Maurice Bingham Adams Educated at Cliffe House Academy, Lewes, Adams worked in two large building firms in Brighton from May 1865 to April 1866. Articled to Horatio Nelson Goulty of Brighton from February 1867 he was later assistant to Sir William Emerson and to Thomas Maynard, and, from 1870 to 1872, Clerk of Works and architect to Philip Causton Lockwood, Borough Surveyor of Brighton.
Adams commenced independent practice in !873 and was on the staff of Building News from 1872 until he retired in 1923. He was also Architect to Brighton Borough Council and Honorary Architect to Chiswick Charity Trusts.
Extracted from Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, British Architectural Library.
According to Alistair Black ( A New History of the English Public Library) Adams was the second most prolific architect of public libraries prior to WW1 and was responsible for designing five of the Libraries funded by Passmore Edwards. He shared with Edwards the belief in the importance of efficient architecture in providing the educational institutions required to face the perceived threat to the economy from foreign competition. Likewise he believed in self help.
A proponent of the Queen Anne style, he was responsible for the Bedford Park development in West London which provided him with a home and also, in Bedford Place, the home where Passmore Edwards was later to live.
Adams was an internationally recognised architect delivering commissions in both the USA and Australia.