The firm of James & Lister Lea was established in Birmingham, England in c.1863 by James Green Lea (1824-1896) and his brother, Lister Lea (1829-1905)*. In the Birmingham Corporation Directory of 1863 they were listed as auctioneers and land agents. By the early 1880s they had evolved into an established architectural firm specialising in the design of public houses. Following the death of the founding partners, the firm was continued by Lister Lea's sons Lister Lea, junior (1855-1919) and Charles Herbert Lea (1861-1905)
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* His dates are usually given as 1833-1908, however, a search of ancestry.com shows that he was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire on 12 April 1829 and died in King's Norton, Worcestershire on 10 May 1905. In the 1891 England and Wales Census he gave his occupation as estate agent and architect. James Green Lea was born in Birmingham on 14 April 1824 and died in Hampstead, London on 7 February 1896
Works by James & Lister Lea 1881-1924: Factory, Ledsam Street, Birmingham (1881); six houses, New Street, Birmingham (1881-82); Coffee house and houses 1882); Factory, New Spring Street, Birmingham (1882); Five houses, back of Abbey Street, Birmingham (1883); New Inns, Bromsgrove Street, Birmingham (1884); Mill and workshop, Fazeley Street, Birmingham for Clifford & Sons (1884); Smithfield Arms, Jamaica Row, Birmingham (1885); Black Swan, Bromsgrove Street, Birmingham (1885); Seven houses, Meridian Street, Birmingham (1886); Three houses and shop, New Canal Street, Birmingham (1886); Bell Hotel, Bristol Road, Birmingham (1886); Birmingham Arms Hotel, Bradford Street, Birmingham (1886); Engineer's Arms, New Canal Street, Birmingham (1886); Gate Inn, Icknie ld Street, Birmingham (1887); Plough Inn, Jamaica Row, Birmingham (1887); Seven shops, Bromsgrove Street, Birmingham (1888); Queen's Head, Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham (1889); House, Ascot Road, Birmingham (1889); Unicorn Inn, Digbeth, Birmingham (1890); Extension to Wellington Hotel, Bristol Street, Birmingham (1890-91); Black Horse, Bristol Road, Birmingham (1891); Hide and Skin Market, 32 Bradford Street, Birmingham (1891); Offices and workshops, Imperial Enamel Co., Watery Lane, Birmingham (1891); Golden Lion, Lionel Street, Birmingham (1892); Old Fox, Hurst Street, Birmingham (1892); Thirteen houses, Oakfield Road, Birmingham (1892); Seven houses, Salisbury Road, Moseley (1892); White Swan, Summer Row, Birmingham (1894); Queen's Tavern, Essex Street, Birmingham (1894); Five shops, Bristol Road, Birmingham (1894); Warwick Arms, Bradford Street, Birmingham (1895); Coach and Horses, Norwood Road, Bordesley Green, Birmingham (1896); Factory, Little Bow Street, Birmingham (1896); White Lion, Thorpe Street, Birmingham (1896); Shops, Bristol Street, Birmingham (1896-97); Woodman, 106 Albert Street for Ansells (1897); Australian Bar, Hurst Street, Birmingham (1897); Offices, Temple Row, Birmingham (1897); Factory and house, Essex Street, Birmingham (1897); House, Salisbury Road, Moseley (1897); Twelve houses, Beaconfield Road and Oakfield Road, Birmingham (1898); Four shops, Horsfair. Birmingham for A. Rodway (1898); Swan & Mitre, Lichfield Row, Birmingham for Holt Brewery Co. (1898-99); Dog and Partridge, 210 Moseley Street, Birmingham for Holt Brewery Co. (1899); Summer Hill Tavern, Summer Hill, Birmingham for Isaiah Food (1899); White Swan, 276 Bradford Street, Birmingham for Ansells (1899); barton's Arms, 152 High Street, Aston, for Mitchells & Butlers (1899-1901); House. Wake Green, Moseley (1900); Salutation Inn, Snow Hill, Birmingham for Holt Brewery Co. (1900); Eagle & Tun, New Canal Street, Birmingham, for Ansells(1900); Roebuck Inn, William Street, Birmingham for Holt Brewery Co. (1901); Bull's head, 73-77, The Green, King's Norton (1901); Bull's Head, Bishopgate Street, Birmingham (1901); King's Arms, Bishopgate Street, Birmingham for Mitchell & Butlers (1901); Red Lion, Soho Road, Handsworth, for Holt Brewery Co. (1901); Anchor, Rea Street, Birmingham, for Ansells (1902); Country Girl, Raddlebarn Road, Birmingham (1905); Navigation Inn, Wharf Road, Birmingham (1906); White Lion, High Street, Bordesley, Birmingham (1906); Birmingham Horse, Moseley Street, Birmingham for Davenports (1906); Black Horse, 22 Jennens Road, Birmingham for Mitchells & Butler (1907); White Hart, Nechells Park Road, Birmingham (1907); Lloyd's Bank, Bristol Street, Birmingham (1907); Aston Hippodrome, Aston, Birmingham (1908); Forge Tavern, Fazeley Street, Birmingham (1908); Dolphin, Irving Street, Birmingham for Mitchell & Butlers (1908); Hen & Chickens, Lower Dartmouth Street, Birmingham for Davenports (1908; Ice Cream factory, Banbury Street, Birmingham for Sir Thomas Gooch (1911); Cross Guns, Washwood Heath Road, Birmingham for Atkinsons (1913); Crown Inn, Lower Tower Street, Birmingham for Mitchell & Butlers (1913); New Inn, Alum Rock Road, Birmingham for Mitchell & Butlers (1913); Old House at Home, Lordswood Roard, Harborne for Rushtons (1913); Factory, Fazeley Street, Birmingham (1919-20); and British Oak, 157 Pershore Road, Stirchley, for Mitchell & Butlers (1923-24).
Upton, Chris. ‘James and Lister Lea’ in Birmingham’s Victorian and Edwardian Architects, edited by Phillada Ballard.Wetherby: Oblong Creative Ltd. for the Birmingham and West Midlands Group of the Victorian Society, 2009 pp. 293-311