Charles Henry Edward Bridgen [also known as C. H. E. Bridgen, and as Charles H.B. Bridgen] was born in Acton, London, England on 30 July 1878. After attending Wells Technical Institute in 1892-93, he was articled to George Heywood Truefitt (1855-1924) and Archibald Duncan Watson (1862-1916) of Truefitt & Watson in London from 18994 to 1896. He then worked as an assistant to Charles Valentine Hunter (1843-1914) in 1897-98; to William West Neve (1852-1942) in 1898; to Henry Thomas Gordon (1845-1921) and Edward John Lowther (1846-1900) of Lowther & Gunton in 1899-1900; in the Admiralty Department of Works in 1900; and to Arthur Walter Saxon Snell (1860-1949) from 1900.
Bridgen qualified as an architect in 1901. He practised initially in London. By the early 1920s he had relocated to York, Yorkshire. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1901, and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1927. He was also a member of the York and East Yorkshire Architectural Society and its President in the early 1940s. In the 1920s and 1930s he was employed as architect by the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER).
His address was given as 25 Calthorpe Street, London, and 22 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London in 1901; 82 Coram Street, Brunswick Square, London in 1907; "The Croft", Rosebank Avenue, Greenford Road, Harrow, Middlesex in 1910 and 1914; "Meadowcroft", Malton Road, York, Yorkshire in 1923 and 1926; "Lion House", 6 South View, Acomb Road, York, Yorkshire in 1930; 102 East Parade, Heworth, York, Yorkshire in 1935 and 1939; and Roseacre Lane, Bearsted, Kent in 1952. He died in London on 20 January 1952
Houses at Gosforth Garden Village, Newcastle upon Tyne (1927); the Royal Station Hotel, Hull (1930s)
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