THE Architectural Historian Issue 11, November 2020

Pakistan’s Sikh legacy | In search of the Arts & Crafts church The Adams’ Grand Tours | Lynne Walker interview ISSN 2056–9181 THE Architectural A message from Historian the President

Editorial team Architectural History in the Time of Covid: In some unexpected ways, the pandemic Magazine editor it makes me think of the title of Gabriel has unwittingly served the Society well. Nick Jones Garcia Márquez’s 1985 novel, but there What looked like a very grim picture, with [email protected] the similarity ends. When I last wrote this the cancelling of the Autumn Study Tour Commissioning editor column, I had little idea of how the next few and AGM in Oxford, as well as a number of Paul Holden months would pan out or that, by the time other events, has turned out to be a major [email protected] I came to write it, much of the UK would be marketing success. Starting with the virtual in a second lockdown. Over these last few tour of Saltaire in June, the development of the Contact the SAHGB months, Covid has hampered, for me, any online programme has brought the Society’s For all general enquiries about the pursuit of architectural research. Like other events to a much wider and international Society, please contact: scholars, I have been unable to visit archives audience than could ever have been done [email protected] or specialist libraries although I did manage before. The original Saltaire tour, for example, For membership enquiries, please to see thirteen buildings (some of them twice) had a cap of 20 attendees: on the day, 167 contact: [email protected] by Peter Womersley (1923-93) during one registered for the online event, something frenzied July weekend in the Scottish Borders. that the narrow streets of the town could No material may be reproduced in part One such was the unforgiving Dingleton Boiler never have accommodated. The Symposium or whole without the express permission House at Melrose District Asylum (1972). While has done equally well. Rather than meeting of the publisher. waiting for archives in Edinburgh to reopen, for one or two days in London, the virtual which has not yet happened, I spent much © 2020 Society of Architectural of the last few months ensconced in the Historians of Great Britain Limited by Scottish Highlands where the nearest listed The development of the guarantee. Registered Number 810735 building was the equally unforgiving Fortar online programme has England. Registered as a charity (or Forter) Castle. The ruin of this tower house, no. 236432. Registered office: destroyed by the Covenanters in 1640, was brought the Society’s 70 Cowcross Street London, EC1M 6EL. listed Category B in 1971, but was restored, if events to a much wider and not actually reimagined, in 1990, which seems international audience Disclaimer to question the reliability of the current listing. The views and opinions expressed in the articles in The Architectural Historian are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the editor, the society or the publisher. The Architectural Historian can in no way be held liable for any direct or indirect damage that may arise from such views.

For further information about the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, including details on how to become a member,

please visit sahgb.org.uk. Left Fortar Castle, Glenisla, Angus, 1560, rebuilt 1990 Right: Dingleton Boiler House, Melrose District Asylum, Scottish Borders, 1972

2 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 Contents

version was spread over four days from July to Features October, with an average registration of 350 for each. A total of 41 papers were presented 4 Does the Arts & Crafts church exist? on the theme of ARCH/TECTURES ARCH/VES Alec Hamilton goes in search of an elusive typology by speakers from Australia, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the USA as well 9 Rochester’s best-kept secret as, of course, the UK. Our series of twelve p4 Claire Gapper explores Eastgate House – an weekly research seminars, combined with the overlooked jewel of Kent’s architectural heritage long-standing Oxford Architectural History Seminars and hosted online with the Institute 12 Collections in focus of Historical Research (IHR), have also Adriano Aymonino and Colin Thom introduce a new digital reached a far wider audience than the small platform of the Adam brothers’ Grand Tour writings room in the University of London’s Senate House could ever accommodate. The average 16 Introducing … registration has been over 130. Similarly, p9 Patrick Newberry sheds light on the work of prolific the AGM was held virtually on 28 October, ecclesiastical architect J.P. St Aubyn during which a number of Special Resolutions amending the Articles of Association were News and events passed unopposed. The Meeting also voted for Professor Deborah Howard to be an 19 Annual Lecture Honorary Patron Member of the Society. Aymee Thorne Clarke talks to this year’s Annual Lecturer, The Annual Lecture for 2020 will be Lynne Walker, about her thesis on E.S. Prior, and the influence given by Dr Lynne Walker, Senior Research p12 of her supervisor, Nikolaus Pevsner Fellow at the IHR, but, in recognition of its significance, will be rescheduled for early 22 Awards 2021 in the hope that it can be presented live. This year’s nominees Meanwhile, as an introduction, Dr Walker will describe her ideas online in a conversazione 23 Editorial board with Dr Elizabeth Darling on 14 December. The new team behind Architectural History This will be accompanied by the Awards ceremony when the winners of the Alice p19 24 Upcoming events Davis Hitchcock Medallion, the Colvin Embracing the virtual world Prize, the Hawksmoor Essay Medal and the James Morris Prize will be announced. 25 Scholarships Despite the difficulties caused by the How we are helping our Scholars through the pandemic pandemic, or perhaps because of them, the Society is in rude health. Membership, at Books and journals almost 900, is up; attendance at our events is through the roof. We look forward to volume 63 p26 26 Beyond borders of Architectural History, and thank our outgoing Dalvir Pannu recounts the process behind his exhaustive editor, Dr Anthony Gerbino, for all the work he work on Sikhism’s architectural legacy in Western Punjab has done over the past few years. Meanwhile, we welcome in the new editor, Professor Mark 30 Mark Girouard’s Biographical Dictionary Swenarton, and his newly formulated Editorial Graham Child gives an update on the eminent historian’s Board. Finally, we must thank Nick Jones, last major work who has edited this magazine since 2016, but is now leaving us. Under new editorship, p31 31 Around a journal in 80 seconds … The Architectural Historian might change, Alastair Dick-Cleland gives a tour of The Orchard but Nick has left us a valuable legacy and record of the Society’s recent activities. Cover: A nineteenth-century monument in Mudhali village, n Neil Jackson, President, SAHGB Punjab, Pakistan, depicting British soldiers in battle

