Arthur Wakerley (15 May 1862 – 4 April 1931) was a

British architect This list of British architects includes WP:NLIST, notable architects, civil engineers, and earlier stonemasons, from the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. People have also been included who were born outside the UK/Great Britain but wh ...

, businessman and politician.

Life

Born in

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a market town in the Borough of Melton, Melton district in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, Leicestershire, River Eye, known below Melton as the Rive ...

, he was articled to James Bird. He was a Fellow of the

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 suppl ...

and sometime President of the Leicester Society of Architects. He was President of the Leicester Liberal Association and in 1886 was elected as a councillor for Middle St Margaret's Ward and was

Mayor of Leicester The Mayor of Leicester, styled ''City Mayor'' to distinguish from the Lord Mayor of Leicester, is the directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function of Leicester City Council in England. The incumbent is Peter Soulsby of the ...

in 1897, the youngest mayor since the reforms of 1835. He used the role of mayor to support a wide range of charitable and religious works and attempted to position the role of mayor as a non-party political one. His year of office was marred by two local disasters – the railway accident at Wellingborough and the Whitwick Colliery explosion that claimed 35 lives. He stood unsuccessfully as a

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

parliamentary candidate for the Melton Division in 1895 and 1900.Welford Road Cemetery, https://web.archive.org/web/20091027004837/http://uk.geocities.com/Welford_road_cemetery/wrc-w.htm Outside work and politics Arthur Wakerley was an enthusiastic

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

lay preacher A lay preacher is a preacher who is not ordained (i.e. a layperson) and who may not hold a formal university degree in theology. Lay preaching varies in importance between religions and their sects. Overview Some denominations specifically disco ...

and ardent temperance worker as well as being interested in archaeology and poetry. He planned the development of the North Evington area. Other examples of his architectural work in Leicester include the

Turkey Cafe The Turkey Cafe is a building with a flamboyant Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style) facade in Granby Street, Leicester, Granby Street, Leicester, England. It was built in 1900 and is now a Grade II listed building, once again used as a cof ...

Granby Street U.S. Route 460 (US 460) in Virginia runs east-west through the southern part of the Commonwealth. The road has two separate pieces in Virginia, joined by a relatively short section in West Virginia. Most of US 460 is a four-lane divided h ...

(1901), the Synagogue on Highfield Street, the Coronation Buildings, High Street (1901–03; formerly known as the Singer Building) and the Wycliffe Society Cottage Homes for the Blind.JEAN FARQUAR, Arthur Wakerley 1862–1931 (London, Sedgebrook Press: 1984). He was buried in the Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester.

Listed buildings by Wakerley

Below is a list of the fourteen buildings in Leicester by Arthur Wakerley that have been listed. All are

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, and most relate to the period 1880s to 1900s. Many more of his building survive without being listed, including factories, terraced housing, semi-detached and detached houses, and 'Crown Hill', a substantial brick mansion he built for himself on Gwendolen Road. The listed post-war houses are four example pairs of the design of council house Wakerley produced in the 1920s, selected because they remain closest to the original design and have their original sash windows. As well as Leicester, the design was widely adopted in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

and

Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second Garden city movement, garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first New towns in the United Kingdom, new towns (designated 1948). It is ...

Notes to the table

References

External links

The Wakerley Trail

Page on Leicester City Council website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakerley, Arthur 1862 births Architects from Leicester Mayors of places in Leicestershire People from Melton Mowbray Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Burials at Welford Road Cemetery 1931 deaths