William Larner Sugden [also known as Larner Sugden] was born in Leek, Staffordshire, England on 5 October 1850. He was articled to his father, William Sugden (1821-1892) at his architectural practice in Leek in 1868 and commenced practice as an architect in partnership with his father as Sugden & Son in 1881. In 1892 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1892. Following the death of his father that year he continued to practice alone. In 1895 he was appointed Surveyor to Stoke-on-Trent District Council.
William Larner Sugden exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1893 and 1897, and in the 4th exhibition of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society in London in 1893.
His address was given as Woodcroft, Leek, Staffordshire in 1893 and 1897. He died in Leek on 18 June 1901.
A biographical file on William Larner Sugden is available at the Enquiry Desk, Royal Institute of British Architects Library in London.
Most of Sugden architectural projects were in in Leek, Staffordshire. These included two houses - 33 and 35 Bath Street (1880); 138, Buxton Road (c.1880); The Secular Hall, Humberstone Gate (1881); the Leek branch of the Manchester and Liverpool District Banking Company Ltd. (1882); the Nicholson Institute, Stockwell Street (1882-84); Bird in Hand Public House, Market Place (1889); The Old Police Station, with William Sugden (1891); the restoration and remodelling of Pickwood Hall (1896); Penny Bank House, for the Leek Moorlands Co-operative Society (1899); Leek Arts and Crafts School (1900); the John Allen memorial in Leek cemetery (c.1900); Foxlowe, Market Place (c.1900); houses on Queen Street, with William Sugden; Sanders Building, with William Sugden; and Ford House, Market Street.
Armstrong, Barrie and Armstrong, Wendy. The Arts and Crafts movement in the North West of England: a handbook. Wetherby, England: Oblong Creative Ltd., 2006
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
Lovenbury, G. A. The Sugdens of Leek. Leek: G. A. Lovenbury, 1975
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 81, 6 July 1901 p. 16
‘Obituary’. RIBA Journal vol. 8, 1901 p. 438