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 3 Feature

When you write a book called Arts & Crafts The Arts & Churches – I have been working on the subject since 2006 – you must expect to be challenged: ‘What is an Arts & Crafts church?’ Some go further: ‘Is there any such thing?’ Crafts church – When the late Gavin Stamp lectured on the subject at Rewley House in 2005, I asked if he was going to write a book about it. ‘Oh, does it exist? no,’ he replied, ‘Too difficult’! Not surprising, then, there has never been a scholarly book on Arts & Crafts churches. There are any number on the Arts & Crafts house, interior, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery. And a good Above The echt Arts The Arts & Crafts coincided with a tectonic shift & Crafts church? All in Britain’s relationship with religion, which may deal about a small number of the more Saints, Brockhampton ‘famous’ churches – Holy Trinity, Sloane explain why its churches have attracted little Street, Chelsea (J.D. Sedding and Henry Opposite St Mary the scholarly examination. Alec Hamilton reflects on Virgin, Great Warley – Wilson, 1887-90 and beyond); All Saints, a friendly, less his pursuit of a typology without a type Brockhampton, Herefordshire (W.R. Lethaby, God-like God

4 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 1901-02); St Andrew, Roker, Tyne & Wear ‘real thing’. And sometimes not. first began to glimmer about now. (E.S. Prior, 1905-07); St Mary the Virgin, Great 6. And it doesn’t have to be a church – it can Many of the new Anglican, Unitarian Warley, Essex (Harrison Townsend and W. be any building constructed by any religion or and Independent churches built around Reynolds-Stephens, 1902-04) and St Matthew, denomination for the purposes of its liturgy or 1900 were not needed: they were built at the Queen’s Cross, Glasgow (Charles Rennie worship: mosque, gurdwara, Kingdom Hall, etc. desire of individuals with deep pockets and Mackintosh, 1896-99). But nothing that casts 7. And, in some cases, it is the client who ‘is’ idiosyncratic ideas. It was not always about the net wide, brings these and the many (or seems) Arts & Crafts, either in their tastes, the best way to serve God: a residual atavistic others (there are perhaps 350) together, or in their political and social attitudes. sense that public piety was correct was to draw comparisons and conclusions. 8. There are exceptions to all the above. intertwined with conspicuous consumption. Professor Stamp’s ‘Too difficult’ should Yes, all much too precise, and far too The Catholics and the Methodists were have warned me off. On the contrary. What vague. It rather suggests ‘Arts & Crafts a little different – they were still building could be more delightful than a category church’ is not really an architectural category out of commitment to the greater good, resistant to categorisation: a typology at all. So what is it? Tangible evidence from conviction and a sense of duty. (And, that lacks a type? Of which there can of cultural and spiritual upheaval – the yes, so were some Anglicans.) But many be no catalogue raisonné. Oh joy. In 2009 overtopping in Britain of religion by Art. churches built in the two decades before I started my DPhil: ‘The Arts & Crafts in 1900 and the two decades after, expressed church building in Britain, 1884–1918’. The dwindling of God something new – the utterly personal: Somewhere about 1880 God lost his footing. individuality – the supremacy of ‘me’. Parameters In 1850, He was an incontrovertible Fact – the The Anglo-Catholic W.H. Frere identified After 15 years thinking about it, let me supreme Fact of British culture. By 1900, He it in 1906: ‘We must recognise that access to set out what I mean by ‘Arts & Crafts had become optional. He had declined from God is to a large extent a markedly individual church’. Then we can get down to cases. a great higher Truth to a poetic metaphor. act. The worshipper is throughout the service 1. It has to be built in or after 1884, the founding The Arts & Crafts coincided with – in an individual relationship to God.’ date of the Art Workers’ Guild (AWG). reflected, did not cause, but sprang from 2. It has to be designed by a member of – the same tectonic shift: God was not in His No-Longer-Victorian the AWG. heaven, the verities were no longer eternal, and By date these churches are, or nearly 3. Or by a member of, or someone who established hierarchies were no longer a given. are, ‘Post-Victorian’. A few are even ‘anti- exhibited with, the Arts & Crafts Exhibition All could be questioned. What Jean-François Victorian’. But mostly they are just ‘No- Society (ACES), founded in 1887-8. The ACES Lyotard, the high priest of Postmodernism, Longer-Victorian’. No longer primarily about included many members of the AWG but, calls ‘incredulity towards metanarratives’ God, or even religion. Nor were the people. unlike the exclusive private AWG ‘club’, the ACES held public exhibitions open to all. 4. Or someone sympathetic to these ideas, but who perhaps lived too far away to attend the meetings, or was not a joiner-in, or who said they despised the Arts & Crafts, but couldn’t help themselves from working in a rather similar way; or whose buildings look Arts & Crafts-y even though they had no idea that was what they were doing. (Or they belonged to the Northern AWG, the Century Guild, the Bromsgrove Guild, the Birmingham School, and so on …) 5. And there are some buildings which, while not in themselves Arts & Crafts by these definitions, have interiors furnished or fitted by such people, or in such a way, that they have also to be considered – for it would be absurd or awkward to leave them out: Arts & Crafts was quite a lot about interior decoration, and sometimes a superficial ‘looking like’ could be the

