Charles Reed (architect)

Charles Reed (later Charles Verelst) (1814 – 13 December 1859) was an English architect. He practised in Birkenhead, which was then in Cheshire and later in Merseyside. He was orphaned as a child and brought up by an uncle. When the uncle died, Reed inherited his estate at Aston Hall, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, and changed his surname to Verelst. During the 1840s and 1850s he worked for Sir William Temple in laying out a housing estate in Claughton, and designing villas within that development. Two roads in the estate, Charlesville and Reedville, are named after him. In 1852–54 he was president of the Liverpool Architectural Society. In addition to designing buildings locally, Reed also carried out works further afield, including in North Wales, the Lake District, and Lytham, Lancashire. He was a commissioner of Birkenhead for many years. He died in Claughton, Birkenhead.