Joseph Sunlight
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216701808
2008-06-02T20:47:20Z
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[[Image:Sunlight House.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Sunlight House, [[Manchester]]]]
'''Joseph Sunlight''' ({{OldStyleDateDY|2 January|1889|[[20 December]] [[1888]]}}–[[April 15]], [[1978]]), was a [[Russia]]n/ [[England|English]] [[architect]] whose energy amassed him a great fortune in [[Manchester]] and left at least one fine building in [[Sunlight House]].
Born [[Novogrudok]], [[Belarus]], then part of Russia, his [[Jew]]ish family were named Schimschlavitch, his father a [[cotton]] [[merchant]]. In later life, Sunlight enjoyed to "dine out" on tales of his family's adventures and brushes with the [[Tsar]]ist authorities but it is suspected that these were largely fanciful. The family emigrated to England in [[1890]] to avoid [[conscription]] and settled in Manchester, probably choosing their new name from [[Port Sunlight]].
Sunlight was [[apprentice]]d to an architect in Manchester in [[1904]] and by [[1907]] had his own practice in [[St Ann's Square, Manchester|St Ann's Square]]. Reputedly, by [[1910]], he had designed and built more than 1000 houses in [[Prestwich]] and claimed that by [[1921]] he had created more than one million [[GBP|pounds]]' worth of property.
He also designed and built [[factory|factories]] and [[warehouse]]s but his greatest memorial is Sunlight House ([[1932]]). In [[1949]], he proposed a 40-storey extension but it was rejected by the city council. His sole [[religion|religious]] building was the technically innovative [[South Manchester Synagogue]] ([[1913]]).
Sunlight was elected [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Shrewsbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Shrewsbury]] in the [[United Kingdom general election, 1923|1923 general election]] and introduced a [[Private Member's Bill]] on the [[standardisation]] of [[brick]]s. Though the bill survived by a single [[vote]], it was lost when Sunlight was defeated in the [[United Kingdom general election, 1924]].
Sunlight, though always professing his affection for the faith of his parents, seems to have been more interested in his favourite pastime of [[horse racing]].
He married Edith Forshaw in [[1940]] and they had one son, the [[artist]] [[Ben Sunlight]].
==Bibliography==
*Kadish, S. "Sunlight, Joseph (1889-1978)", ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, 2004 <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/42156, accessed [[5 June]] [[2005]]> (subscription required)
*Obituary, ''[[Manchester Evening News]]'', [[April 18]] [[1978]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunlight, Joseph}}
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:Russian architects]]
[[Category:British architects]]
[[Category:Art Deco]]
[[Category:Liberal MPs (UK)]]
[[Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1923-1924]]