Peter Cummings

FRIBA 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 ...

FMSA (1879 – 8 June 1957) was a British architect of Russian origin. He was a leading

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

architect in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England. Cummings was born Peter Caminesky in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. He moved to

Cheetham Hill Cheetham is an inner-city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England, which in 2011 had a population of 22,562. It lies on the west bank of the River Irk, north of Manchester city centre, close to the boundary with Salford, bounded by Cru ...

, northern England, in 1880 with his parents, due to persecution. His father was a

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

. He worked as an architectural assistant in his teenage years. Cummings was elected Associate of the

RIBA ''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130

in 1909. He anglicised his name and became naturalised in 1928. Cummings was the architect of the

Cornerhouse Cornerhouse was a cinema and contemporary visual arts centre next to Oxford Road Station on Oxford Street, Manchester, England, from 1985 to 2015. It had three floors of art galleries, three cinemas, a bookshop, bar and café. Cornerhouse was ...

(originally Tatler) cinema (1934) and the

Manchester Apollo The O2 Apollo Manchester (known locally as The Apollo and formerly Manchester Apollo and ABC Ardwick) is a concert venue in Ardwick Green, Manchester, England. It is a Grade II listed building, with a capacity of 3,500 (2,514 standing, 986 seats ...

theatre (1937–1938) in Manchester. The

Appleby Lodge Appleby Lodge is a set of three-storey 1930s blocks of flats with eight entrance doors, opposite Platt Fields Park on Wilmslow Road in Rusholme, Manchester, England. The blocks are in a U-shape around a central garden. Overview The buildings c ...

apartment blocks on

Wilmslow Road Wilmslow Road is a major road in Manchester, England, running from Parrs Wood northwards to Rusholme where it becomes the Oxford Road. The name of the road changes again to Oxford Street when it crosses the River Medlock before reaching Manchest ...

Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England, two miles south of the Manchester city centre, city centre. The population of the ward at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorl ...

, were designed by Gunton & Gunton with Peter Cummings and built during 1936–1939. From 1939, Peter Cummings lived at Appleby Lodge with his new wife Esther. The blocks were

Grade II listed 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, H ...

in 2003. He also designed the

Manchester Reform Synagogue The Manchester Reform Synagogue is a Reform Jewish congregation based in Central Manchester, England, in the United Kingdom. The congregation, founded in 1857 as the Manchester Congregation of British Jews, is one of the oldest Reform communiti ...

with Eric Levy (1952, opened in 1953), after the original building was destroyed in 1941 during the

Manchester Blitz The Manchester Blitz (also known as the Christmas Blitz) was the heavy bombing of the city of Manchester and its surrounding areas in North West England during the Second World War by the German ''Luftwaffe''. It was one of three major raid ...

References

1879 births 1957 deaths Russian Jews Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom Architects from Manchester People from Cheetham Hill English Jews Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects {{UK-architect-stub

See also

References