Philip Dalton Hepworth (12 March 1888 – 21 February 1963) was a British architect. He studied in both the UK and France, at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

, and returned to work as an architect after serving in the First World War. He rose to prominence in the 1930s, featuring in a book by architectural critic

Trystan Edwards Arthur Trystan Edwards (10 November 1884 – 30 January 1973) was a Welsh architectural critic, town planner and amateur cartographer. He was a noted critic of the garden city movement. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, he was educated at Clifton College, ...

and winning the commission in 1932 to design Walthamstow Town Hall, which was eventually completed in 1942. Another civic building of this period was Wiltshire County Hall at

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England, on the River Biss in the west of the county. It is near the border with Somerset and lies southeast of Bath, 31 miles (49 km) southwest of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) southeas ...

. He also designed a handful of private houses, including Pemberley, in

Loughton Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...

, 1936. He lived in Zoffany House in Strand-on-the-Green, Chiswick, London, from 1936. During the Second World War, he was appointed one of the Principal Architects of the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations m ...

). In this post-war stage of his career, he designed several war memorials and numerous cemeteries for the British war dead. Examples of his Commission work are found in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. His work was said to have followed the style of that of two of his predecessors as Commission architects, Edwin Lutyens and

Herbert Baker Sir Herbert Baker (9 June 1862 – 4 February 1946) was an English architect remembered as the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some of New Delhi's most notable government structures. He wa ...

. Hepworth, who died in 1963, was described in his obituary as an architect of "great speed and brilliance" and "sensitivity and eccentricity", influenced by "classical, English and local Norman styles". A number of his buildings are

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

Studies and early career

Hepworth was born in 1890. He attended Highgate School from September 1902 until July 1906. His initial architectural studies were at the Architectural Association School of Architecture from 1906 to 1910, during which time he also attended the

in Paris, France. He became assistant to London-based architect Walter Frederick Cave, and after further travels in France he passed his

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 supp ...

(RIBA) qualifying exam in 1911. He was awarded RIBA's 1914 British School at Rome scholarship. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he served in the Royal Engineers. After the war, he returned to working as an architect. Architectural historians the Lingards describe him as "one of the finest architectural draughtsmen of his day". One of his works from this period was ''L'Usine'' (1922), described by the Lingards as "a utopian industrial city scene" with "influences of early Futurism". Hepworth produced the design for the

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the " Big Four" clearing banks. Lloyds Bank is the largest retail bank in Britain, and has an exte ...

branch in Southwark that opened in 1928. In the design, he used "rusticated stone up to the sills of the first-floor windows and red brick in Flemish bond for the remaining two storeys, surmounted by a hipped roof clad in pantiles." Another early design was that of an arts-and-crafts thatched house named 'Bolton Muir' (1930) in

Gifford, East Lothian } Gifford is a village in the parish of Yester in East Lothian, Scotland. It lies approximately south of Haddington and east of Edinburgh. It groups around the Colstoun Water (locally called Gifford Water) at the junction of the B6369 and B6 ...

Pre-war and municipal work

Walthamstow Town Hall 20 Apr 2006 (cropped)

In 1931, Hepworth was featured in a book by architectural critic

. Published in Zug, Switzerland, this 91-page hardback book, part of a series on the leading architects of the day, was titled ''Some recent work of Philip Hepworth''. It was illustrated mostly with black-and-white photographs of the buildings designed by Hepworth. The embossed clothbound cover shows the Roof Garden House in Bickley, with the cover artwork described in 2015 by RIBA's British Architectural Library as " nimage charged with the energetic spirit of

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

". Hepworth won a major municipal architectural commission in the 1930s with his design for Walthamstow Town Hall (now known as

Waltham Forest Town Hall Waltham Forest Town Hall (formerly Walthamstow Town Hall) is a municipal building located in Walthamstow, East London. The town hall, which is the headquarters of Waltham Forest London Borough Council, is a Grade II Listed Building. History Th ...

). Built from 1937 to 1942, this complex of buildings is also known as Walthamstow Civic Centre and the commission was awarded to Hepworth in 1932 following an architectural competition launched in 1929 by the newly created municipal borough of Walthamstow. The building became Grade II listed on 9 March 1982. Hepworth's design of Walthamstow Town Hall (and associated buildings) was described by architectural historian

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

in 1954 as in "the Swedish style of c.1925 which became so popular in England amongst those who were not satisfied to be imitatively Neo-Georgian nor wanted to go modern or earnest." From 1936, Hepworth lived in and restored Zoffany House in Strand-on-the-Green, Chiswick, London, formerly the home of the 18th-century painter

Johan Zoffany Johan Joseph Zoffany (born Johannes Josephus Zaufallij; 13 March 1733 – 11 November 1810) was a German neoclassical painter who was active mainly in England, Italy and India. His works appear in many prominent British collections, includin ...

. Zoffany House was listed as Grade II* on 11 July 1951. Hepworth also designed County Hall in

(begun in 1938 and finished in 1940). Around the start of World War II, Hepworth designed a Roman Catholic church in Wales, paid for by the Hon. Fflorens Roch, (wife of

Walter Roch Walter Francis Roch (20 January 1880 – 3 March 1965), sometime MP (Lib.) for Pembrokeshire from 1908 to 1918 was a Welsh politician and landowner, whose political career ended when he continued to support H.H. Asquith over David Lloyd Geor ...

and daughter of Lord Treowen). This is ''Our Lady of Peace'' (1939–40) at Newbridge, now a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, with a large campanile. This church was granted Grade II* listed status on 17 March 1999.

