William Edward Trent

William Edward Trent (1874 - 1948) was a British architect.

His cousin was the sculptor and medallist Newbury Abbot Trent.

Together with Henry Poston, to whom he was apprenticed, and then his assistant, he was the architect for the Earl of Essex, a Grade II listed public house at 616 Romford Road, Manor Park, London, built in 1902.

Having been articled to Henry Poston of Lombard Street, London in 1892, he remained with Poston as his assistant until he started an independent practice in London in 1905.

From 1909, Trent specialised in cinema design. This led to his appointment first as the Chief Architect to Provincial Cinematograph Theatres (PCT), and then as architect to the Gaumont British Picture Corporation, which took over PCT in 1929. These cinemas included the Apollo Victoria Theatre and the Gaumont Finchley (1937) that he designed with the assistance of his son W. Syndey Trent and R. Golding.

His son William Sydney Trent (1903-1944) was also an architect. When his father became a full-time employee of PCT, his son took over his private practice, retaining him as a consultant. However, he joined Gaumont British in 1932 to help his father with the huge increase in work with the advent of the talkies.

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