Architecture photographs collected by F B Cooper

Photographs of French and English architecture, gathered to support Cooper's architectural studies. Buildings featured include churches, palaces and general views of Paris, Rouen Cathedral, churches and houses in Rouen, churches in Caen, Bayeux Cathedral, Mont St Michel, Chartres Cathedral, houses and churches in Dinan, Dol Cathedral, houses in Warwick and Shrewsbury, and the doorway of Saint Margaret's Church, Leicester.

Also two books presented to Cooper as prizes: "Plumbing: A Text Book" by William Paton Buchan, 1889, awarded to Cooper as the Queen's Prize for the examination of the science schools, May 1889; and "The Architecture of Marcus Vitruvius Pollio" translated by Joseph Gwilt, 1874, awarded to Cooper for success in stage 23 of the National Art Competition, 1890.

Frank Berridge Cooper was born on 20 August 1870, the second son of Edgar Franklin Cooper. At the age of 15 he was articled to architects Goddard and Paget of Leicester, staying with them from 1886 to 1891. In March 1886 he also enrolled at Leicester School of Art to study architecture and building construction. His studies were successful, earning him several national prizes such as the Queen's Prize for Architectural Design (1888), Bronze Medal for design for a town house (1890), Queen's Prize for furniture design (1891) and Queen's Prize for Architectural Studies (1892). He also won several College awards including two free studentships (1890 and 1891).

In 1892 he completed his studies and was promoted to Assistant at Goddard and Paget. He then worked as Assistant to William Douglas Caroe (1892-1894) and Bradshaw and Gass (1894-1895) before passing the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) qualifying exam in 1894. He was made ARIBA (Associate of RIBA) on 11 March 1895, proposed by Paget, Caroe and Bradshaw. In 1895 his design for a town house was exhibited at the Royal Academy.

He subsequently went into private practice in Leicester, designing for example the Branch Police and Fire Station in North Evington. He died in April 1936.

Open for general access.

The volumes were donated to the Leicester College of Arts and Crafts in October 1936 by Cooper's sister. They are described in the gift book as "two books of photographs and a series of pencil sketches from the collection of the late Mr F B Cooper, ARIBA". The whereabouts of the pencil sketches is unclear, although they might be the sketchbook by A F Bryan (reference D/033).

Description compiled by Katharine Short, Archivist, March 2013.

The student registers and annual reports of the Leicester School of Art were used to find information about Cooper's studies. They can be consulted at the De Montfort University Archives and Special Collections.

See entry for Cooper in Directory of British Architects 1834-1900 compiled by Alison Felstead, Jonathan Franklin, and Leslie Pinfield (1993).