Thomas Retford Somerford (1881 - 25 June 1948) was a British architect, best known for the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...

billiard hall A billiard hall, also known as a pool hall, snooker hall, pool room or pool parlour, is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments commonly serve alcohol and often ha ...

s he designed for the Temperance Billiard Hall Co Ltd. The Temperance Billiard Hall Co Ltd was a

Pendleton, Lancashire Pendleton is a small village and civil parish in Ribble Valley, within the county of Lancashire, England. It is close to the towns of Whalley, Lancashire, Whalley and Clitheroe. The parish lies on the north west side of Pendle Hill below the N ...

company that as part of the wider temperance movement built billiard halls in the north of England and London. Somerford was initially an assistant to

Norman Evans Norman Evans (11 June 1901 – 25 November 1962) was an English stage and radio comedian, best remembered for his sketches and programmes entitled "Over the Garden Wall". Biography Evans was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, and started his worki ...

, and later was lead architect in his own right. Several of these former halls designed by Somerford are now

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 ...

buildings. His 1912-1914 hall at 134-141

King's Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents) is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an area in West London, England, due south-west of Kilometre zero#Great Britain, Charing Cross by approximately . It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the SW postcode area, south-western p ...

is now a

building. Somerford's hall at 411-417

Coldharbour Lane Coldharbour Lane is a road in south London, England, that leads south-westwards from Camberwell to Brixton. The road is over long with a mixture of residential, business and retail buildings – the stretch of Coldharbour Lane near Brixton Ma ...

, Brixton, London is also still there, but the frontage has been sub-divided into a number of smaller shop units, and the upper storeys are used as a hotel. Together with fellow architect E A Stone, he designed the Astoria in Brixton, London in 1929 (now the

Brixton Academy Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Lon ...

music venue).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Somerford, Thomas 20th-century British architects 1881 births 1948 deaths