So Who Was Arthur John Price?

     

An A-Z of Architects of Loughborough

For a complete list of the A-Z posts please head over to the bloglist.

 

Short biography of Arthur John Price

At the time of Arthur’s birth, father, Frederick, was living in Burslem, and was a commercial traveller, selling pottery. Arthur was Frederick’s and Ann Eliza’s second child, after John Frederick, and a younger brother Charles Podmore would be born in 1906. In 1911 Arthur was attending a school which was especially set up for children of commercial travellers. This was at Hatch End, in Pinner, Middlesex, but its 323 pupils at the time came from all across the UK. Arthur then served in the navy, from 16 January 1917 to 15 October 1920.

Arthur’s father had died in 1907, and in 1921, Arthur and his mother were living with Arthur’s older brother, John Frederick, on Gladstone Street, Longton. John was a designer for glazed tiles and faience, at the Malkin tile factory in Burslem. Arthur, now aged 20, was a representative on commission for china, glass, and earthenware factor, for A. Hulse in Longton, Staffordshire. Arthur moved into the world of architecture when he was apprenticed to Tunstall architects Wood and Goldstraw.

Arthur married Doreen Catherine Emery in 1928 in Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire, and the couple had several children, including Cedric John who went on to become a highly respected architect. Arthur worked for a short while as a member of the borough surveyors staff at Newcastle Under Lyme, after which, in 1936 he became the jobbing architect for the Harry Weedon architectural practice which had begun in 1911, and which by 1934 was designing cinema’s for Oscar Deutsch’s chain of Odeons. Arthur was preceded in the role by firstly John Cecil Clavering, and then Robert Bullivant. In 1939, Arthur Price, the architect, was living with his wife and two children at 29 Granville Terrace, Stone. Whether or not they moved to Southampton, when Arthur took on a role at the British Power Boat Company in Hythe is not known.

Arthur died on 28 January 1953 at the City General Hospital in Stoke on Trent. At the time he was living at Wayside, Lichfield Road, Stone, Staffs., and was employed as an architect with the Ministry of Housing and Local Government’s regional office in Birmingham Probate was granted to his widow, Doreen Catherine, and effects were £1,480 8s. 7d.

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What follows is a selection of buildings designed by Arthur John Price

Note: this is a selective, not a comprehensive listing.

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*Loughborough’s Odeon 1936 (for the Harry Weedon Partnership)

*Newport South Wales Odeon also Grade II listed

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Basic facts

Name: Arthur John Price

Parents: Frederick and Ann Eliza Podmore

Date and place of Birth: 21 March 1901 Burslem

Spouse: Doreen Catherine née Emery (m.1928)

Children: Mercia Mary 1929, Cedric John 1934, (an architect, responsible for the aviary at London Zoo 1961), David C. Price 1941

Death: 28 January 1953

Places lived: At time of death, Lichfield Road, Stone, Staffs.

Place of work/Offices: Not known

Qualifications

Associate of RIBA elected 1926

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There are a whole series of posts on this blog about cinemas in Loughborough. Here's one about the first manager of the Odeon cinema on Baxter Gate, which was designed by Arthur John Price. 

Other cinema posts can be found by using the search facility on the web version of this blog, or by accessing the complete list of posts.

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I’m taking part in the April A-Z Blogging Challenge!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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