Australia on the north bank of the Swan River at Freshwater Bay. Its local government area, the smallest in the country, is the Shire of Peppermint Grove. The suburb was named af ...

.Rob Pascoe, ''Peppermint Grove, Western Australia's capital suburb'', Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1983, p. 4

/ref> He also designed the Collie Municipal Offices in

Collie, Western Australia Collie is a town in the South West region of Western Australia, south of the state capital, Perth, and inland from the regional city and port of Bunbury. It is near the junction of the Collie and Harris Rivers, in the middle of dense jarrah fo ...

, the Gosnells Roads Board Offices on Gosnells, and Pinjarra Roads Board Offices in Pinjarra, Western Australia In 1915, he designed a carriage factory on Wellington Street. Additionally, he designed private residences and shops in Cottesloe, Claremont, Perth, North Perth, Mount Lawley, and

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

. He also designed the Tom Burke House located at 191-195 on Newcastle Street in Northbridge; a bungalow located at 30 Park Road in Mount Lawley, and small houses located at 34, 36, 44 & 46 on Edward Street in Perth.

Personal life and death

Cumpsto married Daphne Norah Venn in March 1895. However, he was granted a divorce after it was proven that his wife had been having an affair with her uncle, J.B. Simmons. In 1901, he married again, to Aimee Muriel Love. They had a son, Graham, and three daughters, Nancy, Miriam and Mary. They resided in a mansion on the corner of View Street and Forrest Street in Peppermint Grove; their house was torn down in 1974. In 1907, they moved from Peppermint Grove to Railway Parade in Leederville. Three years later, in 1910, they moved to 16 Emerald Terrace in West Perth. Cumpston died on 30 November 1931 in Subiaco, Western Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cumpston, Louis Bowser 1865 births 1931 deaths Architects from Liverpool People from Perth, Western Australia 20th-century Australian architects