Archibald Knox and Buildings in Douglas

14 ISLE OF MAN EXAMINER www.iomtoday.co.im Tuesday, June 18, 2019 BUILDINGS AT RISK Archibald Knox’s influence on buildings in the capital Here, in the latest of the Examiner Buildings at Risk series of features, Patricia Newton of the Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society is contributing two articles taking a look at what famous Manx Art Nouveau designer and artist Archibald Knox’s life and drawings tell us about the island’s built heritage. She finds that many of the buildings he chose to draw in pen and ink in Douglas have now gone or are under threat, but that more sites merit blue plaques to emphasise his connection to them than the two such plaques in place currently. uildings are not purely the pre- serve of the architects who design them but have a living history in terms of who Bhas occupied them, who has portrayed them in pictures and the stories that they can tell. So what do the Kensington Art School, Balladoole Farm in Arbory, Old Laxey Bridge, the Trafalgar Inn in Douglas, Sul- by Mill, Knockaloe Beg and the Dawsey memorial in Braddan churchyard all have in com- mon, amongst countless other buildings and structures and localities, both identified and unidentified, in Ellan Vannin? The answer in this case is Knox, primarily Archibald of that ilk. The Archibald Knox Fo- rum – led by Chris and Mary Hobdell, and which follows on from the Archibald Knox Society established by the late Liam O’Neill – has identified many of the localities associated with the great man in the Douglas area and organises guided tours around these sites. Few of the buildings that Knox was closely associated with survive. Throughout the rest of the island, there is virtually no identification of Albert Hotel, rear of North Quay buildings he either was known to have a direct association with, or which he drew. ings in modifying old, and Cronkbourne, in its entire- for whom he designed and Here, in the first of two ar- planning new, development. ty, is now a registered building crafted much of it here on his ticles, the case is put forward In 1856, Archibald’s father but not before it was severely native island Knox, the artist, for blue plaque trails, not just William followed his sister put at risk by Braddan Com- is equally valued for his image- the two individual plaques from Scotland to the Isle of missioners’ plans to demol- ry, primarily his watercolours that exist in Douglas courtesy Man, along with his wife and ish it. of local landscapes, including of Douglas Development Part- eldest son Robert. As he grew up, Archibald some buildings, and weather – nership. William obtained employ- recorded his family’s business he was ‘the man who can paint Such trails could not only ment at Moore’s sailcloth fac- interests and reached out to the wind’. identify the localities he knew, tory at Tromode and housing the friends that he had made but also what current archi- in Moore’s planned village of during his years of education hat is per- tects and planners might learn Cronkbourne, where Archiba- and teaching. haps less from the design of these build- ld was born in 1864. He earned his living not known is only on island but also in the the collec- South of England during two tion of pen spells of teaching and design- and ink sketches of buildings Quine’s Corner, 1870 ing, and also in America (in a Wand street scenes that he un- brief fling only). dertook, and which embellish graphs of the day. liam’s specialism was in engi- On island, he lived for a the story of his life and pro- Like his older, partial con- neering and the designing and time in Sulby in the north and vide a unique record of places temporary John Miller Nichol- building machinery for fish- worked during the First World around the island that he was son, Knox made pen and ink ing boats. War at Knockaloe in the west; associated with. sketches of everyday scenes, After he established his however, his longest associa- In their details they pro- some of which later were in- own firm in 1871 at 24 South tion was with Douglas. vide a unique architectural corporated into watercolours. Quay, William’s other four While now probably far record of buildings existing in But many of Knox’s sketch- sons followed him into this better known internationally the late Victorian and Edward- es, while signed by him, are industry. Archibald’s connec- for his modern Art Nouveau ian period; buildings that are not identified in terms of their tion was in providing drawings silver and pewter work for not recorded in the thousands location. of the works for their