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C. B. AND C. E. PEARSON, LANCASTER ARCHITECTS, 1904–1939

James Price

Abstract

This paper covers the work of two architects, father and son, who worked in Lancaster between

1904 and 1939. Initially the firm undertook a wide range of local commissions, e.g. houses, shops

and public buildings. After 1918 C. B. Pearson entered national competitions, which increased in

number with the arrival of his son in the practice in 1931, giving them a national reputation. Both

father and son were fine draughtsmen and, in addition to exhibiting drawings at the Royal Academy,

also provided drawings for other architects’ commissions.

The development of the practice

The Pearson architectural practice was founded by Charles Bulman Pearson in 1904, his son

Charles Edward joining as a Partner in 1931. This paper details the work of the practice from its

foundation up to the outbreak of World War Two. After 1945 C.E. Pearson ceased to be only a local

architect, opening offices in London (1946) and Manchester (1949), and instead of working alone

he became the leader of a large group of architects, the bulk of their commissions being team

efforts. In 1958 the grandson of the founder (Michael Pearson) opened an office in London in his

own name and in 1982 the Lancaster office closed. The Michael Pearson Associates Practice

operated for many years thereafter.

Figure 1 C.B. Pearson (left) and C.E. Pearson (right)

Source: Lancaster Guardian 2004

Charles Bulman Pearson (Figure 1) was born in Milnthorpe (now in Cumbria) in 1876, moving to

Lancaster in 1890 when he became, firstly, an office boy to E.H. Dawson and then his articled pupil

(1890–6) (Price 2006–7). On E.H. Dawson’s death in 1896 Pearson became an Assistant to the

Lancaster Borough Surveyor and worked later for the firm of Oliver and Dodgson in Carlisle.

Following some early training at the Storey Institute he joined the Architectural Schools of the

Royal Academy. After a brief spell in Hull, where he got married and his daughter was born, he

returned to Lancaster. In 1904 he set up as an architect at 12A Cheapside, later moving to Dalton

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Square (1907–60). He designed a wide range of buildings in and around Lancaster, including

houses, offices and shops (Pearson 1992). He was a superb draughtsman (as was his son), as early

as 1906 contributing drawings to the Annual Royal Academy Drawings Exhibition. In addition to

his own drawings, when architectural commissions were scarce, he hired himself as a perspective

and competitions expert, providing other architects with drawings for their competition entries and

sometimes for their commissions.

The pattern of work in the practice shows periods without commissions such as the three or four

years after Bowerham Church in 1904 (Pearson 1992). During the General Strike both father and

son worked in London for Campbell Jones, Son and Smithers, designing a building for an insurance

company at the north-facing axis of London Bridge. They also probably worked for Sir John

Burnett, Tait and Lorn on the competition for the Port of London building on Tower Green. Two

prizes were awarded for the plan and elevations. C.B. Pearson also worked on the Lloyds Building

in Cornhill (Rogers 2010). In 1915 C.B. Pearson became a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British

Architects. While a Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery, he sketched designs for war

memorials in a “simple Classical Language of columns, obelisks and pediments” (Michael Pearson

personal communication). In 1918 he made an ambitious proposal for an entirely new cathedral for

Manchester to serve as memorial, civic symbol and contributor to the local economy. He also

suggested remodelling the Priory Church in Lancaster to secure it cathedral status and he proposed

adapting Lancaster Castle as a royal residence for the Duke of Lancaster (C.B. Pearson Brochure

1918; Michael Pearson personal communication). An example of his artistic skill is the measured

drawing of the choir stalls in the Priory Church. He died in 1944.

His son, Charles Edward Pearson (1907–82) attended Lancaster Royal Grammar School, worked

for Lancashire County Council and then became articled to his father, becoming his business

partner in 1931 (Figure 1). The architectural practice now became regional and then national rather

than just local. They entered increasing numbers of national competitions for hospitals, schools and

civic buildings, for example, obtaining First Prizes for their designs for Ramsey Grammar School,

Llandudno Hospital and Scunthorpe Civic Centre. From the end of the Second World War, the

practice was run by C.E. Pearson who had a team of Associates with offices in Lancaster, London

and Manchester, joined by later generations of the Pearson family. Tables 1 and 2 give more details

about the practice.