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 5 flamboyant personality and intellectual grasp were as much European as English – he had connections in America, and showed work at Turin and Brussels. He was Hon Sec of the Northern AWG from its founding in 1896. Long Street is full of Arts & Crafts detail. The bronze figure on the font is by Thomas Stirling Lee (AWG 1889, and Northern AWG). Other metalwork in copper is by James Smithies (NAWG) who showed work with the ACES; the woodwork is by James Lenagan, who taught at Middleton Technical Classes; the painting probably by Frederick Jackson (NAWG), who painted the original mural in Wood’s first Unitarian commission, Middleton Unitarian Church (1892, demolished). The glass in the doors is Mackintosh in spirit if not in fact – Glasgow roses. John Douglas of Chester (1830–1911) designed more than 40 churches. He wasn’t the sort of chap who joined things. His biographer, Edward Hubbard, identified 1870 as Douglas’s watershed year. Before that ‘was a more solemn age, with Gothic of strongly religious affinity pursued as a crusade by its serious-minded proponents’. After, ‘an age … whose moral earnestness was that of William Morris’. Douglas’s ‘Vernacular Revival’ and ‘Old English’ manner – to use Hubbard’s stylistic analysis – can best be observed at the sweet, half-timbered St Michael, Altcar, Lancashire, 1878–79, ‘a complete historical pastiche’ where, Hubbard suggests, ‘one can wallow in the sheer beauty of the wood’.

The churches can perhaps best be understood by looking not at the famous exemplars, but at the churches on the borderline between ‘is’ and ‘isn’t’. Take the north-west of England. Far from London, the architects were not in the AWG, and not much given to exhibiting at the ACES. Five practices of the period give a flavour – the question about their churches is not so much ‘Are they Arts & Crafts?’, so much as, ‘What is ‘Arts & Crafts’ about them?’ The central figure is Edgar Wood (1860-1935). His best-known church, Long Street Methodist Church, Middleton, is so Arts & Crafts in air and detail its local champions have named their website artsandcraftschurch.org – they go so far as to call the building ‘The Arts & Crafts Church’. (Rather as Blackwell is ‘The Arts & Crafts House’!) One feels shy about suggesting there may be more than one. Wood wore a dashing cloak lined with red silk, and an Aristide Bruant hat. His

6 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 (In a word, Artsy-Craftsy.) Douglas’s 1902 Opposite top Long church at Sandiway is a ‘dear little toy Street Methodist Church – Mackintosh-ish glass church … from happy Douglas’, according to Goodhart-Rendel. Suggestive evidence: Hope Opposite bottom Church, Hoylake, Wirral, 1905–6, has windows St Michael, Altcar – wallowing in pastiche by A.J. Davies of the Bromsgrove Guild. Richard Bassnett Preston (1855–1934) Right Emmanuel, was not a member of any Arts & Crafts Southport – Great War Memorial book-stand, by body. He is thought of – if thought of at W.E. Vernon Crompton all – as ‘merely’ Manchester. Some of his churches are pedestrian sub-Bodley, in Below St Mary, Wreay – the font cover: harsh brick. But if you look, there is more. prescient or twee? Emmanuel, Southport, 1895–98, has a dashing Great War Memorial screen and book-stand with carved service-men and women by W.E. Vernon Crompton (AWG 1916). At St John, Furness Vale, 1912, near Stockport – the Bassnett Preston church that looks most Arts & Crafts – intense, sensitive carving in pulpit and choir stalls. His most fully realised – and now the saddest – is St Thomas, Leigh, Wigan, 1902–09, with naturalistic squirrels and seabirds on the choir stalls, a powerful carved, painted reredos, and a big-boned pulpit – all now derelict and relentlessly vandalised. Now, further out on the margin. James Medland Taylor (1834–1909) practised with his brother from an office in St Ann’s Churchyard, Manchester. They built about 50 churches, of which around half have been demolished. Pevsner identified a ‘quirky inventiveness, a love of oddity and an element of risk-taking and willingness to

experiment’. The thrillingly hectic St Anne, Haughton, Denton, 1881, built for a mill- owning chemist with an interest in botany, is full of flower imagery in mosaic, glass and stone: marguerite daisies in memory of his wife. With one eye, over-wrought Victorian – with another, craftsmanship, perhaps over-zealous, sacrificing restraint to delight. Why not? One of the principal mourners at Medland Taylor’s funeral was Edgar Wood. And what of Paley & Austin (and Austin & Paley) of Lancaster? Between 1886 and 1915 they built or rebuilt 52 churches. They were neither AWG or NAWG. Do their churches show Arts & Crafts influence? There are glimmers if you look through the right spectacles. St Mark, Dolphinholme, 1897–98, has a squat, fat tower, and, barn-like timber roof which seem Arts & Crafts in taste (looking-like-ness is often a sort of inadmissible evidence). In the 1920s, practising on his own, Harry Paley (1859–1946) showed all sorts of sparks of invention – St Stephen-on-the-Cliffs, Blackpool, 1925-27,

