Rowse, Herbert James 1887 - 1963

Herbert James Rowse [commonly known as Herbert J. Rowse] was born in Liverpool, England on 10 May 1887 and was articled to R. Owens & Son in Liverpool from 1903 to 1905. He then attended Liverpool University School of Architecture from 1905 to 1907. After graduating, he worked as an assistant to Frank Lewis Worthington Simon (1862-1933) and to Frank Brice Hobbs (1862-1944). He qualified as an architect in 1910 and subsequently established a practice in Liverpool. In 1912 he moved to Winnipeg, Canada to work on a commission for the architect Frank Simon. He returned to Liverpool the following year.

During World War One he was employed as an architect to the Royal Navy.  After the war he returned to his private practice in Liverpool and in the early 1920s worked on a commission for the Fairrie sugar refinery in Liverpool.  Other works by Rowse included Heswall Golf Club House, Wirral, Lancashire (1924); India Buildings in Liverpool (1924-32), in partnership with Briggs, Wolstenholme & Thornely; a housing scheme at Whiston, Lancashire; a housing scheme at Rainhill, Lancashire (1925); Head Office of Martin's Bank, Water Street, Liverpool (1927-32); Lloyd's Bank, Church Street, Liverpool (1928-32); and additions to St. Paul's Eye Hospital and Royal Southern Hospital, Liverpool (1929).

In 1931 Rowse was appointed architect by the the Mersey Tunnel Joint Committee and designed entrances and ventilation towers at the Tunnel (1931-34). In 1936 Rowse was commissioned to design the new Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on Hope Street, Liverpool for which he chose the Streamline Moderne Style. In his design of the building he collaborated closely with the architect Edmund Charles Thompson (1898-1961). The building was completed just before the outbreak of World War Two.  Rowse also designed the headquarters of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Brunswick Square, London (1937); the UK Pavilion, Empire Exhibition, Glasgow (1938); and Woodchurch Estate, Birkenhead, Cheshire (1946).

Following World War Two, Rowse worked on the restoration of bomb-damaged buildings and acted as a consultant to the Belgian Government on post-war reconstruction. He also designed diplomatic buildings for the British Government.

Rowse was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1910 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1929. He was awarded the RIBA Architectural Bronze Medal for Liverpool in 1936.

Rowse's address was given as 51 North John Street, Liverpool in 1910; Oakdedene, More Lane, Crosby, Lancashire in 1910 and 1912; 261 Fort Street, Winnipeg, Canada in 1914; 9 Cook Street, Liverpool in 1915 and 1923; 6, India Building, Water Street, Liverpool in 1926 and 1930; and Martin's Bank Building, 5th Floor, Water Street, Liverpool in 1935 and 1939. He died at his home in Puddington, Cheshire on 22 March 1963