(b London, 19 May 1880; d Ampthill, Beds, 3 Feb 1964). English architect. The son of a printer, he was articled as an architect in 1895 in London and worked subsequently in the offices of Evelyn Hellicar (1862–1929) from 1898 to 1902, Leonard Stokes (1902–3) and Frank T. Verity from 1903 to 1906. His enthusiasm for classical buildings of the Wren period was succeeded, under Verity’s influence, by an interest in modern French design in the classical tradition, particularly Néo-Grec, which attracted the attention of other young architects. Richardson’s greatest enthusiasm, however, was the late Georgian period in England and he paid particular attention to anonymous local building traditions. Richardson contributed to the design of Verity’s French-style London flats and designed the façade of the Regent Street Polytechnic (now Central London Polytechnic), with a grand Ionic order and a large window area, executed 1908–9 after he had left Verity to set up practice with C. Lovett Gill (1880–1960). The first major work of the partnership was the New Theatre (1911–13; now Opera House), Manchester, drawing on themes by C. R. Cokerell and J. I. Hittorff. The mainstay of the practice was to be designs for offices, for which Richardson developed a functional yet elegant version of the classical ordonnance, first seen in Moorgate Hall (1913–17), Finsbury Pavement, London.

• Richardson, Albert E(dward)
  • Verity, Frank
  • groups and movements
    • Neo-Georgian, §1: Architecture
  • pupils
    • Sisson, Marshall
    • Spence, Basil
  • teachers
    • Stokes, Leonard