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 7 stands out. But it remained all very proper. Left St Thomas, Leigh, Looking with an ‘Arts & Crafts eye’ Wigan – squirrels in the vandalised choir became a habit as I visited. Did it make me forgiving and partial, or did it help me Below St Catherine, see more than was there? Not proven. It Hoarwithy – Herefordshire exotic turns out that you can look at almost any church around 1900, and see it that way – is it or isn’t it? Why and why not? Delicious uncertainty, unresolved conundrums. n Arts & Crafts Churches And no right answers. And it extends into by Alec Hamilton is churches by architects who are ‘not’… published by Lund Humphries (£45 St Mary, Kirriemuir, Angus (Ninian Comper, hardback). Readers of 1903): before he hit his stride with ‘unity The Architectural Historian by inclusion’ came this modest, heartfelt get 20% off + free UK postage, with code AC20 tribute to his father – handmade-looking and at lundhumphries.com. personal. The Mortuary Chapel, Compton, Valid until 31 December Surrey (Mary Seton Watts, 1895-8) was 2020. built from the clay in her garden, fired to an unremitting scarlet, with an elaborate gesso/stucco interior to an iconography of her own devising, by women she trained herself – and no Christ anywhere. St Catherine, Hoarwithy, Herefordshire (J.P. Seddon, 1878-1903) is at once homely and sincere, and outrageously exotic: Seddon’s assistant was John Coates Carter. There is that tantalising ‘pre-cursor’, St Mary, Wreay, Cumbria (Sara Losh, 1840-42). And some that came later, with unmistakable if faint echoes: St Hilda, Crofton Park (Greenaway and Newberry, 1905-08); the chancel of All Saints, St Andrews, Fife (Paul Waterhouse 1920-24); St Peter, Gorleston, Great Yarmouth (Eric Gill, 1938-39). One struggles to find commonalities. Yes, an interest in good craftsmanship, often fore-grounded, sometimes distractingly so. The architects were against copying. They did not want to be formulaic or to repeat themselves. They were in sympathy with each other, but remained unremittingly individual. It is a slightly disconcerting orchestra, composed entirely of soloists. The sheer paucity of churches by any architect further frustrates pattern-finding. For it is no good trying to force them to be an architectural type. Their physical appearance obscures their meaning. Their ‘Arts & Crafts- looking-ness’, diverse and idiosyncratic as that can be, obscures their most profound common factor: that they articulate, less visibly but more strikingly, something not architectural at all, neither about aesthetics, nor artistic politics, but about a change in the tenor of British life – a change not only in belief, but in the status of belief. God no longer mattered. What was important now was to Go Your Own Way. We still do. n

8 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 Feature Rochester’s best-kept secret

Claire Gapper uncovers the many layers of the 16th-century Eastgate House – one of the jewels of Kent’s architectural history

Eastgate House is among the oldest domestic buildings in Rochester, with interiors even more fascinating than its exteriors and plenty of puzzles to intrigue an architectural historian. From about the 1580s until 1687 the house was home to the Buck family and in a will of 1655 it was described as a ‘capital mansion with all edifices, buildings, court yards, backsides, orchards and gardens’, so clearly a property of much greater extent than is now apparent. According to the Hearth Tax of 1664 it was a house of ten hearths. It continued to be occupied as a family home until becoming a school in the late 18th century and a girls’ boarding school in 1841, and featured in two Dickens novels – you cannot escape Dickens in Rochester. In the 1870s it became a private house once again, until in 1890 it was used as a hostel and then as a temperance restaurant. It was rescued from this dire fate in 1897 by Rochester City Council who converted the building into a municipal library and museum, to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. A major restoration was undertaken, to rescue the early fabric from later accretions. This was to a large extent meticulous and well- documented and an intriguing exercise in antiquarianism of that date; but puzzles remain. Fixtures and fittings – especially chimneypieces, door frames and panelling – of appropriate date were brought in from became the Dickens Centre, with endearing and its history to become the main features local buildings that had been demolished, holographic characters from the novels for visitors to engage with and enjoy – and and many, but not all, still bear helpful brass addressing the visitor in just a few of the visitors are what it now needs. Much of what labels. Further restoration work was carried rooms, but not those of most interest – that follows is based on the archaeological report out in the 1960s and where some rebuilding is, of course, those with decorative plaster that was commissioned before work began, was necessary accurate reconstructions ceilings. The Dickens Centre closed in by kind permission of Medway Council. aimed to replicate the original build. 2004 and it was not until Medway Council The visitor is first met by a showy timber- When the museum was moved to obtained a Heritage Lottery Grant that its Rochester Guildhall in 1979, Eastgate House future was rethought, allowing the building Above View of Eastgate House, Rochester High Street

