Albert Randall Wells was an English architect who worked principally in the Arts and Crafts

Arts and Crafts movement

Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...

 style.

He was the son of an architect, Arthur Wells of Hastings

Hastings

Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....

. After a practical training in joinery and founding as well as architecture, Randall Wells was discovered by William Lethaby

William Lethaby

William Richard Lethaby was an English architect and architectural historian whose ideas were highly influential on the late Arts and Crafts and early Modern movements in architecture, and in the fields of conservation and art education.-Early life:Lethaby was born in Barnstaple, Devon, the son of...

 and acted as his resident clerk of works at All Saints, Brockhampton-by-Ross, Herefordshire

Herefordshire

Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...

 (1901-2). His own Church of St Edward the Confessor, Kempley

Kempley

Kempley is a village in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire, England, close to the border with Herefordshire.The small village has two notable churches, one dedicated to St Mary and another to St Edward the Confessor.St...

, Gloucestershire, (1903-4), is in a similar style to Lethaby. St Edward's, described by Betjeman as "a mini-cathedral of the Arts and Crafts movement", was built from local materials by local labour under his direction.

He worked with ES Prior

Edward Schroeder Prior

Edward Schroeder Prior was an architect who was instrumental in establishing the arts and crafts movement. He was one of the foremost theorists of the second generation of the movement, writing extensively on architecture, art, craftsmanship and the building process and subsequently influencing...

 at Voewood (later Home Place)

Home Place, Kelling

Home Place, Kelling, also called Voewood, is a house designed by Edward Schroeder Prior, near Holt, Norfolk, UK .Home Place is perhaps one of the greatest achievements of house design of the Arts and Crafts Movement. More than almost any other building of the period the house fulfils the ideals...

, Kelling, near Holt, Norfolk (1903–4), and St Andrew’s, Roker, Sunderland (1905–7). Both buildings employed concrete.

He ran his own practice as well as working for other architects. His Church of St Wilfrid, Halton, Leeds

Halton, Leeds

Halton is a district of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, situated between Cross Gates to the north, Halton Moor to the west, Colton to the east and Whitkirk to the South. Temple Newsam lies directly south of the estate.-History:...

 (1937-39) is also influenced by modernism. Large expanses of clear glass within tall, stepped lancet windows allow light to flood high vaults and cast shadows on the plastered interior. Wells also furnished much of this interior.

In 1905 his design for a cottage for Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire won a £100 prize.