Thomas Edwin Cooper [also known as Edwin Cooper; and as Sir Edwin Cooper; also known as T. Edwin Cooper] was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England on 21 October 1874 and was articled to John Hall and Frank Alfred Tugwell (1862-1940) of Hall & Tugwell in Scarborough from 1885 to 1889. He then worked as an assistant to Walter Green Penty (1852-1902) in York, to James Demaine and Walter Henry Brierley (1862-1926) of Demaine & Brierley, and to Edward Goldie (1856-1921) and and Charles Edwin Child (1843-1911) of Goldie, Child & Goldie in London for two years.
In 1893 Cooper returned to Scarborough where, with Herbert Davis and John Hall, he established the architectural practice Hall, Cooper, and Davis. The partnership was dissolved in 1912 and Cooper formed a new partnership with Herbert Winkler Wills and John Anderson (1872-1962) in 1918.
Cooper was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1903. He was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1931. He was knighted in 1923. In 1930 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) and made a Royal Academician (RA) in 1937. He died of a heart attack whilst at work at 4 Verulam Buildings, Gray's Inn, London, on 24 June 1942. His chief assistant, Terence Heysham, continued the practice for a number of years.
Westwood higher grade school, Scarborough (1897); Scarborough College, on Filey Road, Scarborough, with Davis and Haa (1898); Medway College of Art, Rochester, Kent (1905); the Guildhall, Hull (1906-14); Royal Grammar School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1907); Public Library, Middlesborough, Yorkshire (1910-12); Headquarters of the Port of London Authority on Tower Hill, London (1912-23); Board of Trade offices, London (1914); Marylebone Town Hall in Marylebone, London (1914-20); offices for the Banque Belge in Bishopsgate, London (1919); the Baggage Hall of the Port of Tilbury in Essex (1920-21); Star and Garter Home on Richmond Hill, London (1921-25); offices for Spillers Ltd in St Mary Axe, London (1922–23); Headquarters of Lloyds of London in Leadenhall Street London (completed 1928); Holker Law Library, Gray's Inn, London, for Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, London (1929); and Riddell House: Nurses' home, St. Thomas's Hospital, London (1937).
Cooper became a specialist in medical and hospital buildings, and designed several. He also designed a number of school buildings, including at at Cranleigh School, Bryanston, and Bedales.
Cooper was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1903. He was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1931. He was knighted in 1923.
He was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy in London from 1912 to 1942 and was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1930 and a Royal Academician (RA) in 1937.
His address was given as 12 Gray's Inn Square, London in 1912; and from 1913 until his death, 4 Verulam Buildings, Gray's Inn, London from 1913 to 1942. Hedied on 24 June 1942. His chief assistant, Terence Heysham, continued the practice for a number of years.
A biographical file on Thomas Edwin Cooper is available at the Enquiry Desk, Royal Institute of British Architects Library, London.
See also:
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
Gray, A. Stuart. Edwardian architecture: a biographical dictionary. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd., 1985
Marriott, Charles. Modern English Architecture. London: Chapman & Hall, 1924
Powers, Alan. ‘Corinthian epics: the architecture of Sir Edwin Cooper’. Thirties Society Journal vol. 2, 1982, pp. 13–18
Who’s Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The Architectural Press, 1926
‘Board of Trade offices, London’ [Architect: Edwin Cooper]. The Builder 26 February 1915 p. 202
‘Holker Law Library, Gray's Inn, London, for Honourable Society of Gray's Inn’ [Architect: Sir Edwin Cooper] The Builder 10 January 1930 pp. 50, 52-53
'Lloyd's Leadenhall Street’ [Architect: Sir Edwin Cooper] Academy Architecture vol. 62, 1931 plates 71-89
'Lloyd's Leadenhall Street’. [Architect: Sir Edwin Cooper] The Builder 6 April 1928 pp. 570=577
‘Obituary’. Country Life vol. 92, 3 July 1942 p. 18
‘Obituary’. RIBA Journal vol. 49, July 1942 p. 49
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 163, 3 July 1942 p. 3
‘Obituary’. Architect & Building News vol. 171, 3 July 1942 p.2
‘Obituary’. Architectural Forum vol. 77, October 1942 p. 112
'Public Library and Town Hall Extension, St. Marylebone; Architect: Sir Edwin Cooper.’ Architect & Building News vol. 163, 26 July 1940 pp. 60-63.
‘Riddell House: Nurses' home, St. Thomas's Hospital’. [Architect: Sir Edwin Cooper] Architecture Illustrated November 1937 p. 130