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 9 early date surviving elsewhere in Rochester. n Phase 1 In many ways the ceilings are absolutely Last quarter C16 typical: the narrow-ribs were hand-run (note n Phase 2 the wobbles) and the ceiling designs were all Late C16 (1591?) laid out symmetrically; variety is achieved n Phase 3 by the use of different rib profiles and Early C17 different layouts, all of which were to be found n Phase 4 commonly elsewhere – quatrefoils, stars, Greek Second quarter C17 crosses and interlocking ‘kites’; different n Phase 5 bosses, one even being used as a motif in its Second quarter C17 own right. When it came to decorating the n Phase 6 fields between the ribs, the plasterer was Second quarter C17 similarly conventional: a plentiful display n Phase 7 of the heraldry of Buck and his wife, with C18 strapwork cartouches around the shields n Demolished (although it appears the plasterer hadn’t quite got the hang of this type of ornament). On the other hand, he seems to have revelled in framed wing fronting the High Street which the current presentation aims to encompass ‘grotesque’ decoration. Writhing sea monsters is combined, unusually for Kent, with a brick various phases in the building’s history. As are arranged to fit the differently shaped side elevation incorporating an integral a result, it is a good idea to try to visit each fields available; a merman with a cutlass chimney and a polygonal stair turret, which phase vertically, although not easy to avoid grins down at us; and the plasterer seems to provided an observation point from its top, the temptation to stray horizontally. The third have been particularly proud of his merman now with a gabled roof of 18th-century date. floor is not open to visitors. The oldest room and mermaid, who are disproportionately Interior features dated 1590 and 1591 have on the ground floor is designated Buck’s study large for the small ceiling they occupy. suggested a date for the first and second and seems a suitable space in which to do Almost all of this is hand-modelled in phases of Buck’s building; but it is apparent business. Windows on the street front are set very high relief – one of the legs of a deer is that the earliest surviving range facing the high for privacy but on the return wall a lower fully detached from the surface of ceiling, street had no direct external access and was window gave a view of visitors approaching. which must have required an armature. probably attached to an earlier hall house on There is some original panelling and one This would have been cheaper than using the site, that Peter Buck began to refurbish of the imported chimneypieces. The newel expensive carved timber moulds that were and replace in a fairly piecemeal fashion staircase leads off this room to the first floor commonly employed for most (surviving) from the mid-1580s onwards. Buck was not where an original timber overmantel is dated London ceilings. Was the plasterer a local a local man – he was born the eldest son 1590. It is finely carved in stark contrast to rather than a Londoner? Lack of comparative of a Southampton gentleman but in 1582 the robust handling of the plaster ceiling. examples makes it impossible to speculate. he was appointed Keeper of the Prick and On the floor above, a partition divides But why is there no surviving plasterwork in Check of Mariners’ and Artificers’ Wages for the space into two rooms, both with original the phases of the house that followed almost the Elizabethan navy at Chatham. This was chimneypieces and decorative ceilings. clearly a post of considerable responsibility And after this, there is no more decorative Below Detail of the ceiling layout and its holder needed a house to indicate plasterwork in the house, nor anything of this in the first-floor room this status to his neighbours. Buck became Mayor of Rochester in 1593 and was promoted to Clerk of the Ships in 1596. He was knighted during a royal visit in 1604 and when in 1606 James I was accompanied on a second visit by his brother-in-law, Christian IV, the Danish king stayed at Eastgate House and presented Buck with a silver-gilt standing cup. The prospect of a royal guest may have prompted further extensions; but they could have occurred after Sir Peter’s death in 1625, when the house was shared by his widow and their son, Peter II, with his family. The house was enlarged by Buck and his descendants over several decades, apparently with no coherent overall plan. Consequently it is difficult to detect a conventional layout that can be ascribed to any particular date; and

10 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 Above Detail of Right ’Grotesque’ Below ‘Grotesque’ from decorative wall mermaid and merman ceiling of south-east painting in central on ceiling of south-west room on second floor room on second floor room on second floor immediately afterwards? Has it been stripped out over the centuries of alternative uses? The next phase followed very shortly after and is dated 1591 by a beam in what appears to have been the great chamber on the 1st floor. On the ground floor (now the present entrance/ticket office/shop) the screens passage was removed in 1900 but has been reinstated. The room is much more symmetrical with a screens passage in this position, which would have led to the newel staircase at the rear of the house, which now survives only on the top floor. The chimneypiece was revealed by the Corporation beneath layers of wallpaper and is therefore thought to be early. It was they who replaced the caryatids that had been in store but the ensemble is not entirely convincing. The room above must have been the great is now presented as the kitchen but it has a is timber with moulded jambs and vase chamber, with a splendid polygonal window fireplace surround that is clearly of the later stops. At some point in the early 17th century bay and a large timber chimneypiece. On 17th century and far too grand for a kitchen. a brick range in English bond was added to the 2nd floor partitions of c 1600 created The overmantel looks as though it has been the south-west, including a splendid new two rooms and a passage. The larger of the reused from elsewhere. On the second floor staircase which rises to the first floor. This two is now presented as a School Room of the main room is now devoted to Dickens, probably happened after Peter Buck’s death the 19th century. In the smaller central room who sits at a desk, surrounded by a display in 1625, when his widow was sharing the wall-paintings have now been uncovered relating to The Mystery of Edwin Drood. house with their son, Peter II and his family. and there is another early fireplace. As the entrance porch overlays the Phase The house is temporarily closed due to The house was further extended to the 3 wall behind it, it must be slightly later. Covid-19, but check the website for news north-east, probably in the 17th century; It incorporates an original stone doorway of its reopening. There is no guidebook it was originally of two bays but one was with Buck heraldry surviving in one of the but if you would like a copy of the 1903 demolished and replaced by the extant lean- spandrels, with a classical pediment and plans to assist your visit, please email to in the 18th century. The north-east room pilasters added in 1900. The inner doorway [email protected]. n

