Sir C. H. (Charles Herbert) Reilly

Born in London in 1874, Sir Charles Herbert Reilly trained in architecture and began teaching in London before taking up the Roscoe Professorship at the University of Liverpool in 1904. From there, he led the Liverpool School of Architecture for nearly three decades and built its reputation into one of the best known architecture schools in the English-speaking world.

Reilly was important not only as a teacher but as a tastemaker. He championed a broader, more modern architectural outlook, encouraged town planning as a serious field of study, and helped strengthen architectural education through professional bodies as well as the university. His influence reached well beyond the buildings he designed himself, through the many students and architects shaped by his teaching.

He also wrote about architecture for a wider audience, including his semi-autobiographical book Scaffolding in the Sky. Knighted before the First World War and later awarded the Royal Gold Medal for architecture, he is remembered as one of the key figures in British architectural culture in the first half of the 20th century.