Name

Henry Ernest Stelfox

Designation
Architect
Born
1856
Place of Birth
Audenshaw
Location
Manchester
Died
1904

  • Born      8 November 1856 at Manchester
  • Baptism 1 January 1859 at St Stephen’s Church (Audenshaw) Manchester
  • Died
  • Interment : Southern Cemetery

The son of George Henry Stelfox, surveyor, Henry Ernest Stelfox was born in Manchester on 8 November 1856. He was educated privately before being articled to the firm of Barker and Ellis, passing the qualifying examination of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1887. The following year Henry Stelfox was elected Associate of the RIBA, and was awarded the Ashpitel Prize, his papers being considered of exceptionally high merit. In 1891 he was appointed paid lecturer to the Manchester Society of Architects, and for many years also held the appointment of adjudicator in art subjects to the Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes.

Henry Stelfox also commenced independent practice 1891 and rapidly gained a considerable reputation in the planning of schools, many of his earlier ones being obtained in competition. Amongst the schools which he designed were the Ashton Old Road Board School for the Manchester School Board; Board School of 1000 children for the Levenshulme Urban District Council; Grecian-street Board School (900 children) for the Salford School Board; Tootal-road School, Weaste (1,200 children) for the Salford School Board; Devonshire-street school, (780 children), for the Salford School Board; and St Peter’s church-school, Swinton (1,000 children) for the trustees. He was also architect for several parochial and congregational halls, and his other works of importance included several banks, business premises, and large houses  In 1901 Henry Stelfox made a tour of inspection through Germany to collect information on the subject of sanatoria, and his knowledge of both German and French enabled him to gather much valuable data, which he afterwards elaborated with sketches, intending his notes to form the nucleus of a paper on “Sanatoria and Epileptic Colonies.”

Henry Ernest Stelfox died of pneumonia on 11 November 1904 at his residence, Windsor Place, Victoria Park. At the time of his death he had a number of large works in hand. These were transferred by his widow and representatives, with the consent of his clients, to Messrs C K and T C Mayor, architects, of 41 John Dalton-street, Manchester, who superintended the completion of the buildings.

Address
1895-1903    Henry E Stelfox ARIBA AMSA Clarendon Chambers. 100 Mosley Street (Slater MSA list)
1904    6 Princess Street, Manchester (Obituary)

Residence
1903    218 Plymouth Grove, Levenshulme
1904    Windsor Place, Victoria Park

Obituary     RIBA Journal Vol 12 1905 Page 68
Obituary    Building News 23 December 1904 page 899