Table 1 Members of the Practice

C.B. Pearson F.R.I.B.A, 1876–1944

C. E. Pearson F.R.I.B.A, 1907–1982

from 1931 a partner in Charles B. Pearson and Son

Michael Pearson F.R.I.B.A 1931–

1958 -77 Partner in C.B. Pearson and Son

1977 Michael Pearson opened an office in London

1982 Established Michael Pearson Associates

Table 2 Practice names, dates and locations

1904–07 C.B. Pearson, Cheapside office

1907–60 Dalton Square office

1960–82 Dallas Road office

1931–82 C.B. Pearson and Son

c.1977 Pearson International established

1982 Closure of Lancaster office, Dallas Road, now a dental clinic

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1982– Michael Pearson Associates (Michael, Karine (daughter) and Abigail (daughter) Pearson)

Practice Styles and Work

Table 3 is a list of the known works of the practice between 1904 and 1939. During this period the

partners made use of a number of styles – Neo-Classical, Arts and Crafts and Vernacular, Gothic

and Modernist. For much of the time a classical architectural language was a feature of their work,

something that was especially apparent in C.B. Pearson’s early work. The arrival of C.E. Pearson

brought in a Modernist style.

Neo-classical style

Bowerham Mission Hall (1904) appears to be a simple design but it contains classical features such

as arched windows with a trace of a keystone on the central axis, the volutes that encase it and the

flagpole (Figure 2). E.B. Dawson (the father of E.H. Dawson to whom he had been articled) laid the

foundation stone.

Figure 2 Bowerham Mission Hall (1904)

Source: Bowerham United Reformed Church records

In 1906 C.B. Pearson entered the competition for the new County Hall for London County Council.

This shows his skilful handling of the Classical style with a Beaux Arts façade with pilasters and his

favoured round windows.

1921–3 The New Kinema (cinema) in Carnforth shows a late use of the Classical with its four

bulging pillar and Ionic capitals. The Village Halls of Glasson and Arnside also have Classical

features.

1931 Moorgarth, Lancaster, is a house that displays some classical features – circular windows and

banded chimneys, yet it reflects a more Modernist approach with its symmetry (Figure 3). It has

elements of a French seventeenth-century design. During the First World War C.B. Pearson made a

number of sketches for war memorials in a Classical style.

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Figure 3 Moorgarth, Lancaster (1931) Source: Rogers 2010

Arts and Crafts and Vernacular styles

Inverlune is a large country house designed by C.B. Pearson in 1910 for E.B. Dawson (1830–1916),

the father of the man to whom he had been articled (Figure 4). It is in an Arts and Crafts style and

C.B. Pearson is likely to have drawn on two houses by C.F.A. Voysey in the Lake District, Broad

Leys and Moor Crag. They have the Voysey ‘trademarks’ of deep windows and vernacular

chimneys from the Lakes. He made use of banding on the chimney pots and gave it a half-timbered

tower with an open top floor.

Figure 4 Inverlune, Lancaster (1910) Source: Pearson 1992

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Gothic style

C.B. Pearson’s love of Gothic led to his proposal for remodelling Lancaster Priory and also

adapting the Castle as a royal residence. 1918 he put forward a proposal for a new Manchester

Cathedral in the Gothic style.

Modernist style

In 1934 the rebuilding of Morecambe’s Central Pier saw the Pearsons design a New Dance Pavilion

with strip windows, exuberant lighting and a dramatic ribbed, barrel-vaulted ceiling (Figure 5). In

1936 a design for Harpenden Public Hall adopted a new approach that looked to the work of

Continental architects. Two designs, Llandudno Hospital (1936) and Scunthorpe Civic Centre

(1937) displayed the Modernist approach that the practice would develop after 1945.

