Arthur Beresford Pite (2 September 1861 – 27 November 1934) was a British architect known for creating

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buildings in

Baroque Revival The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in ...

Byzantine Revival Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Or ...

and

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

styles.

The early years

Arthur Beresford Pite was born on 2 September 1861 in Newington, London to Alfred and Hephzibah Pite. Pite was educated at King's College School. In 1877, he entered the office of The Builder's Journal doing mainly literary work, he also attended the Royal Architectural School. In 1882 he became a partner with the notable architect John Belcher. They had already been friends for some time. Architectural historian Alastair Service has described Beresford Pite as 'a vividly original thinker' who together with Belcher developed the 'striking yet intimate Baroque style' which Belcher became known for in the 1890s. Pite worked in the Belcher office until he won 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 ...

(RIBA) Soane Medallion for his design for a West End Club House in 1882. Following this, Pite travelled to the continent with his brother William (also an architect) and they were joined by Belcher and J W James for part of the trip. Pite returned to Belcher's practice and the partnership lasted 12 years.

Mid life

The Pite family transferred to

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

, Kent where Arthur and William shared rooms and an architectural office. In 1887 Arthur married Mary Kilvington Mowll and they moved back to

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

, London. They had four children, Grace Sarah (1888), Ion Beresford (1891), Molly (who died shortly after birth) and Arthur Goodhart (1896).

Professor

Pite continued working on his commissions including the

Burlington Arcade Burlington Arcade is a covered shopping arcade in London, England, United Kingdom. It is long, parallel to and east of Bond Street from Piccadilly to Burlington Gardens. It is a precursor to the mid-19th-century European shopping gallery and ...

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, Christ Church and one other church in Brixton,

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Cathedral,

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, a hospital in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, the Chartered Accountants' Hall in

Moorgate Moorgate was one of the City of London's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall. The gate was demolished in 1762, but ...

(with Belcher), the West Library in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

and buildings in

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to name but a few. He served as professor of architecture at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

from 1900 to 1923 and professor at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

where he was considered a gifted teacher and speaker. As an active church member, he ran a bible school for young students and a weekly bible class for prisoners in Wormwood Scrubs Prison. He designed many notable non-conformist churches with Alfred Eustace Habershon (b. 1865 or 1866) who was enumerated as a

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

resident in 1901 and had an office in Queen Street,

Erith Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies north ...

. During this period, with the sculptor Edward Clemens, he also designed several War Memorials including those at Cheadle Hulme, Harrow, and Canterbury. He designed the Chapel at

Monkton Combe School Monkton Combe School is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school), in the village of Monkton Combe near Bath in Somerset, England. History Monkton Combe School was founded in 1868 by the Revd. Francis Pocock, a former curate ...

as its First World War Memorial, which opened in June 1925.

30 Euston Square

In 1906, Pite began his commission to build the headquarters of the London, Edinburgh and Glasgow Assurance Company at 30 Euston Square. It was a magnificent building of

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

, Grecian in style and spanning seven floors. The building took two years to build and was opened on 22 January 1908. The main entrance hall was decorated with yellow and sage green Doulton Parian ware, tiled arches and a curious ceiling of dentils. The

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

floor features an astrological design. The director's boardrooms on the first floor are lined in oak with oak strip floors and stunning marble fireplaces as their focal point. The basement housed the records for the Assurance Company; the walls are three feet thick in places and further protected by steel "bomb blast" doors. The new office building was also fitted with a passenger lift, electric lighting and oil-fired central heating. Considerably modern for its time, Pite's detail was meticulous; each window arch was lined with white glazed brick, which can only be seen if you lean out of the window backwards! Five light wells, also lined in white glazed brick, flooded the lower floors with light. Further light was provided to the basement level by skylights. Pite was asked to add further extensions fronting Melton Street almost as soon as the Euston Square building was finished. He continued to enlarge the building for almost 20 years with the addition of the 9 Melton Street tower being his final work there. With the widening of

Euston Road Euston Road is a road in Central London that runs from Marylebone Road to Kings Cross, London, King's Cross. The route is part of the London Inner Ring Road and forms part of the London congestion charge zone boundary. It is named after Euston ...

in the late 1920s the final expansion took place; the architect this time was not Pite but one of his contemporaries, Josiah Gunton. The London, Edinburgh and Glasgow Assurance Company had moved out in 1910, the new occupants were the National Amalgamated Approved Society. The building is Grade II* listed due to its significant architectural importance.

The Marylebone years

At least half of Pite's smaller commissions were in the Marylebone area off

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It marks the notional boundary between the areas of Fitzrovia and Marylebone to t ...

. He always retained an office in this vicinity even when he lived in Brixton and

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Prior to 1965, it was part of Kent. It is situated north of Elmers End and Eden Park, east of Penge, south of Lower Sydenham and Bellingham, and west ...

. At 48

Harley Street Harley Street is a street in Marylebone, Central London, named after Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.mansard A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...

. The sculptures flanking the 2nd floor, seated male and female figures, were not by Pite but produced by the firm of

Farmer & Brindley Farmer & Brindley was a firm of architectural sculptors and ornamentalists based in London, founded by William Farmer (1825–1879) and William Brindley (1832–1919). The firm, located on Westminster Bridge Road in Lambeth, south London, flour ...

, architectural sculptors. Arguably one of Pite's most revered works is 37 Harley Street in South East Marylebone. Built in 1897-9, architectural press at the time proclaimed it to be 'nothing short of a revolution in Harley Street architecture'. Pite regularly attended the Nash-built

All Souls Church All Souls Church, All Soul's Chapel, and variations, may refer to: United Kingdom *Church of All Souls, Bolton *All Souls' Church, Halifax *All Souls Church, Hastings *All Souls' Church, Blackman Lane *All Souls Church, Langham Place *All Souls Ch ...

in Langham Place, where he was invited to design the Peace Memorial floor of 1918/19. Its

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

mosaic style is reminiscent of his floor in the London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow Assurance Company's entrance hall.

Later life

In 1914, Pite moved his home to

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

. Following Mary's death, his sister Annie cared for Arthur and his family. His daughter Grace who suffered ill health spent most of her time at Earlywood with Sadler, the family's old nanny as she felt the coastal air more beneficial. In 1919 Pite became a Governor of

, a position he held until 1931. In 1930, Pite moved to

, Kent to live near his brother William and this is where on 27 November 1934 he died from exhaustion and skin cancer. He is buried in London at

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of ...

.Brian Hanson, 'Pite, Arthur Beresford (1861–1934)'

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pite, Arthur Beresford 1861 births 1934 deaths Architects from London Academics of the Royal College of Art People from Newington, London Governors of Monkton Combe School Burials at West Norwood Cemetery