Born in 1887, J.B.F. Cowper received his architectural education at the Manchester University School of Art and in the office of noted Victorian architect Sir Percy Worthington.

Cowper’s drawings and designs carefully combine references to architectural history, and especially classical and Neo-Georgian details, into buildings which were highly modern for their age in terms of their functionality.
 

A prime example of this is Heathcroft, Cowper’s first major project. Cowper won the competition in 1923 as his design combined ‘architectural effect’ and ‘labour saving with regard to individual flats and the communal services’, in the words of the judges. Features such as fitted bathrooms in every flat, garages, lounge and billiard room all signalled Heathcroft was a place for modern living and that flats could be an attractive option for the middle classes looking to escape central London. Yet organizing the flats around a central court and including a common refectory recalled older forms of communal living, as do many groups of buildings on the Suburb.

Over the course of his career Cowper developed a speciality in designing apartment and accommodation blocks. These include Okehampton Close in Finchley, Surbiton Court and Swail House, Epsom. Many notable examples are on the Suburb including Corringham Court, Litchfield Court and The Pantiles. The latter is a fine example of the trend for the exotic in architecture of the 1920s and early 1930s. It adopts an Italianate style while at the same time managing to evoke some of the glamour and sunshine of Hollywood. Like Heathcroft, the mix of modern comforts, such as gas boilers, and cheerful allusions to other times, buildings and places in the architecture, did much to cement The Pantiles’ appeal amongst professionals looking for new ways of living.

Cowper was a resident of the Suburb for many years, designing his own house at 96 Wildwood Road in 1921. He died at home in Heathcroft in 1964.