Francis Thomas Verity (1864–1937) was an English cinema

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

during the cinema building boom of the years following

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Early life

Verity was born in London, educated at

Cranleigh Cranleigh is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Waverley, Surrey, England. It lies southeast of Guildford on a minor road east of the A281, which links Guildford with Horsham. It is in the north-west corner ...

and joined Thomas Verity, his father, in his architectural practice, which specialised in

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

building.Earl and Sell (2000), pp. 283

Career

Both Veritys brought an interest in ornate Second Empire-style architecture to their early buildings, developing this into grand Beaux Arts in their later works. Many of the surviving buildings have achieved recognition in the late 20th century, becoming listed for their architectural significance. Frank Verity continued the practice on his father's death in 1891, and Sam Beverley, his son-in-law, joined the practice in the 1920s, which remains active today. The company designed over 25 cinemas, achieving a

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 ...

bronze medal for the Shepherd's Bush Pavilion cinema in 1930. Works include no 5 Lisle Street in London's

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

, with stepped gables and terracotta cladding. The building was the London office of Pathe films, then later a hospital and now a restaurant. In 1915 he was the architect of a block of flats on the site of the former

Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...

Park Lane Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park to ...

, the first such building in that important street.'Park Lane', in ''Survey of London: volume 40: The Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings) (1980)''
pp. 264-289
accessed 15 November 2010 Verity designed many central London premises, including: the

Carlton Theatre The Carlton Theatre was a West End of London, London West End dual-purpose theatre-cum-cinema built in 1927 for Adolph Zukor's Paramount Pictures. It continued in use as a cinema as the Empire Haymarket until its closure in May 2023. It was ...

(1927), now a cinema; the Embassy Theatre (1923) and restaurant in

High Holborn High Holborn ( ) is a street in Holborn and Farringdon Without, Central London, which forms a part of the A40 route from London to Fishguard. It starts in the west at the eastern end of St Giles High Street and runs past the Kingsway and ...

, now demolished and the site occupied by offices; and the Plaza Theatre (1926) as a cinema for Paramount - remains in use.

References

External links

Verity & Beverley Architects • Designers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verity, Thomas 1864 births 1937 deaths English theatre architects

Early life

Career

References

Further reading

External links