Arnold Thornely [also known as Sir Arnold Thornely] was born in Godley, Lancashire, England on 7 October 1870. He was articled to Francis Usher Holme and George Holme (1822?-1915) in Liverpool from 1887 to 1891 and briefly remained with them as an assistant. During these years he attended Liverpool School of Art and lectures at the Liverpool Architectural Society. In 1891 he worked as an assistant to William Edward Willink (1856-1924) and Philip Coldwell Thicknesse (1860-1920). He qualified as an architect in 1893 and in 1898 commenced independent practice in Liverpool.
In 1906 he formed a partnership with Frank Gatley Briggs (1862-1921) and Henry Vernon Wolstenholme (1863-1936) as Briggs, Wolstenholme & Thornely. In the late 1900s Frederick Brice Hobbs (1862-1944) joined the partnership which became Briggs, Wolstenholme, Hobbs & Thornely. Briggs died in 1921 and by that time Hobbs had left the practice. Following the death of Wolstenholme in 1936, Thornely ran the practice alone.
Thornely was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1893, and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1907. He was President of the Liverpool Architectural Society in 1910-11. He was knighted in 1933 and that year was awarded the RIBA Architecture Bronze Medal for Ulster. He died in Cobham, Surrey on 1 October 1953.
A biographical file on Arnold Thornely is available on request from the Enquiry Desk, Royal Institute of British Architects Library, London
Presbyterian Church, Warren Road, Blundellsands, near Liverpool, with W. G. Fraser (1898-1905); Bluecoat Hospital, Liverpool (1900); Head Offices, Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, with Briggs and Wolstenholme (1900-07); offices. Elder, Dempster and Co., Liverpool, 1902; Liverpool Blue Coat School (1906); offices and dye house for Johnson Bros., Bootle (1906 and 1916); Fairhaven Congregational Church, South Clifton Drive, Lytham St. Anne's, Lancashire (1907-12); King Edward VII School, Lytham St Annes (1908); The Homestead, Birch Howe and several houses around Pine walks, Prenton, Cheshire (c.1910); Police Court and Sessions House, Blakey Moor, Blackburn, Lancashire (1912-21); Harrison- Hughes Engineering Laboratories, University of Liverpool (1913); King George's Hall, Blakey Moor, Blackburn, Lancashire (1913); Faculty of Arts Building, Liverpool University, Ashton Street, Liverpool, with Briggs and Wolstenholme and with F. W. Simon (1913-14); Stafford Public Library (1913); Walton Public Library (1912); Egremont and Blundellsands Presbyterian Churches; Memorial Chapel, Bluecoat Hospital, Liverpool: Wallasey Town Hall (1914-20); Police and Sessions Courts, and Public Halls, Blackburn, (1914- 21); Bank of British West Africa, with Briggs and Wolstenholme (completed 1920); Chemical Laboratories, University of Liverpool (1922); ; Housing Scheme, Prescot Urban District Council, (1920-21); laboratories for the Geology Department of the University of Liverpool (1927–29); an extension to the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (1931–33) Parliament Buildings (Stormont), Belfast (1928-32).; and houses in Sheffield, Neston, Caldy, Prenton, Matlock.
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
Goodall, John. ‘A plain house. Stormont Castle, Belfast: [part I] home to the Northern Ireland Executive and the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister’ [Architect: Arnold Thornely] Country Life vol. 216, no. 25, 23 June 2021 pp. 88-94.
Goodall, John. ‘The Ulster acropolis. The Parliament Buildings, Belfast: part II the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly [Architect: Arnold Thornely] Country Life vol. 216, no. 26, 30 June 2021 pp. 52-57.
Wheeler, Gordon. Parliament Buildings, Stormont: The Building, Its Setting, Uses and Restoration 1922-1998. Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1999
‘Obituary’. RIBA Journal vol. 61, November 1953 p.38
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