Emanuel Vincent Harris [also known as E. Vincent Harris] was born in at 3 Lambert Street, Devonport, Devon, England on 26 June 1876 and was articled to James Harvey in Plymouth, Devon from 1893 to 1897. He then worked as assistant to Edward Keynes Purchase (1862-1923), to Leonard Aloysius Scott Stokes (1858-1925) for nine months, and to Sir William Emerson (1843-1924). Harris qualified as an architect in 1900, and from 1901 [or 1902 - sources differ] to 1908 was employed by London County Council Architects' Department. He also attended the Polytechnic of Central London and, from 1900 to 1905, the Royal Academy Schools in London. In 1903 he was awarded 1903 RA Gold Medal and a travelling scholarship and in 1904 set up his own architectural practice.
Whilst working with the LCC, Harris entered a number of architectural competitions in collaboration with Thomas Anderson Moodie (1874-1946), a colleague at the LCC. After winning the competition for Glamorgan County Hall in Cardiff in 1908, Harris and Moodie left the LCC and set an architectural practice in London. They were also briefly in partnership with John Stanley Towse (1875-1951). The partnership between Harris and Moodie was dissolved in 1913 and Harris subsequently practised alone.
Harris was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architect (ARIBA) in 1900 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1914. His architectural drawings were exhibited at the Royal Academy in London and at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1936 and a Royal Academician (RA) in 1942. In 1935 he was elected a member of the Art Workers Guild. He was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1951. Harris died in Bath, England on 1 August 1971.
A biographical file on Emanuel Vincent Harris is available on request from the Enquiry Desk, Royal Institute of British architects Library, London.
Glamorgan County Hall in Cardiff (1908); 1 and 2 Duke Street, St. James's, London (1912); Fire Station, Cardiff (1912); Government Office Buildings (including Ministry of Defence), Victoria Embankment and Whitehall), London (1915-61); Sheffield City Hall (1920-34); a screen wall and racquets court in Carlos Place, London (1924); the extension to Manchester Town Hall (1925-38); Atkinsons Building, Old Bond Street, London (1926); Manchester Central Library (1925-38); Braintree Town Hall (1926-28); Leeds City Hall (1930-33); Fitzroy Park, Highgate, London, a house built for himself (1932–34); Somerset County Hall in Taunton (1932-36); Civic Hall, Leeds (1933); Bristol Council House (1935-39); Nottingham County Hall in Trent Bridge (1935-50); buildings at Durham University (1940s and 1950s); Mary Harris Memorial Chapel of the Holy Trinity, University of Exeter (1956–58); and his last building, Kensington Central Library, Kensington, London (1958–60).
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
Summerson, John. ‘Recent work of Mr E. Vincent Harris’. Country Life, vol. 75, 1934, pp. 423–426
‘Hatherley Biological laboratories, University College of the South-West, Exeter’ [Architect: E. Vincent Harris]. Building November 1953 pp. 421-427
‘New central library, Kensington, London’ [Architect: E. Vincent Harris]. Surveyor 27 August 1960 pp. 963-966
'New government building, Whitehall’ [Architect: E. Vincent Harris]. Heating & Ventilating Engineer November 1952 pp. 223-230
New government building, Whitehall’ [Architect: E. Vincent Harris]. Building September 1951 pp. 34-346
‘The royal gold medallist, 1951’, RIBA Journal, vol. 58, 1950–51, pp. 149–152