Walter Samuel Braithwaite was born in Leeds, Yorkshire on 9 January 1855* and was baptised on 5 April 1855. He was articled to Thomas Ambler (1838-1920) and then worked in the office of John Winn & Son, builders, before returning to Ambler as his chief assistant.
Braithwaite commenced independent practice as an architect in Leeds in 1880. From 1919 he was in partnership with Harry F. Jackman. In 1893 Braithwaite was appointed architect to Leeds School Board in 1891
He was elected a Member of the Society of Architects (MSA) in 1884. He was also a member of the Leeds & Yorkshire Architectural Society and its Vice-President.
Braithwaite lived in Leeds throughout his career as an architect. He died on 12 October 1923. His address at the time of his death was given as St. Mark's Villas, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. His son was the architect James Ellis Braithwaite (1880-1916) who died as a result of his injuries whilst serving in the Army in France on 4 October 1916
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* Braithwaite's date of birth is sometime incorrectly given as 6 January 1854, and his year of death as 1922
Braithwaite was an active Methodist and designed a number of Methodist chapels in Leeds. He also designed the Whitehall Road printing works in Leeds; Leeds Industrial Co-operative Society's Albion Street premises; and Lawnswood Crematorium, inLeeds (1905)
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
Jackman, Paula, 'Walter Samuel Braithwaite', in Christopher Webster (ed.), Building a Great Victorian City: Leeds Architects and Architecture, 1790-1914. Newcastle upon Tyne: Northern Heritage Publications, 2017