Born on April 5, 1894, in Samara, Russia; died on June 21, 1969, in New York, USA. First wife Lydia Arnoldovna Gran (b. 1899), second wife – Delight Gran.

Gran studied architecture in Saint Petersburg, and also was a marine officer who fought against the Bolsheviks as part of the Siberian Fleet in 1917. After landing in Shanghai in 1921, he worked as an architect at Palmer & Turner for ten years. During that decade, the company completed its largest projects, including the Glen Line Steamship Co. building (1921), Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (1923), Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China (1923), Yokohama Specie Bank (1924), Custom House (1926), the remodeling of the Palace Hotel (1927), Beth Aharon Synagogue (1927), Cathay Hotel (1929), Embankment Building (1931), Metropole Hotel (1931) and Hamilton House (1932). 

In his interviews in the 1960s, Gran claimed to have designed Cathay Hotel. His name, always placed near the top of the list of Palmer & Turner staff, was the only one without the credentials of the Royal Institute of British Architects. By 1932, local newspapers described Gran as the "author of many notable buildings" and "an architect with an already established reputation."   

In January 1932, E. M. Gran – " exponent of the newer tendencies of modern architectural practice" – became partner in the firm of Davies & Brooke. A year later, one of the partners – C. Gilbert Davies – died, so Emmanuel Gran and John Tallents Wynyard Brooke continued as a duo, retaining the firm's name Davies, Brooke & Gran (建兴). During the 1930s, the firm accomplished a number of large-scale projects in Shanghai, most of which survive to this day: a godown and offices for Pilkington Bros. (1933), the Lafayette Court (1933), Medhurst Apartments (1934), Yue Tuck Apartments (1934), Victor Court (1934), Commercial Bank of China, aka Development Building (1935),  Villa Bayankara and mall for Zhou Xiangyun (1936), Ashkenazi Synagogue (1937), Magnet House (1938), Hanray Mansions (1939) and two versions of the Pushkin Monument (1937 and 1947).

In 1931, together with N. N. Emanoff, E. M. Gran founded the Russian Engineering Society and was its chairman for years. He was also a lecturer in architecture and vice-president of the Higher Technical Centre of the French Concession in 1936–1941, and chairman of the ORT Society, which promoted handicrafts among Jews, in 1941. 

Davies, Brooke & Gran had a branch office in Hong Kong. In 1934, Gran was invited to design the houses for the Kadoorie Estates. By 1937, three houses, a bungalow and six semi-detached houses were completed and occupied, and by the end of 1941, 34 houses were occupied, together with 13 apartments in St. George’s Mansions. The latter building was adjacent to the China Light and Power (CLP) administration building on Argyle Street, finished in 1940. 

The 1941 issues of Hongkong and Far East Builder mention the following projects in Hong Kong: 

– Alterations and additions to Ritz Amusement Park, King's Road. Work in progress.

– One block of offices and residential building to Central Police Station, Hollywood Road. Plans approved.

– Private residence for Sir Elly Kadoorie, Castle Peak. Work in progress.

– Additions to Hong Kong Sanitarium, Happy Valley. Plans in preparation.

– Fanling Development for the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Site leveling work in progress.

– Ice Cream Kiosk on Beach Road, Repulse bay. Work in progress.

– European (Spanish-style) residence for Chun Tak Kwong, Esq, on Repulse Bay Road. Work recently completed.

– Alterations to Race Course Apartments, Gray Estates, Shan Kwong Road. Work in progress.

In 1949, Gran left China and relocated to New York. He worked as architect and director of interiors for the Hilton Hotels until his death in 1969, having authored more than 45 buildings around the world. In various interviews, he stated that he had designed his first hotel in 1926; he also claimed to have designed the Cathay Hotel! He admitted to occasionally thinking about retiring. "But then last year I met an active architect who was 90 years old, and I changed my mind," he stated a few months before his death. (TWA, March 1969) 

Gran's vast collection of Chinese art, jades and scholar's objects, amassed during his time in China and exhibited at his home and workplaces, made a splash at major auctions in 2014.