Arthur Joseph Davis (21 May 1878,

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, London – 22 July 1951, Kensington, London) was an English architect. Davis studied at the

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

, Paris in the 1890s. He was the co-partner in the firm ''Mewes & Davis'', with

Charles Mewès Charles-Frédéric Mewès (30 January 1858 – 9 August 1914) was a French architect and designer. Biography Born in Strasbourg, Alsace in 1858, Charles Frédéric Mewès grew up a Parisian after his family fled the Prussian invasion and annex ...

. The firm designed the elevations and interior decoration of the London Ritz Hotel which introduced modern French comfort and luxury enabled by an innovative steel frame construction. In addition, the partnership took on numerous private commissions including

Luton Hoo Luton Hoo is an English country house and estate near Luton in Bedfordshire and Harpenden in Hertfordshire. Most of the estate lies within the civil parish of Hyde, Bedfordshire. The Saxon word Hoo means the spur of a hill, and is more comm ...

for Sir Julius Wernher, Coombe Court for Countess De Grey and

Polesden Lacey Polesden Lacey is an Edwardian era, Edwardian house and estate, located on the North Downs at Great Bookham, near Dorking, Surrey, England. It is owned and run by the National Trust and is one of the Trust's most popular properties. This Regenc ...

for the Hon Mrs Ronald Greville. Prior to World War I, Davis worked on a number of

ocean liner An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). The ...

s such as the ''

Aquitania Gallia Aquitania (, ), also known as Aquitaine or Aquitaine Gaul, was a province of the Roman Empire. It lies in present-day southwest France and the comarca of Val d'Aran in northeast Spain, where it gives its name to the modern region of Aquit ...

'' (1911–14); and after his military service he designed a number of banks in London. His last major commission was the '' Queen Mary'' (1935). In 1949 he gave his recreations as

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

and

water-colour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the S ...

sketching.

Notable buildings

* St. Sarkis Church (London) (1922–1923), Grade II* listed

References

External links

Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections
1878 births 1951 deaths Architects from London British alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts Royal Academicians People from Kensington {{England-architect-stub