Bradshaw, Gass and Hope

Bradshaw Gass & Hope is an English firm of architects founded in 1862 by Jonas James Bradshaw (1837–1912). The style "Bradshaw Gass & Hope" was adopted after J. J. Bradshaw's death and referred to the remaining partners John Bradshaw Gass and Arthur John Hope.

Bradshaw, Gass and Hope is Bolton's oldest architectural practice. It was founded by Jonas James Bradshaw who opened an office in Nelson Square in 1862 and moved to 19, Silverwell Street in 1871. His nephew John Bradshaw Gass joined the company in 1882 and Arthur John Hope was articled to the firm in 1892 before becoming a partner in 1902. The firm's principal office is in Bolton, but branch offices were set up in Edinburgh and London when major projects were undertaken.

Although Bradshaw was capable of designing fine Gothic Revival houses, like Watermillock (1880–86) near Bolton, he mainly produced industrial buildings. The technical challenges of early iron and concrete framed factories led Bradshaw to employ engineers and quantity surveyors and thus founded one of the first multidisciplinary practices. The emphasis on engineering in the practice seems to have benefited John Parkinson (1861–1935), Bradshaw's apprentice from 1877 to 1882, who immigrated to America where he designed a number of high-rise buildings including Los Angeles City Hall (1928).

In the early twentieth century, Bradshaw Gass & Hope gained national prominence after winning a number of architectural competitions; the firm built seven town halls between 1928 and 1939 and extended Bolton Town Hall. During this period, Bradshaw Gass & Hope attracted many architecture students; half a dozen of these students would later head council architects departments across the country.

Until the 1960s most of the firm's work was in the Classical idiom.

Sir George Grenfell-Baines, the founder of Building Design Partnership, worked in the Bolton office from 1930 to 1934; he was impressed by the firm's multidisciplinary nature but dismayed by its strict hierarchical structure (at that time).

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