Name

Huon Arthur Matear

Designation
architect
Born
1856
Place of Birth
Co Tyrone Ireland
Location
Liverpool
Died
1945

  • Birth Date            1856 Co Tyrone Northern Ireland.
  • Marriage              2 August 1882 to Imeon Hirst Bowerbank at St Paul’s Southport
  • Death Date         14 February 1945 at Esher, Surrey

Huon Arthur Matear was born in 1856, at Co Tyrone Northern Ireland, the son of James Matear, architect and his wife Emma Martha Harber. He was educated at Dr Saul's School, Rockferry, and articled to James Francis Doyle in Liverpool in 1872, remaining as assistant until 1880 ('Who's Who in Architecture 1914) or 1882 (RIBA nomination paper) at Watson Buildings, Harrington Street, Liverpool. He moved to Stanley Street in the 1890s and Dale Street about 1900. He was elected a Fellow of the RIBA in 1892.

After a period in partnership with C S Ingham, in 1903 Matear took into partnership Frank Worthington Simon whose Edinburgh partnership of Anderson Simon & Crawford had ended in a lawsuit and whose subsequent continued partnership with Alexander Hunter Crawford had been dissolved in November 1903. The immediate purpose of the Matear and Simon partnership was to design Holy Trinity Church at Southport, but in 1904 it won the major competition for Liverpool Cotton Exchange; this was followed by a further commission for a major city office block, Orleans House on Bixteth Street to which Matear moved his own office. The partnership of Simon and Matear withered after 1907 and in 1910 Simon took Henry Boddington into partnership.

Matear was based in Liverpool throughout his career and, with few exceptions, his commissions are concentrated in north-west England. They included a number of houses built for the Port Sunlight Estate, showing Arts and Crafts influence. By 1892 Matear had designed at least seven detached houses for private clients; including Sawrey House, near Windemere, and “many designs for furniture and stained glass” (his own words). The list of his works in 1914 include a number of named houses; Frimley Hall (Surrey), Branksome (Buxton), Briar’s Hey (Formby), Ingleside, Birkdale (his own house) and “Manhattan”, at Gateacre, (demolished).

Matear died in retirement at Esher, Surrey on 14 February 1945.

Address
1890-1899    Stanley Street, Liverpool, England
1900         The Temple, Dale Street, Liverpool     

Residence
1901    Birkdale
1914    Ingleside, Birkdale     
1945    Esher, Surrey, England   

 

Partnerships

Name Designation Formed Dissolved Location
Matear and Simon Architectural practice 1903 1909 Liverpool