Charles Ernest Elcock was born in Belfast, Ireland on 29 September 1878 and attended Belfast Technical College in 1895-96. He was articled to James J. Phillips and James St. John Phillips of J. J. Phillips & Son in Belfast from 1896 to 1901, during which time he also studied at Belfast School of Art. He then worked as an assistant to John James Burnet (1857-1938) in Glasgow from 1901 to 1905; and to Huon Arthur Matear (1856-1945) and Frank Worthington Simon (1863-1933) of Matear & Simon in Liverpool in 1905-06.
Elcock commenced independent practice as an architect in 1906, and from 1906 was in partnership with J. M. Porter as J. M. Porter & Elcock in Colwyn Bay, Wales. The partnership was dissolved in 1912 and from 1912 to 1914 he was in partnership with John Brooke (1853?-1914) as Brooke & Elcock in Manchester. Elcock then moved to London where he practised alone until 1923 when he took his former pupil, Frederick Sutcliffe (1890-1958), into partnership as Elcock & Sutcliffe. The practice specialised in hospital architecture and designed or acted as consultants in the design of a number of hospitals and healthcare units in the 1920s and 1930s.
Elcock was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1911 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1912. He died in London on 21 April 1944.
St. Andrew's Church, Colwyn Bay; St. John's Church (addition), Colwyn Bay; Wesleyan Church, Old Colwyn; Congregational Schools, Rhos-on-Sea: Penrhos Coll., Colwyn Bay; additions to Gwrych Castle, Abergele; large domestic and general work In N. Wales; Parr's Bank and District Bank, Colwyn Bay; Chateau d'Angevllllers, near Paris (in collaboration with M. Louis Logrand, Paris). [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1914]
Denbigh Town Hell, N. Wales, 1914-16; additions to Gwrych Castle, N. Wales, 1914; Wrenbury Hall, Cheshire, 1914-15; St. Peter's Church, Earle Street, Crewe (in conjunction with the late John Brooke, F.R.I.B.A.), 1914-23; Hospitals at Manchester and Harrogate, 1925. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1926]
Other work by Elcock included The Daily Telegraph Building in London (1925) in association with Sir John James Burnet & Son; Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital in Dublin (1929-1934)' and the Hospital for Sick Children in Belfast (1939-40)
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
Harwood, Elain. Art Deco Britain: Buildings of the Interwar Years. London: Batsford, 2019
Who's Who in Architecture 1914. London: Technical Journals Ltd., 1914
Who's Who in architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: Architectural Press, 1926