- Percy Thomas
Sir Percy Edward Thomas
OBE (September 13 1883 –August 19 1969 ), was a Welsh architect and twiceRIBA president (1935-37 & 1943-46).He was born in
South Shields , the son of a sea captain fromNarberth with whom the family often travelled. They moved toCardiff during the 1890s, and Captain Thomas died at sea in 1897. He began work in a shipping office, but changed to a career inarchitecture on advice from a phrenologist. In 1903 he won the architecture competition at theNational Eisteddfod of Wales inLlanelli . After several years working in England, he began collaborating with Ivor Jones of Cardiff, and they went into partnership in 1913. In 1915, he joined theArtists Rifles and served on the Western Front. WhenWorld War I finished, he returned to Cardiff. He was commissioned byDavid Davies, 1st Baron Davies of Llandinam, to design the Temple of Peace inCathays Park .As a designer of civic buildings, such as Swansea Guildhall (1930-34), and
Hiatt Baker Hall (1966) he was a rival toArthur John Hope . Other works by him included the campus ofUniversity of Wales, Aberystwyth . He was awarded theRoyal Gold Medal in 1939, and was knighted in 1946.The "Percy Thomas Partnership" is now involved with the Prince of Wales’s
Poundbury (1994 onwards) development inDorset .ources
* [http://wbo.llgc.org.uk/en/s2-THOM-EDW-1883.html?query=1943&field=content Welsh Biography Online]
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