Percy Thomas: Modern Architecture as a National Service

The first comprehensive architectural history of the work of Sir Percy Thomas and the significant British architecture firm that sustained his legacy into the twenty-first century.

Sir Percy Thomas was the most important twentieth-century architect in Wales, renowned for interwar civic buildings such as Swansea Guildhall and the Temple of Peace in Cardiff. His architectural practice, Sir Percy Thomas & Son, designed much of the post-1945 welfare state and industry in Wales and beyond. In the late twentieth century, the Percy Thomas Partnership specialized in complex healthcare, industrial, and public buildings, becoming an international practice.

This comprehensive, meticulously researched history examines the architecture of Percy Thomas in depth for the first time and explores its wider social and political significance. Arguing that the practice sustained an ethical approach to architecture as a national service for the benefit of society, this book gives new insights into the role of the architect and the changing relationships between the built environment and the state throughout the century. Its unique perspective from Wales promises to reshape our understanding of modern architecture.

Robert Proctor is a senior lecturer in architectural history and theory at the University of Bath, UK.