Andrew Noble Prentice [also known as A. N. Prentice] was born in Greenock, Renfrewshire Scotland on 20 April 1866. After studying at the University of Glasgow, he was articled to William Leiper (1839-1916) in Glasgow from 1883 to 1888. He then remained with him as an assistant for a further year. He also worked as an assistant to Thomas Edward Collcutt from 1890 to 1892.
Prentice qualified as an architect in 1891 and was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) later that year. He commenced independent practice as an architect in Glasgow in 1893 and from 1893 was in partnership with William M. Dean (1876-1933) in the London-based architecture practice Prentice & Dean. The partnership was dissolved in 1920, and after working for a period alone, formed another partnership, Preentice, Scaping & Wheatley, with H. J. Scaping and Arthur Henry Wheatley in London in 1935. The partnership was dissolved in 1940.
Prentice designed numerous houses in the Arts and Crafts style in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. He was a Soane Medallist in 1888 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1902. He was the author of Renaissance Architecture and Ornament in Spain (Batsford, 1893).
Prentice's address was given as 36 Chelsea Gardens, London in 1891; Hastings House, 10 Norfolk Street, Strand, London in 1893 and 1941; and 2 Pembridge Gardens, Bayswater, London in 1902.
He died in Greenock, Strathclyde, Scotland on 23 December 1941
A biographical file on Andrew Noble Prentice is available on request from the enquiry desk, RIBA Library, London
33 Bruton Street, London (1894); Bohun Lodge, Barnet, Middlesex (1894); House, Park Circus, Glasgow (1894); 4 Hamilton Place, London (1894); Bolney House, Knightsbridge, London (1896); 37 First Avenue, Brighton, Sussex (1896); House, Greenock, Scotland (1898); Cavenham Hall, Cavenham, Suffolk (1899); Auchendoune, Doune, Perthshire (1899); The Retreat, Lakenheath, Suffolk (1899); 56 De Pary’s Avenue, Bedford, Bedfordshire (1900); Kiosk, Glasgow International Exhibition (1901); 4 Yorke Road, Reigate, Surrey (1901); Fryern, Rook Lane, Chaldon, Surrey (1901; Ormidale, The Avenue, Royston Park Estate, Pinner, Middlesex (1901); Witham Hall, Witham-on-the-Hill, Lincolnshire (1903); Chelwood Manor, Nutley, Sussex (1904); 15 Eglinton Drive, Kelvinside, Glasgow (1904); Murray Lodge, Newmarket, Suffolk (1905); St Mary’s Church, Filey, Yorkshire (1906); Court Farm, Broadway, Worcestershire (1907); Orchard Farm, Broadway, Worcestershire (1907); Barn House, Broadway, Worcestershire (1908); Six Bells Inn, Witham-on-the-Hill, Lincolnshire (1908); Furzen Lease, South Cerney, Gloucestershire (1908); Abbot’s Grange, Broadway, Worcestershire (1908, 1912); Gardener’s cottage, Russell House, Broadway, Worcestershire (1910); Notgrove Manor, Notgrove, Gloucestershire (1910); Dumbleton Hall, Dumbleton, Gloucestershire (1910); Buckland Manor, Buckland, Gloucestershire (1910); Luggershill, Broadway, Worcestershire (1911); Stenigot Manor, Donington on Bain, Lincolnshire (1911); Examination Hall for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Queen Square, London (1911); Snowfield, Bearsted, Kent (1911); Little Snowfield, Bearsted, Kent (1912); Top Farm, Willersey, Gloucestershire (1912); Lintrathen, Greenock, Scotland (1912); Cottages, Edgeworth Manor, Gloucestershire (1913); Further Barton, Cirencester, Gloucestershire (1914); Symington Lodge, Biggar, Lanarkshire (1914); Lifford Memorial Hall, Broadway, Worcestershire (1915); Combend, Elkstone, Gloucestershire (1921); Villa Bijou, 19 Avenue de la Costa, Monte Carlo, Monaco (1921); Daglingworth Manor, Daglingworth, Gloucestershire (1922); Warneford House, Sudgrove, Gloucestershire (1924); Villa, Lerici, Italy (1926); St Martin’s Library, Westminster, London (1928); Cottage, Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire (1934) North Bay House, Oulton Broad, Norfolk; (c.1934); Interior design of ocean liners: S.S. Orvieto (1909), S.S Oriento (1909), S.S. Otway (1910), S. S. Orama (1924); S.S. Otranto (1925), S.S. Orford (1928), S.S. Orontes (1929), S.S. Manoora (1935).
Anderson, Colin. ‘Ship interiors, when the breakthrough came’. Architectural Review June 1967 pp. 449-452
Calder, Alan 'From abbot to artist. Abbots Grange, Broadway, Worcestershire: the home of Richard and Topsy Taee'. Country Life vol. 213, no. 38, September 18 2019, pp. 68-74. [Discusses the extension Abbots Grange in Broadway, Worcestershire in the early years of the twentieth century by Andrew Noble Prentice]
Calder, Alan. Three Cotswold Architects. Begbroke, Oxfordshire: Alan Calder, 2020 [Chapter Four: Andrew Noble Prentice pp. 101-140]
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. 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
‘Obituary’. Architect & Building News vol. 169, 2 January 1942 p. 2
‘Obituary’. Architect & Building News vol. 169, 9 January 1942 p. 17
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 162, 2 January 1942 p. 14
‘Obituary’. RIBA Journal vol. 49, January 1942 p. 37
Stamp, Gavin. The English House 1860-1914. Catalogue of an exhibition of photographs and drawings. London: InternationalArchitect and the Building Centre Trust, 1980 pp. 59-60
Who's Who in Architecture 1923. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: Architectural Press, 1923
We would like to thank Alan Calder for invaluable contributions to this entry on Andrew Prentice, not least for supplying us with a photograph of Prentice and for a comprehensive list of his projects.