Early life Thomas Bennett was born in 1887 in
Paddington,
London. He trained as an
architect at
Regent Street Polytechnic while employed in the
drawing office of the
London and North Western Railway. He went on to study at the
Royal Academy Schools.
Career He joined the Office of Works (later
Ministry of Works) in 1911. A career in both education and government followed, until setting up his own practice known as TP Bennett in 1921. In 1922, he became a Fellow of the
Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1940, he became Director of Bricks at the Ministry of Works, where he was awarded the
CBE in 1942, but returned to private practice immediately after the
Second World War. He was knighted in 1946. His practice was responsible for many landmark buildings such as the
Saville Theatre, Esso House, John Barnes Department store, Hampstead (since 1986, a branch of
Waitrose),
Westminster Hospital, a BOAC air terminal, the
London Mormon Temple in
Surrey,
Smithfield Poultry Market in London, and Hawkins House in Dublin. In 1947, he was appointed as the Chairman of the
Development Corporation of
Crawley New Town, in
West Sussex, a post he held until 1960. In his early days at the Development Corporation, he was responsible for the scrapping of the existing plans for the New Town, and the appointment of Sir
Anthony Minoprio to create a new master plan. When the town was built, a new
comprehensive school was named for him, opening in 1958. He also took over responsibility for the Stevenage New Town which had been initially the responsibility of
Monica Felton. After the completion of Crawley New Town, in 1958 Sir Thomas Bennett designed the terraced houses (1–14) on Middle Field, St John's Wood, which the 20th Century Society have recognised as well-preserved mid-century reinterpretation if the Georgian Terrace. He opened
the Thomas Bennett Community College school in
Tilgate, Crawley, officially in November 1959. After a section of the original
Smithfield Poultry Market was destroyed by fire in 1958, Bennett designed its replacement, built between 1961–63 and with a unique concrete shell domed roof, believed to be the largest in Europe at the time. In 1964 he designed the Crawley Chapel of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Other T.P. Bennett buildings are the UK Ford HQ at Warley (1965) and the Forton motorway service station (1965). He was awarded the
KBE in 1954. His private practice, T.P. Bennett and Son, expanded into an architectural company and in 1967 was passed to his only son, P.H.P.Bennett, CBE, Chairman of the
Joint Contracts Tribunal 1973–1978. ==Partial list of buildings==