| Biographical Note | Charles Henry Holden Litt.D, FRIBA, MRTPI, RDI was an English architect and one of the Commission's Principal Architects in France after the First World War.
He was born on 12 May 1875. His architectural training commenced in Manchester and he then worked in the office of C.R. Ashbee. In 1899, he joined the practice of Percy Adams and, later in 1912, Lionel Pearson also joined, thus forming the firm of Adams, Holden & Pearson. Holden designed Belgrave Hospital (1903), Law Society (1904), Bristol Library (1905) and the British Medical Association (1908), among others.
During the First World War, Holden served in the London Ambulance Brigade of the Red Cross before working for the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC). He initially started by assisting Sir Reginald Blomfield on the design of the two earliest experimental Commission cemeteries at Louvencourt and Forceville in France. On 21st January 1920, Holden was appointed additional Principal Architect for France, having previously been Senior Designing Architect. During his tenure for the Commission, Charles Holden designed 67 cemeteries including Passchendaele, Corbie and Buttes.
He left the Commission on 31 March 1928. Outside of the Commission, Holden also designed the Royal Artillery Memorial in Hyde Park, with fellow Commission employee and sculptor, Charles Sargeant Jagger.
Holden later designed London Transport Headquarters (1926) as well as Underground stations on the Northern and Piccadilly Lines Extensions, including Southgate, Arnos Grove, and Uxbridge. He also worked, among a number of projects in the capital, on the design of London University Senate House (1931-37).
Charles Holden died on 1 May 1960, aged 84. |