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 11 Collections in focus

Robert and James Adam: The Grand Tour Correspondence and Writings 1754-63

The first-hand experience of We are pleased to announce the launch of figurative details that Robert and James ancient Roman architecture a new art and architectural history project had gathered on paper while residing in was the catalyst of the Adams’ – the creation of an open-access, digital Rome. A thorough understanding of this critical edition of all the known Adam formative period, as it emerges from the remarkable new style. The brothers’ Grand Tour letters and writings, brothers’ correspondence, is hence vital letters and journals they wrote hosted on the website of Sir John Soane’s in order to shed light on Neoclassical on their Grand Tours form an Museum, with publication scheduled for architecture and decoration as a whole. extraordinary resource – one 2022–23. This material constitutes one of the In October 1754, Robert Adam left Dover which is now being turned into last great collections of unpublished 18th- on the first leg of a Grand Tour. His prime an open-access digital edition, century documents, capturing a seminal destination was Rome, where he resided moment of transformation in European art until May 1757. Rome was at the time the write Adriano Aymonino and and architecture. Its online publication will artistic capital of Europe, flooded with visiting Colin Thom constitute a major resource for historians architects, artists, dealers, connoisseurs of the period. This is a collaborative venture and collectors, whose antiquarian interests between Colin Thom of the Survey of London, and activities helped define the emerging at UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture, and Dr Neoclassical style and the birth of archaeology Below Robert Adam, Adriano Aymonino of Buckingham University’s as a discipline. The first-hand experience of Capriccio of capricci, Department of History and History of Art. It has ancient Roman architecture transformed c.1757, pen, brown and grey washes, Soane the support of a Digital Project Grant from the Adam and was the catalyst of his remarkable Museum, Adam vol. Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. new style – a revolutionary form of classicism, 56/59. All photographs The Scottish brothers Robert (1728–92) and aimed at an enlightened British clientele, by Hugh Kelly. © Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, James Adam (1732–94) defined the British most of whom had experienced the Grand unless otherwise stated architectural style of the late 18th and early Tour. This metamorphosis was something 19th centuries. The success of their innovative that Adam was aware of at the time and is brand of Neoclassicism rested upon the free catalogued in many of his letters from Rome. and inventive way in which they adapted At first he wandered the city for several days the architecture of the classical past to the in a haze, awestruck by the majesty of its cultural and political aspirations of Britain’s ancient remains: ‘Here are Amphitheatres, ruling classes. The new decorative language Triumphal Arches, Fragments of Temples, And they forged in British country and town-house other antiquities, So grand, So noble & awful commissions such as Syon House, Kedleston that it realy fills the Mind with a reverential Hall and Osterley Park in the 1760s and 70s fear & Respect’. Then came a realization that put them at the forefront of dynamic changes here was the opportunity for him to become taking place in European architecture. And ‘the Man I may be’, and develop ‘a Taste their influence was widespread, the Adams much Superiour to what I ever thought of being among the few British architects whose before I saw Rome’. The impact on Adam can work made an impact abroad, not only in be seen in the many imaginative sketches Europe but also in Russia and North America. and capricci of classical ruins that he made One of the great sources of the ‘Adam in Rome, combining and reusing elements Style’ was the vast repertoire of ancient from Roman monuments, reinterpreting and Roman architectural, decorative and reshaping antiquity in a way that would later

12 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 inform his creative process as an architect. into the world of mid-century European art Singular & Clever’. The letters and journals Adam was quick to realize his deficiencies as and architecture. Robert Adam’s relationship are also rich in information on the Roman a draughtsman and then worked supremely with Piranesi was fruitful enough for the political milieu of the time, such as the Papal hard to overcome them, and he saw the great Venetian printmaker to dedicate his Il courts of Benedict XIV (r. 1740–1758) and potential for his architect brothers John and Campo Marzio dell’Antica Roma (1762) to Adam. Clement XIII (r. 1758–1769), the exiled Stuarts James to enjoy the same benefits. Robert’s When Robert wrote from Rome in July 1755 in Rome, or the activities of diplomats and younger brother and architectural partner to tell his brother James of this proposal, he cardinals. The best represented is Cardinal James eventually followed his example and said that Piranesi was also ‘just now doing Alessandro Albani, Winckelmann’s patron, undertook his own Grand Tour in 1760–63. Two Drawings for me, which will be both from whom the Adam brothers bought for King The letters and journals written by the Adams at this time form an extraordinary resource, which remains mostly unpublished. They offer first-hand information not only on the activities and aspirations of the brothers at the start of their independent careers, but Above Nicolas François also on the culture of the Grand Tour, on the Daniel Lhuillier, Frieze difficulties of travelling and the practicalities from the Aula Regia in of trading in antiquities and art in mainland Domitian’s Palace, c. 1763, red chalk, Europe, and on the artistic melting-pot Soane Museum, that was Rome in the mid-18th century. Adam vol. 26/131 Replete with references to the leading Right Robert Adam, artists and theorists whom they encountered Capriccio of a vaulted and – such as Clérisseau, Piranesi, Winckelmann, coffered hall, c.1756-7, Mengs, Cavaceppi, Gavin Hamilton and Allan pencil, pen, brown and grey washes, Ramsay – the Adam brothers’ Grand Tour Soane Museum, correspondence provides invaluable insights Adam vol. 56/145

