Blunden Shadbolt was born at Wickham Lodge, Trinity Road, Upper Tooting, Surrey [now London], England on 31 May 1879. At the age of about 17, he began working for an architect in Chelmsford, Essex. He was then articled to Arthur Kelway Bamber (1869-1949), in Horley, Surrey from 1898 to 1900, and with George Alfred Hall (1859-1945) in London in 1900-01. Shadbolt commenced independent practice as an architect in Horley in 1901 and was in partnership with William Joseph Ballard (1854-1936) from 1901, and later with Eric Jordon from c.1930 to 1934.
Designs by Shadbolt were displayed at the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition in London in 1925 and 1926.
From 1941 he was employed as a consultant to local councils on the structural repair of buildings damaged by bombing, particularly in Bromley, Catford and Lewisham. Shadbolt was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1910.
His address was given as Park Cottage, Gallows Hill, Sudbury, Suffolk in 1891; Brighton Road, Horley, Surrey in 1901; Gainsborough, Massetts Road, Horley, Surrey, England in 1910 and 1914; Victoria Road, Horley, Surrey in 1914 and 1924; Cross Oak, Cross Oak Lane, Salfords, Surrey in 1930; "Orchards", Cross Oak Lane, Salfords, Horley, Surrey in 1933; and The Granary, Cross Oaks Lane, Salfords, Redhill, Surrey in 1936 and 1949.
Shadbolt retired in 1946, and died in Redhill General Hospital in Redhill, Surrey on 13 July 1949 as a result of injuries received when knocked off his bicycle by a car.
Reigate, Surrey: "The Coppice." and additions to houses, Redhill Road; Bognor, Sussex: " Kenworth", "Kaderane," ; Itchingfield, Sussex: Batchelor's Farm"; Brighton: shop premises, Dyke Road; additions to house, Montpelier Crescent; Pyrford, Surrey: Pyrford Green Estate; " Pyrford Green House", &c.; Horley: houses, shops, cottages, offices, and estates, etc.; Newdigate, Sussex: "The Elms", and additions; Margate: motor garage, Cecil Square; "Beadon Lodge"; Croydon: house, Beinheim Crescent; additions, Messrs. Clark's Coll., &c. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1914]
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See also: UK Modern House - lists 62 houses designed by Blunden Shadbuilt
Barron, P. A. The House Desirable: a handbook for those who wish to acquire homes that charm. London: Methuen & Co., Ltd 1929
Campbell, Donald. ‘Blunden Shadbolt 1879-1949: Architect of the House Desirable’. Thirties Society Journal no.3, 1983 pp.17-24
Campbell, Donald. ‘Shadbolt's houses’. Country Life vol. 170, no. 4376, 2 July 1981 p. 34
Curl, James Stevens and Wilson, Susan. Oxford Dictionary of Architecture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 3rd edition 2015
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
Stamp, Gavin. ‘Neo-Tudor and its enemies’. Architectural History, volume 49, 2006, pp. 1-33
Who's Who in Architecture 1914. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: Technical Journals, 1914