World War II and CWGC

World War II 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 opposing ...

, as he was too old for active service, Hepworth served in the

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting w ...

. During the war, he was appointed to the Royal Academy of Arts' Planning Committee for the rebuilding of London following the damage caused during the Blitz. This committee was chaired by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who was a good friend of Hepworth. In 1944, Hepworth was appointed the Principal Architect for North-West Europe for the Imperial War Graves Commission (later the

WGC. Other Principal Architects appointed by the Commission to take on the task of designing a new set of memorials and cemeteries after World War II included Sir Hubert Worthington and Sir

Edward Maufe Sir Edward Brantwood Maufe, RA, FRIBA (12 December 1882 – 12 December 1974) was an English architect and designer. He built private homes as well as commercial and institutional buildings, and is remembered chiefly for his work on places ...

. Hepworth designed post-World War II CWGC cemeteries in Normandy, France, as well as in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. The CWGC memorials he designed were the Dunkirk Memorial (1957) to the missing of the British Expeditionary Force that fell at the start of the war during the fall of France, and the Bayeux Memorial (1955) to the missing of the British forces that fell in the

Normandy Campaign Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

in the liberation of France. The CWGC cemeteries he designed included the Berlin 1939–1945 War Cemetery,

Becklingen War Cemetery The Becklingen War Cemetery is a military cemetery located in the state of Lower Saxony in north Germany on the Lüneburg Heath. It was built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission who continue to look after it today. The cemetery lies near Get ...

Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery The Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery (french: Cimetière militaire canadien de Bény-sur-Mer) is a cemetery containing predominantly Canadian soldiers killed during the early stages of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. It is locat ...

, and

Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery and Memorial ( French:''Le Cimetière de Guerre Canadien Groesbeek'', Dutch:''Canadese Oorlogsbegraafplaats Groesbeek'') is a Second World War Commonwealth War Graves Commission military war grave cemetery, locate ...

. Others were Brouay War Cemetery ( Brouay), Tilly-sur-Seulles War Cemetery ( Bayeux), La Délivrande War Cemetery ( Douvres-la-Délivrande), Jerusalem War Cemetery ( Chouain), Ranville War Cemetery (Banneville-la-Campagne),

Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery The Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery is a war cemetery containing predominantly Canadian soldiers killed during the later stages of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. It is located close to the village of Cintheaux and name ...

, Kiel War Cemetery (

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

), Rheinberg War Cemetery and Reichswald Forest War Cemetery ( Klever Reichswald). Hepworth planned the layout of his cemeteries only after intensive consultations with gardeners. Historian Philip Longworth, author of a history of the Commission, gave his view on Hepworth's Commission work in a 1963 obituary:

Final years

Hepworth died in a London hospital on 21 February 1963. Obituaries were published in volume 70 of the ''RIBA Journal'' and in volume 204 of ''The Builder''.

Architectural works

File:Lloyds Bank, Southwark 01.jpg, Lloyds Bank, Southwark (1928) File:Church of Our Lady of Peace, Newbridge front.JPG, ''Our Lady of Peace'' at Newbridge (1939–40) File:WiltshireCouncilTrowbridge.jpg, Wiltshire County Hall (1940) File:Bayeux War Cemetery (15).JPG, Bayeux Memorial (1955), Normandy, France File:Dunkirk Town Cem. 15.JPG, Dunkirk Memorial (1957), Normandy, France File:Gedenktafel Heerstraße 151 (West) War Cemetery 3.jpg, Plan for Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery File:Becklingen War Cemetery Eingang Torbogen.JPG, Entrance to

File:Beny-sur-Mer Cemetery.jpg, Panoramic view of

File:Tilly-sur-Seulles - CWGC 1.JPG, Avenue to Cross of Sacrifice at Tilly-sur-Seulles War Cemetery File:La Delivrande War Cemetery -2.JPG, Entrance to La Délivrande War Cemetery File:Ranville War Cemetery -15.JPG, Walkway at Ranville War Cemetery File:Bretteville-sur-Laize Cemetery.jpg, Stone of Remembrance at Bretteville-sur-Laize Cemetery File:Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery - panorama view.jpg,

File:Soldatenfriedhof - Rheinberg War Cemetery - Eingang.jpg, Entrance pillar at Rheinberg War Cemetery File:Reichswald Forest War Cemetery (34).JPG, Principal axis of Reichswald Forest War Cemetery

Notes

References

External links

Architectural artworks by Hepworth
(RIBApix)

(RIBApix) * ttps://www.architecture.com/image-library/RIBApix/image-information/poster/cover-of-some-recent-work-of-philip-hepworth/posterid/RIBA18739.html Cover of ''Some recent work of Philip Hepworth'' (1931)(RIBApix)
Restoration of 'Bolton Muir' house
(Tremmel Restoration)
Proposed re-modelling of Hyde Park Corner, London
(Royal Academy of Arts) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hepworth, Philip Dalton 1890 births 1963 deaths Military personnel from London Architects from London Commonwealth War Graves Commission British Army personnel of World War I People educated at Highgate School People from Hampstead People from Chiswick Royal Engineers soldiers British Home Guard soldiers