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 13 Left Giovanni Battista of the original documents. Furthermore he Piranesi, Capriccio, rarely provided dates for his quotations, or c.1745-50, red, black chalk, ink, brown proper references, making it difficult for wash, Soane Museum, readers to follow up any interesting leads. Adam vol. 56/146 Based on new and accurate transcriptions,

Below Robert Adam, this digital edition will bring together for Capriccio for a vast the first time all known 238 Adam letters symmetrical building of the period, as well as various additional (detail), 1757, pen, pencil and grey wash, related writings, preserved today in various eight joined sheets, repositories. The foremost collection of 206 Soane Museum, Adam letters is that belonging to the Clerk family vol. 28/001b. Heritage Partners. © Sir John of Penicuik, currently on long-term deposit Soane’s Museum, London with the National Records of Scotland at Register House, Edinburgh (class GD18), and we are delighted to have the full backing and support of Sir Robert Clerk and the NRS. Scans of the original letters and writings will be George III the ‘Paper Museum’ of Cassiano largest surviving collection of Adam letters, displayed online, alongside the transcriptions. dal Pozzo, the very first attempt at a visual Fleming’s study remains one of the finest Introductory essays by the project leaders, encyclopedia of the world, produced in the books on the Adams, but it is not without based on new research, will provide historical mid-17th century. The correspondence is its shortcomings. Naturally he had to be background and perspective; scholarly also filled with informative descriptions of selective, using extracts from the letters to footnotes and annotations will offer a parallel the social and material life of mid-century tie his narrative together, but that narrative commentary on all aspects of the Adam Italy, such as the religious festivities, the tended to emphasise the social aspects brothers’ lives and works, their family, and Carnival, or the day-to-day practicalities of the Adams’ activities, rather than the on Rome in the 1750s–60s. The edition will of the various foreign communities of architectural, so that the bulk of the collection also contain a bibliography and browsable travellers residing in the papal capital. and many important facets of the brothers’ index, as well as a full-text search facility. This correspondence is of course well Italian tours remain to be investigated and As custodian of over 9,000 Adam drawings known to historians of art and architecture understood. Fleming also took the decision as well as books and objects collected by from John Fleming’s pioneering 1962 volume, to modernise spellings, capitalisation and the brothers, the Sir John Soane’s Museum Robert Adam and his Circle in Edinburgh and punctuation, which, though understandable, remains at the centre of Adam studies. The Rome. Written shortly after the discovery of the distances us somewhat from the character Museum will act as the host institution

14 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 for the digital platform that will house the and the construction of the database. project partners: Victoria and Albert database and content for this critical edition. We currently have a project website at Museum / RIBA Drawings Collection and This will allow for easy interaction with the https://adamgrandtour.online, which Archive; The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies Soane’s online catalogue and images of the provides further information and will offer in British Art (Yale University); London brothers’ Grand Tour drawings, enabling periodic updates as the project progresses, Metropolitan Archives / City of London. n researchers to enhance their understanding and we would be delighted to hear from of the letters via the drawings and vice versa. anyone who has information that may Above Robert Adam, Capriccio showing the Work has already begun with the image be of interest to us. We can be contacted remains of a circular capture and transcription of many of the at [email protected]. temple and an urn, letters in public repositories. Editing and In addition to the academic institutions c.1756–7, pen, brown and grey washes, annotating will take place in 2021, to be and individuals already named, the Soane Museum, followed by text enrichment and encoding, following are also offering support as Adam vol. 56/91

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 15 Feature

Introducing … J.P. St Aubyn In the first of a new series on overlooked architects, Patrick Newberry considers the work of a prolific Ecclesiologist

