Culshaw and Sumners was a firm of English architects and surveyors who practised in Liverpool in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The work of the practice reflected the growing economic prosperity of the city during this period. Much of its work was routine and mundane, but it did produce some notable buildings, including office blocks, warehouses, domestic properties, workhouses, churches, and a hospital. The firm was established by 1839 by William Culshaw, who was joined by Henry Sumners in 1861. Following Culshaw's death in 1874, the practice was continued until 1916 by his son, Alfred.
History
The firm was founded by 1839 by William Culshaw (1807–74) who had moved to Liverpool in about 1834 to join a firm of architects and surveyors. He practised on his own for over 20 years until in 1861 Henry Sumners (1825–95) joined him to manage the architectural side of the practice. In 1866 they formed a partnership and were known as Culshaw and Sumners. The partnership continued until March 1873, being dissolved when Culshaw took his eldest son, Alfred (1849/50–1926), into partnership. William Culshaw died during the following year, and his son continued to run the practice until 1916. For a short period in 1876–77 the practice was known as William Culshaw & Sons, probably because Alfred's brother William H. Culshaw joined the firm, but from 1878 it was known as William Culshaw & Son. The practice worked throughout from an office in Rumford Court, Rumford Street, in the business area of Liverpool.
William Culshaw
William Culshaw was born in Ormskirk, Lancashire, in 1807. His father was a joiner and builder, but William received no formal architectural training. In about 1834 he moved to Liverpool and joined the firm of Leather and Riding, architects and surveyors. This was at a time when there was a building boom in the city, and by 1839 Culshaw had established in his own business as an architect and surveyor. At the time of his death in 1874, he lived in Rodney Street, one of the most prestigious streets in the city, and owned property worth nearly £140,000 (equivalent to £ in ).
Henry Sumners
Henry Sumners was born in Liverpool in 1825, the son of a boot-maker in Bold Street. He was apprenticed to the Birkenhead architect Charles Reed (later Verelst), and while there won a competition for the layout of Cressington Park, Liverpool. He then went to London where he worked with architects, including Charles Barry, before undertaking a tour of the Continent to study architecture. Before he joined Culshaw, he had created an imaginative but unexecuted scheme for the development of the area around St George's Hall in Liverpool, and designed two houses in High Victorian Gothic style for Dr Drysdale in Waterloo. Sharples is of the opinion that the arrival of Sumners "marked a watershed in the firm's development". Sumners introduced new features into the designs, and most of the more notable buildings produced by the firm are attributable to him. After leaving the practice in 1873, Sumners continued to design notable buildings, including St Cyprian's Church, in Edge Hill, St Luke's Art Workshops and the display space for the International Exhibition of Navigation, Commerce and Industry. In 1878 he was appointed as president of the Liverpool Architectural Society.
Practice characteristics
The practice is particularly interesting because an archive of over 6.000 documents produced between the mid-1830s and 1873, including over 3,500 drawings, have survived, although there are no associated financial records or correspondence. Almost all the works executed by the firm were in or near Liverpool, with only occasional commissions further afield, for example in Shropshire, Staffordshire, and North Wales, all of which were gained through Liverpool connections. The practice created designs for a large variety of buildings, including houses, shops, office blocks, warehouses, churches, public houses, and shops.