letter- Cattle market street and tanyard Libertys via the Silver Studio, of postcard scenes and photo- Archibald’s father Wil- head; his sketches around Tuesday, June 18, 2019 www.iomtoday.co.im ISLE OF MAN EXAMINER 15 BUILDINGS AT RISK Douglas Harbour also show both the boat and the industrial works in the background, by the site of the gas works. One of Archibald’s broth- ers, Robert, married the girl next door at No 25 and later moved to Leigh Terrace. Another brother married the daughter of John Holden, landlord of the nearby Trafal- gar Inn. Her brother was a con- temporary of Archibald’s at the Douglas School of Art. Al- though its former neighbour- ing buildings, the red herring houses, have since been replaced by galvanized ware- houses, the Trafalgar Inn still stands as a flagship at anchor on the junction of South Quay and Head Road. Steam ship and South Quay industry However, this building dat- ing from 1819 is now threat- finance the rebuilding of St ened with demolition and George’s. replacement by a seven-storey The replacement current office and residential block. quayside site was expensive, If we follow Knox in weav- but for those at the top end of ing a way through the quayside the town, the St George’s pro- Old St Matthew’s in Illustrated London News 1881 streets of Douglas, we cross an ject needed labourers. area of which, in 1882, a writer St Matthew’s congrega- in the Illustrated London tion won the day – the message News wrote: ‘The part of the was ‘the souls of the poor are town approaching the quay just as valuable as those of the and market-place is very old- higher classes’. fashioned, and has a rather As regards Knox’s involve- foreign aspect.’ ment, a memorial outside the Knox’s images record quayside replacement church some of the quirky streets still exists. and buildings of those days, But while he was modern such as the Tanyard in Cattle in his thinking on design, were Market Street which had been he alive today – and given his purchased by his brother Rob- apparent fondness for record- ert, and the former Quine’s ing the local vernacular – what Corner. would Knox now think of an- Steam ship and South Quay industry In Lower Douglas, Archiba- other major redevelopment ld Knox attended St Barnabas scheme, namely current plans sions, to promote the growth owned, architecturally im- Elementary School and his to build a six-storey block next of Industrial Art, to supply a portant buildings – currently sketches include part of St to, and dominating over, the course of training for those unprotected by registration. Barnabas Square. area’s local, the Albert Hotel in adopting Art as a profession, With it now no longer be- Later John James Frowde Chapel Row? for Teachers, for those taking ing used for its original pur- wrote of the area: ‘with its Moving swiftly on, Knox’s up Art as an accomplishment, pose, in passing it how many seclusion, its cobbles and the geographical trail would lead and generally to foster public people would appreciate Church mixed up with it, [the him uphill to the site of his taste in the Arts and Crafts’. learning about its history? Square] has for over 20 years secondary education at Doug- In 1883/4 it was relocated brought to mind a similar en- las Grammar School in Dalton from its Loch Promenade ere Knox was semble at the rear of S. Pierre Street – now replaced by the premises – now commemo- to have for his in Geneva in a violent thun- functional, if scarcely attrac- rated opposite courtesy of the contemporar- Archibald Knox opposite 70 Athol Street derstorm.’ tive, Manx Telecom building. Douglas Development Part- ies and possible In this case, sadly, the His headmaster there was nership’s blue plaque-marked mutual influ- At the same time, Knox and its results has ever been thunderstorm became a tor- the Rev Canon John Quine, Knox Garden – to the purpose- ences the architects Baillie- taught drawing in several sought or obtained at these nado and the square and its later of All Saints, Lonan, with built Kensington Road Art HScott, Robert Douglas and schools – such as Douglas schools on the part of the sub- surroundings were demol- whom a lasting friendship School. Frederick Swinnerton, and for High School for Boys in Derby committee’. Knox was clearly ished. would result. This building, with its his mentor Alfred Callister, Square. A report by the Higher known but not appreciated on Knox attended old St Mat- His artistic skill then led to massive windows designed to whom he followed to London. Grade Sub-committee stated: his own island. thew’s Church.

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