John Horner Hargreaves was born in Southport, Lancashire, England on 14 May 1881 and was articled to Edward George Stead [possibly in Blackpool, Lancashire] from 1896 to 1900 . He also attended Manchester Municipal School of Art. In 1900 he went as an improver to William Owen (?-1910) and Segar Owen (1874) of Messrs W. & S. Owen in Warrington, Cheshire and then remained with them as an assistant. He was also architectural assistant to Fulham Borough Council from 1903 to 1905, and to Brookes' Estate Offices in Manchester from 1905. In 1907 he designed the layout of Burnage Garden Village near Manchester.
Hargreaves qualified as an architect in 1906 and was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1907. Drawings of the end of a room and a hall ingle designed by Hargreaves are illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1907 (p.54). By 1924 Hargreaves was working as an architect for the local authority in Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire. He was active as an architect until at least the late 1930s.
In addition to his work as an architect, Hargreaves was also a painter and between 1899 and 1902 exhibited architectural subjects at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and the Royal Academy in London.
He died on 8 October 1939 while on war service [Probate records]. His address at the time of his death was 95 Lawson Road, Thornton-le-Fyle, Lancashire
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
Harrison, Michael. ‘Burnage Garden Village: An Ideal for Life in Manchester’. The Town Planning Review vol. 47, no. 3, July 1976 pp. 256-268