Harold Frank Hoar [commonly known as Frank Hoar or 'Acanthus'] was born in India on 13 September 1909. He studied at Plymouth College in Plymouth, England, and at Bartlett School of Architecture and the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London under under Henry Tonks and A.E. Richardson. He subsequently worked as an architect, town planner, cartoonist and painter.
Hoar was the architect of London's Gatwick Airport, St. Dunstan's Church in Woking Surrey, St. Saviour's Church in Hythe, Kent, and numerous commercial and residential buildings.
His work as a cartoonist appeared in 'Punch', 'Men Only', 'Building', 'Evening Standard', 'Daily Telegraph', 'London Opinion'.
Hoar painted two carriage pictures for the London & North Eastern Railway in the 1940s - Blakeney, Norfolk, and Overy Staithe, Norfolk. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in London and is represented in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Hoar was the author of 'Pen and Ink Drawing' (London: The Studio, 1955), 'Introduction to English Architecture' (London: Evans Brothers, 1963), and 'European Architecture: From Earliest Times to the Present Day' (London: Evens Brothers, 1967).
He was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1931 and later a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA). He was also an Associate Member of the Town Planning Institute (AMTPI). During World War Two, Hoar worked in the Rescue Service. He lived in Woking, Surrey, for many years and died on 3 October 1976.