Ernest Gladstone Allen was born in Croydon, Surrey, England on 29 December 1881 and was articled to Christopher Mitchell Shiner (1857-1944) in London from 1899-1903. He then remained with Shiner as his assistant. He also attended the Architectural Association Schools in London. He commenced independent practice in Croydon, Surrey [now London], England in 1905 and that year, with George Lionel Pepler (1882-1959), formed Pepler & Allen, an architectural partnership based in Croydon.
Peper & Allen won two gold medals at the Wolverhampton Model Housing Exhibition in 1908, and designed houses in Hampstead Garden Suburb.
In 1910 Allen set up a branch office of Pepler & Allen in Swansea, Wales where he remained for about four years. In c.1914 Allen returned to London and on 31 December 1914 by mutual consent the partnership between Pepler and Allen was dissolved. Allen continued to use the title Pepler & Allen for the name of the practice for some years. By the early 1920s it had been renamed Ernest G. Allen & Partners. By 1926 Allen was in partnership with Alfred Reginald Potter (1892-1968) as Allen & Potter. They had an office at 11 Arundel Street, Strand, London and remained in partnership until at least 1939.
Allen served as Town Planning Advisor to Hunslet Rural District Council, Tadcaster Council, Bromley Rural District Council, Tilbury Urban District Council, and Coulson and Purley Urban District Council.
He was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1904, and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1912. He was President of the Royal Town Planning Institute in 1936-37.
Allen's address was given as Wellesley Road, Croydon, Surrey in 1891; 10 Morland Road, Croydon, Surrey in 1901 and 1904; Wandle Court, Beddington, Surrey in 1906; Stone Cottage, Garden City Town Hill, Swansea, Wales in 1911 and 1912; Chingley, Park Gate Road, Wallington, Surrey in 1914; Paternoster House, 34, Paternoster Row, London in 1926; and 5 Park Road, East Grinstead, Sussex in 1964. He died in East Grinstead, Sussex on 13 October 1964.
A biographical file on Ernest Gladstone Allen is available at the RIBA Library in London
Various large estates developed on town-planning lines, notably Lord Lytton's, at Knebworth, and the Lees Trustees, near Manchester; 130 houses for Tilbury U.D.C.; New Coal Exchange, Swansea (in association with C. T. Ruthen); various private houses. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1914]
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Domestic work in various parts of the country; housing schemes for Public Utility Societies at Southampton, Eltham, Knebworth, Manchester, Swansea, Cuffley, since 1905; Chapel at Fforestfach, S. Wales, 1912; house, cottage and farm buildings at Poyning, Sussex, 1912; house and stables at Cuffley, Herts, 1913: Coal Exchange, Swansea (in conjunction with Sir Chas. Ruthen), 1913; 150 houses for Tilbury U.D.C., 1914-16: consulting architect for housing scheme for Carshalton U.D.C. (200 houses) and Tilbury U.D.C. (1,500 houses), 1918-20; total of 450 houses for Merton and Mordon U.D.C, Hunslet R.D.C., and Gainsborough U.D.C.; town planning schemes for Hunslet R.D.C. (3), Coulsdon and Purley U.D.C, and Bromley R.D.C, 1920-22. [Who's Who in Architecture 1926]
Allen, Ernest G. 'The restoration of old cottages'. The Builder 11 March 1921 pp. 314-315
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Who's Who in Architecture 1914. London: Technical Journals Ltd., 1914
Who's Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The Architectural Press, 1926