Francis Xavier Velarde* [also known as F.X. Velarde] was born in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire, England on 14 October 1897. After military service during World War One, he entered Liverpool School of Art and then, from 1920, attended Liverpool University School of Architecture, where he was taught by Sir Charles Reilly (1874-1948). He was awarded a Honan travelling scholarship in 1923 and was awarded a B.Arch. in 1924.
Velarde subsequently worked as an architect in the Merseyside area and the North West of England. He predominantly designed churches and schools for the Roman Catholic Church. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he was a junior partner in the architectural firm Weightman, Bullen & Velarde in Liverpool. He later formed F. X. Velarde & Partners.
Velarde taught at Liverpool School of Architecture from 1928. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1925, and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects FRIBA) in 1935. In 1937 he was awarded the RIBA Godwin and Wimperis Medal.
His address was given as 33 Aubury Street, Everton, Liverpool in 1911; 15 Tithebarn Road, Liverpool in 1928 and 1931; and 3 Abercromby Square, Liverpool in 1934 and 1939. He died in Crosby, Liverpool, on 28 December 1960
St Matthew's Church in Clubmore, Liverpool (1927-30); St Gabriel's Church in Blackburn, Lancashire (1932-33); St Monica's Church, Bootle, Sefton, Lancashire (1935-36); Our Lady of Lourdes School in Birkdale, Southport, Sefton, Lancashire (1935-36); St. Monica Church in Bootle (1936); Our Lady of Pity's Church, Greasby, Wirral (1952); English Martyrs' Church in Wallasey, Wirral (1952-53); St Gabriel's Church in Alsager, Cheshire (1953); St Benedict's Church Hindley, Lancashire (1954); Church of St Cuthbert by the Forest in Mouldsworth, Cheshire (1953-55); Thanksgiving Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in Blackpool, Lancashire (1955-57); St Teresa's Church in Up Holland, Lancashire (1955-57); St Winefrede's Church in Monkmoor, Shrewsbury, Shropshire (1956); St Luke's Church in Pinner, London (1957-58); Holy Cross Church in Bidston, Birkenhead, Cheshire (1957-59); Our Lady of Pity's Church in Harlescott, Shrewsbury, Shropshire (completed 1961); Church of St Vincent de Paul and St Louise of Marillac in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire (completed in 1962); and pyramidal top and cross finial of Roman Catholic Church of St Michael and All Angels, in Woodchurch, Birkenhead, Wirral, Cheshire (completed 1965).
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See also:
Wikipedia - List of works by F. X. Velarde [link below]
British Listed Buildings - 9 listed buildings by F. X. Velarde [link below]
Wikimedia Commons [link below]
19th and 20th century Roman Catholic Churches. London: English Heritage, 2017
'Senior elementary school at Scalby, Yorks; Architects: F. X. Velarde, W. H. Ansell'. Architects' Journal 1 October 1942 pp. 217-222, xxvi.
Sharples, Joseph, Powers, Alan and Shippobottom, Michael. Charles Reilly & the Liverpool School of Architecture 1904-1933. Catalogue of an exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 25 October 1996 - 2 February 1997. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1996 pp. 178-179 [May contain other references to Velarde, unfortunately, the catalogue is not indexed]
Thearle, Herbert. ‘Obituary’. Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects May 1961 p. 264
Ward, Fiona. ‘Merseyside Churches in a Modern Idiom: Francis Xavier Velade [Velarde] & Bernard Miller’ Tentieth Century Architecture. The Journal of the Twentieth Century Society [The Twentieth Century Church special issue] no.3, 1998 pp pp.94-108, 126
Wilkinson, Dominic. ‘Transport of delight’. C20. The Magazine of the Twentieth Century Society, issue 2, 2021 pp. 72-73 [The author sees a parallel between Velarde’s sporty Austin Seven car and the churches he designed]
Wilkinson, Dominic and Crompton, Andrew. F. X. Velarde. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2020
Wilkinson, Dominic and Crompton, Andrew. ‘F. X. Velarde, an English Expressionist’. The Journal of Architecture vol. 24, issue 3, 2019 pp. 325-339