Tom Ellis (architect)
Tom Ellis was a senior partner in the architectural firm Lyons, Israel and Ellis. The work of Ellis and his partners is noteworthy for both the collection of buildings they designed and for their influence on the group of architects who worked for the partnership. When English Heritage listed one of their buildings in 2006 they described the Lyons, Israel and Ellis partnership as 'one of the most influential post-war practices specialising in education, public housing and healthcare'.
The list of architects who worked for Lyons, Israel and Ellis includes James Stirling, Richard MacCormac, Rick Mather, James Gowan, John Miller, Neave Brown, Eldred Evans, Alan Colquhoun, David Gray and many others. David Gray became a partner in the firm in 1970 and the firm's name was changed to Lyons Israel Ellis Gray.
Early life and education
Thomas Bickerstaff Harper Ellis was born in Lancaster in 1911. After attending Lancaster Technical School he was employed in 1929 as an assistant in the Lancaster office of the gardener and architect Thomas Hayton Mawson. During this period he also studied part-time at Lancaster School of Arts and Crafts where his academic work won him a Royal Exhibition (type of scholarship). With the help of this and a Lancashire County scholarship Ellis became a student at the Architectural Association in London (1934–35). A year later he moved to the Royal College of Art and obtained his final architectural qualification in 1938.