Cecil Young

• Birth date:  30 April 1889 at Manchester
• Baptism: 5 June 1889 St James, Birch in Rusholme.
• Death date:  1 May 1977 
• 1952-1953: President of the Manchester Society of Architects

William Cecil Young was born on 30 April 1889 the son of William James Young and Mary Emma and was articled to Richard Bassnett Preston (qv). Of his pupillage he later wrote:

As an articled pupil of the Diocesan Surveyor for Manchester, Richard Bassnett Preston (qv), my outlook was very restricted. The practice was almost exclusively concerned with neo-Gothic churches, with the occasional rectory; to quote Cecil Stewart “impeccably correct in detail, built to last until the Day of Judgement, and very, very dull!”: built generally of Accrington bricks, with terra -cotta window jambs, mullions and tracery and internally arcades of the same materials. The terra cotta blocks, filled with fine concrete, simulated the stone dressings of a Gothic building. Open timber roofs of Oregon pine covered with Westmorland slates ensured that no harm should come to the structure below. Woodwork fittings were detailed meticulously, leaving little enjoyment or scope to the craftsman.  [MSA Reminiscences: Cecil Young].

He was awarded the RIBA Pugin Prize in 1914, duly recorded in the architectural press:  There are five sets of drawings sent in for the Pugin Prize this year, and the winner of the prize, Mr Young, has certainly produced four strainers of remarkably interesting drawings. The tower of St. Mary Magdalene, Gedney, Lincolnshire, may be taken as a typical specimen, and the excellent plans which are given of every part show a very complete study of the building. The same remark applies to most of the work, and the direct and simple form of perspective of St. Edith's Church, Anwick, and Elm Church, Cambridgeshire, seem most successful. His drawings of the glass from the Flodden Window, Middleton, Lancashire; and the pavement at Ely, show that his power of drawing detail in colour is quite up to the average. [Building News 13 February 1914 Page 217].

In 1915 he began his association with Isaac Taylor, first as an assistant and later as partner in the firm of Taylor and Young; an association which would extend his entire professional career.

Address   
1915 : c/o Isaac Taylor 17 St Ann’s Square, Manchester
1919 : c/o Isaac Taylor 17 St Ann’s Square, Manchester
1922 : 19 Chapel Walks Manchester
1929 : (Taylor and Young) 19 Chapel Walks Manchester
1936 : (Taylor and Young) 19 Chapel Walks Manchester

Residence
1889 : Longsight Old Hall   
1915 : 17 King’s Drive Heaton Moor near Stockport
1919 : Sussex House Cedar Road Sutton Surrey
1977 : The Cottage Grange Road Bowdon Manchester (probate)

Reference : Building News 30 January 1914 Page 147
Reference :  Building News 13 February 1914 Page 217
Reference : Building News 27 March 1914 Page 434
Obituary :  RIBA Journal   v 84, Aug 1977, p 359