Kenneth Mervyn Baskerville Cross [also known as K.M.B. Cross] was born at 71 Parliament Hill Road, Hampstead, Middlesex [now London], England on 8 December 1890 and was the son the architect Alfred William Stephens Cross (1858-1932) with whom he was articled. He also attended the School of Architecture, Cambridge University. In 1919 he commenced independent practice as an architect and in 1922 formed the London-based architectural partnership A.W.S. & K.M.B. Cross (Cross & Cross) with his father. The firm specialised in the design of public swimming pools and baths and were joint authors of Modern Public Baths and Wash-Houses (London: Amateur Swimming Association, 1930, revised 1938). By the early 1930s K.M.B. Cross was in partnership with Cecil Alfred Leonard Sutton (1886-1965) in the architectural firm Cross & Sutton.
Kenneth Mervyn Baskerville Cross was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (F.R.I.B.A.) in 1931, and served as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (P.R.I.B.A.) from 1956 to 1958. He was also an honorary fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the American Institute of Architects, and the New Zealand Institute of Architects, and a life fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. He died in Chelmsford, Essex on 16 January 1968
A biographical file on Kenneth Mervyn Baskerville Cross is available on request at the Enquiry Desk, Royal Institute of British Architects Library, London
In partnership with A. W. S. Cross: houses at Cheam (1919), Abingdon (1920), Byfleet (1921), and Boxmoor (1922); additions to St. John's College, Cambridge (1921-22); public baths at Walker (Newcastle-on-Tyne), Heaton (Newcastle-on-Tyne), and Deptford. As sole architect: — Additions to Upshire Bury, Waltham Abbey (1922); showroom, workshop and offices at Windermere (1922); house at Elstead (1922); alterations and additions, Bowes and Bowes, Cambridge (1923); bungalow at Tiptree (1923); bungalow and farm buildings at Sandon (1924); the Soho swimming pool in Westminster, London (1928); Ironmonger Row Baths in Islington, London (1931, with additions 1937); Town Hall in Morecambe, Lancashire (1931-32); and a sea-water swimming pool in Morecambe, Lancashire which opened in 1936.
Independently, K.M.B. Cross designed the Nurses' swimming bath at London Hospital, Stepney (1937); Pier Approach Baths, Bournemouth, Hampshire [now Dorset] (1937); t. Marylebone Public Baths, London (1937); changing rooms for Whitgift Grammar School Croydon (1946); conversion of the ground floor and basement of No. 9 Stanhope Gate, Park Lane, London, and part of the ground floor and basement of Stanhope House, into premises for Barclays Bank Limited (1952); and a cafe for Messrs. Goodbody's Ltd, New George Street, Plymouth, Devon (1955).
Cross, K. M. B. ‘St. Marylebone Public Baths, London’ Architect & Building News 23 April 1937 p. 93
Cross, K. M. B. ‘‘Nurses' swimming bath, London Hospital, Stepney’. The Builder 23 April 1937 p. 881
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
Who’s Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The Architectural Press, 1926
‘Bournemouth, new Pier Approach Baths’ [Architect: K. M. B. Cross]. Architect & Building News 2 April 1937, supplement (before p. 1)
‘Cafe for Messrs. Goodbody's Ltd, New George Street, Plymouth’ [Architect: Kenneth M. B. Cross] The Builder 30 December 1955, pp. 1124-1125.
‘Changing rooms for Whitgift Grammar School Croydon’ [Architect: K. M. B. Cross]. The Builder 1946 11 October 1946 p. 374+
'Conversion of the ground floor & basement of No. 9 Stanhope Gate, Park Lane, London, & part of the ground floor & basement of Stanhope House, into premises for Barclays Bank Limited’. [Architect: Kenneth M. B. Cross]. The Builder 17 October 1952, pp. 541-544.
‘Obituary’. Building vol. 216, 26 January 1968
‘Obituary’. RIBA Journal vol. 75, 1968 p. 102