Arthur Francis Bryan was born in Lutterworth, Leicestershire on 13 November 1884. He was articled to William Morton Cowdell (1855-1925) from 1900 to 1904 and remained with him as his assistant. He also attended Leicester School of Art from 1900 to 1906 and the Architectural Association Schools in London in 1907-08. He worked as an assistant to Charles Harrison Townsend (1851-1928) from 1906, and with Leonard Aloysius Scott Stokes (1858-1925). Some time between 1910 and 1925 [dates unclear] Bryan was in partnership with Cowdell.
Bryan was a King's Prizeman and was awarded a Travelling Studentship by Leicester School of Art. He qualified as an architect in 1909 and was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1910. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1939. Bryan was also a member of the Leicester and Leicestershire Society of Architects and in the late 1930s was its President.
His address was given as 32 Queen's Road, St. John's Wood, London, and The Limes, Willoughby Waterless, Lutterworth, Leicestershire in 1910; 60 Solent Road, Hampstead, London in 1914; and St. Martin's Chambers, 8, New Street, Leicester in 1926 and 1939. He died in Leicester on 1 October 1948.
In conjunction with partner — the late W. M. Cowdell, F.R.I.B.A.: — Enlargements of the National Provincial Bank, Leicester; branch banks at Leicester and Hinckley; three branches for Leicester Savings Bank and enlargement of head office; additions to Leicester Town Hall for City Council; restorations, etc., at the Church of St. John the Divine, St. Peter's and St. George's Churches, Leicester; small holdings tor the Leicestershire County Council; housing schemes for the Blaby Rural District Council, and the Lutterworth Rural District Council; various private houses, Including house and buildings on the Leicester estate of the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Dysart; houses at Folkestone, Stoneygate, etc.; Church Hall, Lutterworth ; mission hall, Leicester; boot, shoe and hosiery factories, Leicester; Blackbird Mills. Leicester; In hand: — 240 model dwellings on the Sutton Trustees Leicester Estate. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1926]
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Who’s Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The Architectural Press, 1926