Christian August Barman [commonly known as Christian Barman] was born Berkshire, England on 13 September 1898 and trained as an architect at the University of Liverpool, School of Architecture. He then practised as an architect for a number of years.
Between 1921 and 1925 he was Assistant Secretary of the Society of Architects and in 1922 founded 'Architecture: the Journal of the Society of Architects'. In 1925 he was appointed joint editor of 'Architect's Journal', and in 1927 joint editor of 'Architectural Review'.
In 1933 he began working as a product designer for HMV and designed an electric iron and an electric fan for the company. In 1935 Frank Pick, vice-chairman of the London Passenger Transport Board, appointed Barman as publicity officer of the LPTB. Together with Pick, Barman was responsible for the general visual presentation of the organisation to the public over the next six years. In addition to commissioning designs for publicity material, signs, train interiors, station and street furniture, etc., Barman involved himself in designing some of the items, such as bus shelters.
He left the LPTB in 1941 to take up the post of Assistant Director of Post-War Building at the Ministry of Works. During this period he was organiser and editor of 'Post-War Building Studies' and editor of 'Housing Manual' (1944), and other Government publications on housing and building. Between 1945 and 1947 he worked as Public Relations Advisor to the Great Western Railway. He was then Chief Publicity Officer of the British Transport Commission from 1947 to 1962, and a member of the BTC Design Panel from 1956 to 1962.
Barman was the author of numerous books and articles on aspects of architecture, design, and transport. He also wrote a novel, 'Ramping Cat' (1941), under the pseudonym Christian Mawson.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1931, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and a Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers (FSIAD). Barman was also President of the Society of Industrial Artists in 1949-50. In 1948 he a was made a Royal Designer Designer for Industry (RDI) by the Royal Society of Arts and in 1963 was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He died in died in Reading, Berkshire on 5 October 1980.
Architectural works by Barman included Oratory Schools, Chelsea, London; and "Kinmara", Esher Place, Surrey, for Hugh Quigley (1934)
Sharples, Joseph, Powers, Alan and Shippobottom, Michael. Charles Reilly & the Liverpool School of Architecture 1904-1933. Catalogue of an exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 25 October 1996 - 2 February 1997. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1996 p. 166 [May contain other references to Barman, unfortunately, the catalogue is not indexed]
Thirties: British Art and Design before the War. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1979 [Catalogue of an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, London, 25 October-13 January 1979]