Herbert James Rowse

Herbert James Rowse (10 May 1887 – 22 March 1963) was an English architect. Born in Liverpool and a student of Charles Reilly at the Liverpool University School of Architecture, Rowse opened an architectural practice in the city. Although he designed major buildings for other cities, Rowse is best known for his work in Liverpool, including India Buildings, the entrances to and ventilation towers of the Mersey Tunnel ("Queensway"), and the Philharmonic Hall. He designed in a range of styles, from neoclassical to Art Deco, generally with a strong American influence.

Rowse was born at 15 Melling Road, Liverpool, the son of James William Rowse, a builder, and his wife, Sarah Ann, née Cammack. He was schooled privately, and from 1905 to 1908 he studied at the Liverpool University School of Architecture. The school, under Charles Reilly, was at that time beginning its rise to be the most influential architectural college in the country. Rowse was awarded first-class honours in 1907 and was joint winner of the Holt Travelling Scholarship in Architecture, which took him to Italy and the US. While working in the office of the architect Frank Simon he was admitted to associate membership of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1910. Simon won an important Canadian commission in 1912, and Rowse worked in the firm's Winnipeg office in 1913. In June 1914 he returned to Liverpool, establishing his own practice.

During the First World War Rowse worked as an architect for the British navy. In July 1918 he married Dorothy (1893–1968), daughter of Thomas and Edith Parry of Crosby. They had two sons and a daughter, born between 1925 and 1933. After the war Rowse resumed his civilian practice with a commission for the Fairrie sugar refinery in Liverpool. In 1923 he entered an open competition for the design of India Buildings, a large development in the financial and administrative centre of Liverpool. The assessor was Giles Gilbert Scott; Rowse's design won, beating those by the architects of the Port of London Authority building, Tower Hill (Sir Edwin Cooper); the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall (Mewis and Davis); the Wolseley building, Piccadilly (Curtis Green); and the Cunard Building (Willing and Dodd) and Mersey Docks and Harbour Board building (Arnold Thornley), both at the Pier Head, Liverpool.

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