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Albert Richardson Architecture

20th Century London Architect, England, UK Architectural Firm news and information

post updated 28 March 2026

Albert Richardson Architect – Major Building

Bracken House, 1 Friday St, City of London, England, UK
Dates built: 1958/59
Photo of the redeveloped building:

photograph © Adrian Welch
Bracken House
Redeveloped by Michael Hopins Architects. This is the first British post-war building to be listed (after WWII).

The commercial property is located just south east of St Paul’s Cathedral. New offices were required for the Financial Times after it merged with the Financial News in 1945. The building was named after Brendan Bracken, who became Viscount Bracken in 1952.

The building was clad in pink sandstone from Hollington, Staffordshire, as an allusion to the characteristic pink colour of the newspaper, with red bricks and bronze windows, contrasting with the verdigris of the copper roof. Editorial offices were located in the northern range, beside Cannon Street, with printing machinery in an octagonal structure in the centre, and more offices to the south, by Queen Victoria Street. Above the entrance on Cannon Street is an astrological clock, decorated with the face of Winston Churchill at the centre of a large gold sunburst, designed by Frank Dobson and Philip Bentham.

Albert Richardson – Key Projects

Buildings by Albert Richardson architect, chronological:

Manchester Opera House, Manchester, Northwest England, UK
Date built: 1912
Ripon Cathedral building refurbishment, Ripon, Yorkshire, Northern England, UK
Date built: 1930s
North London Collegiate School, Canons Park, Edgware, Middlesex, Southeast England, UK
Date built: –
St Malachy’s (CoI) Parish Church – restoration, Hillsborough, County Down, Northern Ireland
Dates built: 1951-56
St Alfege’s Church – restoration, Greenwich, London
Date built: 1953
St James’s church – restoration, Piccadilly, London
–
Trinity House – restoration, City of London
–

More Buildings by architect Albert Richardson online soon

Location: London, south east England, UK.

Sir Albert Richardson

Sir Albert Edward Richardson K.C.V.O., F.R.I.B.A, F.S.A.

The architect was born in 1880 (London, England) and died in 1964 (Ampthill, Bedfordshire).

Positions:

– Professor of Architecture at University College London
– President of the Royal Academy
– Architects’ Journal Editor
– Georgian Group founder

The architect trained in the offices of Leonard Stokes and Frank T. Verity, who practised in the Beaux-Arts style.

1906 He established his architectural practice in 1906, in partnership with Charles Lovett Gill – the Richardson & Gill partnership. That architecture office closed in 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War.

Publications:
Survey of London Houses from 1660 to 1820: a Consideration of their Architecture and Detail (1911).
Monumental Classic Architecture in Great Britain and Ireland (1914).

London Architects

Sir Albert Richardson (1880–1964) was a prominent British architect, historian, and educator, celebrated for his work in the Neo-Georgian and classical revival styles.

Career Highlights:

Richardson was a leading figure in 20th-century British architecture, particularly known for his adherence to classical proportions, symmetry, and craftsmanship.
He trained at the Architectural Association and worked under several prominent architects before establishing his own practice.

He was also a historian and writer, producing influential works on Georgian architecture, town planning, and architectural history.