Figure 5 New Dance Pavilion, Central Pier, Morecambe (1934)

Source: Rogers 2010

Figure 6 Hart and Levy shop, Cheapside, Lancaster 1928

Source: Pearson 1992

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Table 3 Selected architectural commissions and competitions up to 1939

1904 Bowerham Mission Hall, Lancaster (now Bowerham United Reformed Church)

1906 County Hall, London County Council competition

1910 Inverlune, Aldcliffe, Lancaster

1914 Concrete Cottage competition, Lancaster

1918 Proposal for a cathedral as a war memorial in Manchester

1920 Southport Secondary School competition

1920 Glasson Dock Memorial Hall

1921–3 The New Kinema (Cinema), Carnforth

1922 Daily Mail Competition for Labour-Saving Bungalows (Daily Mail [1923])

1924 Lowood, Arnside

1924 Warehouse and office, Cable Street, Lancaster

1925 Bridleway at Arnside

1926 Houses at Carus Park, Lancaster

1928 House at Bare Lane, Morecambe

1928 Hart and Levy Building, Cheapside, Lancaster (now Thomas Cook)

1929–30 Alterations to Penny’s Almhouses, Lancaster

1929 Arcade and Shops for Reddrops, Lancaster (the exhibition drawing is dated 1926)

1931 Ramsey Grammar School, Isle of Man

1931 Moorgarth, Lancaster

1931 Village Hall, Arnside

1932 Southampton Girls Grammar School competition

1932 Birmingham Mansion House competition

1934 Central Pier, Morecambe

1936 Harpenden Public Hall competition

1936 Llandudno Hospital competition

1936 Newport Civic Centre competition

1937 Scunthorpe Civic Centre competition

1937 St. Wilfrid’s Rectory, Halton

1938 Lancaster Lads Club, Dallas Road, Lancaster

1938 The Cross Keys public house, Slyne

Sources: Hartwell and Pevsner 2009; Pearson 1992; Rogers 2010

Table 4 Drawings exhibited at the Royal Academy up to 1939

1920 Memorial Hall and Cross at Glasson Dock

1921 Southport Secondary School competition

1921 House and Cottage at Lancaster

1925 Warehouse and office in Lancaster

1925 Houses at Bare, Arkholme and Arnside

1926 Houses at Carus Park, Lancaster

1926 New premises at Lancaster for Reddrops shop

Table 5 Successes in architectural competitions up to 1939

1905 Preston Secondary School. Second Prize

1914 Concrete Cottage. Second Prize

1920 Southport Secondary School. Selected

1922 Labour-Saving Bungalow. Daily Mail Books

1931 Ramsey Grammar School. First Prize

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1932 Southampton Girls Grammar School. Second Prize

1932 Birmingham Mansion House. Highly Commended

1936 Llandudno Hospital. First Prize

1936 Harpenden Public Hall. Third Prize

1937 Scunthorpe Civic Centre. Third Prize

1938 Chester Royal Infirmary. Second Prize

Acknowledgements

Much of the material used in this article is drawn from the unpublished dissertation (The Bartlett School of

Architecture, London, 1992) by Abigail E. Pearson, the great granddaughter of C.B. Pearson, entitled “The

Architectural Works of Charles B. Pearson and Charles E. Pearson prior to the Second World War”. A second

source is “The Power and Process: the Architecture of Michael Pearson” by Chris Rogers (London: Black

Dog Publishing Ltd, 2010). Michael Pearson has given permission for the publication here of the four

illustrations taken from his work and that of his daughter.

Author Profile

James Price read Geography at Hull University. After time in the steel industry and teaching in secondary

schools he lectured in Geography for 30 years at the University College of St Martin in Lancaster. He has

published widely on industrial archaeology, Lancaster architects and the local history of North Lancashire. In

2016 he moved with Anne to Bedford.

References

Daily Mail [1923] The Daily Mail Bungalow Book 1922. London: Associated Newspapers

Hartwell C and Pevsner N 2009 Lancashire: North. The Buildings of England. New Haven: Yale University

Press

Pearson AE 1992 The Architectural Works of Charles B. Pearson and Charles E. Pearson prior to the

Second World War. Unpublished dissertation, University College London, The Bartlett School of

Architecture

Pearson CB 1918 Brochure

Pearson M Letters to James Price, dated 11 February 2006 and 25 October 2006

Pearsons’ Lancaster: an Exhibition of Drawings by Charles B and Charles E Pearson. Held at the Dukes

Theatre Gallery, Moor Lane, Lancaster from 27 March to 7 April 2006

Price J 2006–07 Edward Howard Dawson, ARIBA, 1864–1896. Contrebis 31, 58–64

Rogers C 2010 The Power of Process: The Architecture of Michael Pearson. London: Black Dog

Publishing