Thomas Bennett (architect)

Sir Thomas Penberthy Bennett KBE FRIBA (14 August 1887 – 29 January 1980) was an English architect, responsible for much of the development of the new towns of Crawley and Stevenage.

[2] He trained as an architect at Regent Street Polytechnic while employed in the drawing office of the London and North Western Railway.

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.

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.

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.