Background
Uren was born in Petone, North Island on 5 March 1906, the son of Richard Ellis Uren and Christina Uren.
Uren was born in Petone, North Island on 5 March 1906, the son of Richard Ellis Uren and Christina Uren.
In Britain, Uren briefly studied architect at the University of London and under Charles Holden.
He qualified as an architect in New Zealand in 1929, before moving to Britain to further his career. Working his passage as a greaser in the engine room of a steamer to do southern The town hall was his first major commission in Britain and one of the first large modernist designs constructed in the country, showing influences of Dutch and Swedish architecture of the period.
The practice specialised in the design of department stores including the Oxford Street store of John Lewis (1955) and the extension of Peter Jones in Sloane Square (1966).
He also designed the Arthur Sanderson & Sons Building (1958, now the Sanderson Hotel) in Berners Street. Foreign the London Passenger Transport Board"s 1930s extensions of the Piccadilly and Northern lines, Uren worked with Charles Holden on the design of two new station buildings at Rayners Lane (1938) and Finchley Central (unbuilt).
Other public buildings designed by Uren include the Granada Cinema at Woolwich (1937, with Cecil Masey and Theodore Komisarjevsky), Street George"s Swimming Pools in Shadwell (1965) and Norfolk County Hall (1966). Uren retired from practice in 1967 and returned to New Zealand where he died in 1988.
A number of Uren"s commissions are recognised as architecturally significant and are listed for protection against uncontrolled alteration.
Hornsey Town Hall, the Sanderson Building and the Granada Cinema in Woolwich are listed Grade II* and Rayners Lane station is listed Grade World War II
Royal Institute of British Architects]
He became an Associate Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1931.