William de Lacy Aherne

William de Lacy Aherne FRIBA (17 April 1867 – 4 December 1945) was an English architect, notable for designing many Arts and Crafts houses in the Moseley area of Birmingham.^[1]

Court Hey, Moseley

Family

Born in Cheam, Surrey to William Aherne (b. 1841) and Emma Paterson (b. 1842), de Lacy Aherne came from a family of devout Plymouth Brethren, a faith that he ceased to share in early adulthood.^[2]

He married Annie Louise Thomas (1872 – 1942), daughter of William Thomas (1841 - 1901) and Mary Louise Wright (1847 - 1912) in 1898 and they had two sons- the actors Pat Aherne and *Brian Aherne- and a daughter, Elana Aherne.^[2] When he died on 4 December 1945 he was living at 25 Ladbrooke Road, London.^[3]

Career

In 1886 or 1887 he took a job as an architect's apprentice in Birmingham, where he worked for the King's Norton and Northfield Sanitary Authority.^[4] His earliest recorded private commissions were in the King's Norton area and date from 1889, and in 1890 he was elected to the Birmingham Architectural Association.^[5]

In 1898 de Lacy Aherne was commissioned to build a series of houses by his father-in-law, whose local contacts in the Moseley area were helpful to the rising young architect; his work quickly became fashionable among the rapidly growing and wealthy professional middle class of the area.^[6] From 1903 onwards he designed a large number of speculative houses in high-status Moseley roads such as Russell Road, Salisbury Road, Amesbury Road, Reddings Road and Oxford Road, financed either by himself or in conjunction with local building firms.^[7] Several of these houses, including 9 St Agnes Road and 110 and 112 Oxford Road are now listed buildings.^[8] He was probably also the architect of Blackhill, the home of Birmingham Repertory Theatre founder Barry Jackson in the Malvern Hills.^[9]

He was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1926 and became a Fellow in 1931.^[10]

Selected works

• House and post office, 100 The Green, Kings Norton 1889
• 30 and 32 Bell's Lane, Walker's Heath 1891
• 1, 2 and 3 The Fordrough, West Heath 1895
• 64 Redditch Road, Kings Norton 1895
• Ford House, Castle Road, Kenilworth 1896
• Court Hey, 25 Chantry Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1896^[11]
• 63 Salisbury Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1897
• 60 Salisbury Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1897
• 2 and 2a The Green, King's Norton, Birmingham 1897
• 17 Grove Avenue, Moseley, Birmingham 1897
• 67 and 69 Pershore Road South, Kings Norton 1898
• 71, 73, 75 and 77 Cotton Lane, Moseley, Birmingham 1898
• 112 Salisbury Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1898
• The Pleasance, Monyhull Hall Road, Kings Norton 1898 (now Barbara Hart House)
• 207 and 209 Ancestor Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1899
• Twenty two houses, 3-25 Baldwin Road, Kings Norton 1899
• Twenty two houses, 4-24 Parson's Hill, Kings Norton 1899
• 67 Cotton Lane, Moseley, Birmingham 1899
• 183 and 185, Alcester Road, Moseley 1899
• 13 St Agnes Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1900
• 45 Greenhill Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1900
• 41 Dyott Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1900
• 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 St Albans Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1900-01
• 9 St Agnes Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1906-07^[12]
• Two houses, 110 and 112 Oxford Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1906-07^[13]
• Two houses, 37-39 Poplar Avenue, Bearwood, Birmingham 1908
• House, 40 Reddings Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1908
• The Grey House, 28 Amesbury Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1908
• Three houses, 30-34 Amesbury Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1908
• Five houses, 42-50 Reddings Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1908
• House, 40 Sommerville Road, Sutton Coldfield 1910
• Three houses, 189-193 Russell Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1911
• Three houses, 42-46 Wake Green Road, Moseley Birmingham 1911
• House, 54 Sommerville Road, Sutton Coldfield 1911
• Inverblair, 52 Sommerville Road, Sutton Coldfield 1911
• Richmond, 50 Sommerville Road, Sutton Coldfield 1911
• Siviter House, 17 Ludgate Hill, Birmingham 1912^[14]
• Five houses, 78-86 Eastern Road, Wylde Green, Birmingham 1914
• House, 187 Russel Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1914
• House, 179 Russell Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1915
• House, 55 Russell Road, Moseley, Birmingham 1915