The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club - geograph

Joseph Emberton (23 December 1889 – 20 November 1956) was an English architect of the early modernist period. He was born 23 December 1889 in

Audley, Staffordshire Audley is a large village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Audley Rural, in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Newcastle-under-Lyme district, in Staffordshire, England. It is the centre of Audley Rural parish, approximately four ...

and was educated 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 ...

. He first worked for the London architects Trehearne and Norman between 1913 and 1914, before serving as a gunner in the

Honourable Artillery Company The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...

during the

First World War 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 ...

. In 1923 he designed Olympia National, then known as the New Hall. This sat alongside Olympia Grand at the Kensington event venue. 1932 saw the construction of his second addition to Olympia – Olympia Central (initially named the Empire Hall). These halls, along with other event spaces, all make up one of London's largest event venues –

Olympia London Olympia Events, formerly known as Olympia London and sometimes referred to as the Olympia Exhibition Centre, is an exhibition centre, event space and conference centre in West Kensington, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, L ...

His 1931 design of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club at Burnham-on-Crouch represented Britain at the influential International Exhibition of Modern Architecture held at Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1932. He went on to design the Simpsons of Piccadilly department store in 1936 with the interior designed by

László Moholy-Nagy László Moholy-Nagy (; ; born László Weisz; July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by Constructivism (art), con ...

, the facade and foyer for Green's Playhouse in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

in 1936, and the Casino Building at

Blackpool Pleasure Beach Pleasure Beach Resort, best known by its former name Blackpool Pleasure Beach, is an amusement park situated on Blackpool's South Shore, in the county of Lancashire, North West England. The park was founded in 1896 by A. W. G. Bean and his p ...

in 1939. Emberton was responsible for the design of the

HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...

store at 393 Oxford Street, London. He had to do it twice as the original 1936 burnt down and was replaced in 1939 by another of his design. In 1952 Joseph Emberton was appointed architect of the Brunswick Close Estate, in an area of Finsbury, London that had suffered extensive damage during WWII. He died before the project was completed. Carl Ludwig Philipp Franck, as principal of the firm Emberton, Franck & Tardew, took charge and saw it to completion in 1958. Emberton's archive is located at the University of Brighton Design Archives.University of Brighton
Design Archives
(2012). Retrieved 2 November 2012. Emberton married Kathleen Marie (née Chantrey; born 1906/7), who was the daughter of the chartered accountant, William Herbert Chantrey. The couple had two daughters. He died in London on 20 November 1956.

Notes

References

* Anthony Sutcliffe (2006). ''London: An Architectural History''. Yale University Press. .

External links

Joseph Emberton's family films at Screen Archive South East.

Joseph Emberton Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emberton, John 1889 births 1956 deaths Alumni of the Royal College of Art British Army personnel of World War I 20th-century English architects Honourable Artillery Company soldiers Architects from Staffordshire People from Audley, Staffordshire Military personnel from Staffordshire