Frederick Francis Charles Curtis

Frederick Francis Charles Curtis
Born(1903-08-09)9 August 1903
Died16 June 1975(1975-06-16) (aged 71)
OccupationArchitect
Perivale tube station of 1947
Hanger Lane tube station of 1947

Frederick Francis Charles Curtis FRIBA (9 August 1903 – 16 June 1975) was the first chief architect for British Railways from 1948.

Career

Curtis was born on 9 August 1903, at Frankfurt-on-Main.[1] His father, Francis Curtis, was a lecturer in English at the Technische Universität Darmstadt, and from 1922 to 1927, Frederick Francis Curtis studied there. He then worked as an assistant and lecturer at the same institution until 1933. With the ascent of the National Socialist Party in 1933, he left Germany and moved to Britain where he worked with Charles Holden on the Southern Railway until 1936.

He was a lecturer in the Liverpool School of Architecture from 1936 – 1946 and during the Second World War served in the Railway Engineers at General Headquarters, India Command.

He is mentioned in The Black Book by the National Socialists and had the invasion of Britain been successful, he would have been arrested.[2]

He was appointed an architect to the Great Western Railway company in 1947[3] in succession to Brian Lewis and became the first Chief Architect of British Railways in 1948.

He retired in 1968 and was succeeded as Chief Architect to British Railways by Bernard Kaukas.

Works

References

  1. ^ "HC Deb 30 July 1942 vol. 382, col. 815". Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  2. ^ "Hitler's Black Book - information for Doctor Frederick F C Curtis". Forces War Records. Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  3. ^ "New G.W.R. Architect". Western Morning News. England. 30 June 1947. Retrieved 28 January 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Nairn, Ian; Cherry, Bridget (1971). The Buildings of England. Surrey. Yale University Press. p. 342. ISBN 9780300096750.
  5. ^ Historic England, "Perivale Underground Station (1400747)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 29 January 2017
  6. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Williamson, Elizabeth (1979). The Buildings of England. Derbyshire. Penguin Books Limited. p. 188. ISBN 0140710086.