Sir James Grey West OBE (1881–15 June 1951) was a British architect. Born and trained in Cardiff, Wales, West joined the government Office of Works in 1904, eventually succeeding Sir Richard Allison as chief architect in 1934.[1]
West worked on Bromyard House, the former Ministry of Pensions building in Acton, London (1914-1922), said to be the largest single building in Britain at the time.[2] He designed the hall of Royal Air Force College at Cranwell, Lincolnshire (1929-1933) in the seventeenth-century style of Sir Christopher Wren.[3] West also worked on the Duveen Wing of the National Portrait Gallery (1933), with Allison,[4] and also provided designs for the Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast (1933).[5] As chief architect, he oversaw the building of Thomas Tait's St. Andrew's House, Edinburgh (1935-39).[6] He was knighted in 1936. During World War II, West was appointed Director of Post-War Planning, as well as being chief architect of the reorganised Ministry of Works, until his retirement in 1945.[6]