William James Stenner was born in Barton Regis, Gloucestershire, England on 1 August 1880 and was articled to Richard Milverton Drake (1851-1929) and John M. Pizey (1859-1914) as Drake & Pizey in Bristol from 1896 to 1900. He then worked as an assistant to the Bristol City Engineer from 1900 to 1907 when he took over the practice of Thomas Nicholson in Bristol.
Stenner qualified as an architect in 1912 and was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1913 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1928. He was also an Associate of the. Bristol Society of Architects and its President in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
His address was given as 31 Brook Road, Bristol in 1891; 129 Chesterfield Road, Bristol in 1901; 129 Chesterfield Road, Bristol, Gloucestershire in 1911 and 1914; Guildhall Chambers, Broad St., Bristol, Gloucestershire in 1913 and 1920; Cadena Chambers, Wine Street, Bristol, Gloucestershire in 1923 and 1926; 29 Berkeley Square, Bristol, Gloucestershire in 1930 and 1939; and Glen Avon, Avon Grove, Bristol, Gloucestershire in 1939. He died in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset on 25 January 1967
St. James' Buildings, Bristol; shops, offices, residences, mission hall, etc; other work chiefly of a domestic character. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1914]
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