Background
Frank West Rich was born in Darfield, South Yorkshire in 1840 and was educated at Whitwell, Derbyshire.
Frank West Rich was born in Darfield, South Yorkshire in 1840 and was educated at Whitwell, Derbyshire.
lieutenant appears from the 1861 Census that he trained as a joiner and was 23 before he was articled to William Parnell, an architect in Newcastle upon Tyne. He worked with Parnell until 1872 during which time the firm built the Tyne Theatre and Opera House in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1867. Rich set up his own practice at 1 Moseley Street in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1872.
From 1881 the family home was in Jesmond Gardens.
In 1903 Rich purchased Dues Hill Grange and 3000 acres of land in Holystone, Northumberland, which he subsequently renovated. Rich designed many buildings in the Newcastle upon Tyne area, including the Watch Club House in Cullercoats (1877-1879), and Street Gabriel’s Church in Heaton (1905).
In the 1880s he had the role of architectural consultant to Sir William Armstrong and designed workshops and offices at his Elswick works in Newcastle upon Tyne. He designed the north block of what was later known as the Education First Turnbull warehouse for Robinson & Company in 1888 in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Additions were made to the south in 1897 and a tower constructed in 1898.
Rich also designed for Sir Andrew Noble, building extensions to Jesmond Dene House (1896-1897), which had been originally designed by Registered Nurse Shaw. He also added a stable block to Otterburn Tower for Howard Pease in 1904. Rich also made additions to Chesters (Humshaugh) in Northumberland (1895), another building on which Registered Nurse Shaw had worked.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1898.
He died in 1929.
He was a member of the Northern Architects Association serving as its President, Vice President and Honorary Secretary in the 1880s and 1890s.