a Council member of the nascent RIBA, played with these two themes, delivering and a member of the Ecclesiologists. practical, usable churches, although for some, He was also that relatively rare beast, a his style, particularly his affinity for big arch nineteenth-century architect from the upper and wind braced roofs, was overpowering. echelons of British society – the ancient Notwithstanding the adoption of a titled Cornish St Aubyn family, owners of standardised model in the latter parts of his St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall. His critics career, St Aubyn remained capable of more claimed that he owed his success to experimental designs. At St Clements, Notting nepotism, a charge not borne out by the facts. Dale (1867), a low-cost three-aisle church Although he completed many projects for his in a relatively poor district in north-west family in Devon and Cornwall, his practice London, St Aubyn mounted a heavily braced was national, based in London, designing timber Gothic roof on cast-iron columns, buildings in the Home Counties, East Anglia an unusual and innovative approach. At St and the Midlands as well as the West Country. John-in-the-Fields (1858) near St Ives, for St Aubyn had impeccable Gothic Revival a mining new town, St Aubyn produced an roots, having been articled to Thomas impressively severe Early English style church Fulljames, a Gloucester-based architect with a saddleback tower. The church (right) who had trained with Thomas Rickman, has a sculptural quality, reminiscent of the architect and writer who classified Butterfield’s work and the brutal style seems The nineteenth century was a golden age Gothic architecture into the periods we still very appropriate for a mining district. Where for British architects. Rapid economic and use today. St Aubyn established himself budgets permitted, he could also produce population growth, increasing political independently in the early 1840s designing richly decorated high Gothic churches as at stability, religious revival and a national a series of churches and parsonages in St Peter’s, Noss Mayo for Lord Revelstoke. self-confidence all contributed to a surge in Gloucestershire, Devon and Cornwall, Much of St Aubyn’s ecclesiastical work building. New churches, and refurbishment of including four ‘Peel District’ churches in was restoration. He has been criticised for old churches, new municipal and commercial Devonport. His early churches showed a being too heavy-handed. He was particularly buildings, new schools, new country houses desire to experiment and the Devonport unfortunate in having attracted the and extensions of old houses all provided churches, all to very different designs attention of John Betjeman, who vilified ample opportunity for the able architect. The on generally cramped and sloping sites, his extensive church restoration work ‘starchitects’ of the day – Scott, Street, Burges, earned the approval of the Ecclesiologists, in Cornwall, including in excess of thirty Shaw, Waterhouse and Butterfield – are well who, in their 1853 review, commented, ‘Mr critical mentions of St Aubyn in his Shell known, but behind them were many other St Aubyn deserves great credit for four guide to Cornwall. Betjeman, although a very capable architects who designed many churches which he built with progressive fine poet, was a poor historian and made of the buildings that we take for granted, advance of merit in the town of Devonport’. the mistake of judging St Aubyn’s actions and who deserve to be better known. As St Aubyn’s career advanced so he by the standards of his (Betjeman’s) day. One such was James Piers St Aubyn, a developed a more standardised approach to Eighteenth-century laissez-faire patterns of prolific mostly ecclesiastical architect. During his church building, generally using a three- worship in the Church of England had resulted his career spanning 45 years he designed aisled church model with a clerestory for the in many neglected churches. Nineteenth- new churches and restored many fading ones, central aisle and a tower and broached spire century religious revivalists wanted well- his work being firmly in the Ecclesiologist on the south side of the church for large town ordered functioning buildings arranged in tradition. His portfolio of work also included churches (see All Saints, Dresden, opposite) accordance with their liturgical beliefs, which country houses, schools, parsonages and and a single aisle with chancel late thirteenth meant, inter alia, clear separation between commercial buildings. He was appointed century chapel model for smaller country the sanctuary, chancel and nave, proper architect of the Middle Temple in 1851, was churches. Using local materials, St Aubyn processional routes, good pulpits and fonts

16 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 Clockwise from right St Stephen, Devonport with unusual positioning of the tower over the chancel (1852); All Saints, Weiner Strasse, Dresden, Germany (1868); St Peter, Noss Mayo (1881); St Michael’s Mount, showing St Aubyn’s east wing; Grenehurst, Surrey (1874); St John-in-the-Fields, Halsetown (1866)

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 17 Far left Market hall, Devonport

Left St Aubyn’s design for Truro Cathedral near the door. Without modern stainless-steel Michael’s Mount. The house was a converted particularly bitter blow. St Aubyn, G.E. Street, reinforcements and epoxies, nineteenth- monastery and had generally been used R.P. Pullen, John Oldrid Scott, William Burges, century architects often had little choice as a summer residence. In the 1870s, St G.F. Bodley and J.L. Pearson were asked to but to replace damaged fabric and, by the Aubyn’s cousin, Sir John St Aubyn, decided submit examples of their work to a judging standards of the time, it was better to replace to upgrade the house by adding reception panel, which included a number of Cornish in a perceived ‘correct’ Gothic style than to rooms, bedrooms and staff accommodation. gentlemen, including his cousin, Sir John St preserve later ‘incorrect’ work, a philosophy The challenge was to extend the house Aubyn. St Aubyn went further than the brief later overturned by the SPAB and others. significantly on a constrained site, without and prepared a design for the cathedral. St Aubyn’s most famous restoration was damaging the famous silhouette of the J.L. Pearson, who may have had a head start, of the Temple Church in London, where he Mount. St Aubyn achieved this remarkably having worked with the new bishop, Edward carried out comprehensive, but thoroughly well, creating what Nigel Nicolson described Benson, was awarded the job and produced researched, work, including replacing the flat as ‘among the greatest achievements of a design which looked remarkably like St roof of the circular nave with a tall ‘candle nineteenth century domestic architecture’, Aubyn’s, save for having more slender towers snuffer’ conical roof, dramatically altering which Pevsner thought was reminiscent and French instead of English Gothic detailing. the church’s appearance. St Aubyn’s work of Mount Athos or Tibetan monasteries. Although he did not produce the Gothic was badly damaged in Second World War St Aubyn was a versatile architect for, in pyrotechnics of Burges or the monumental bombing and, although the church was addition to his ecclesiastical and domestic works of Scott or Street, St Aubyn deserves restored, the Middle Temple authorities work, he also produced commercial closer attention. Like so many of the tamely went back to the flat roof. buildings as he ably demonstrated when middle-ranking Victorian architects, his St Aubyn developed a good line in Tudor working on the development of the St work repays close study. To have produced gothic parsonages and classical and Aubyn family’s Stoke Damerel estate to some 300 commissions, he must have Tudor gothic country houses, producing create the town of Devonport. St Aubyn appealed to a wide range of clients and it is some 25 new or extended country houses drew up masterplans as well as designing unfortunate that architectural historians and many more parsonages. His country shops, mass-housing, a temperance hall, were so quick to write him off. The tide may houses were dismissed by Mark Girouard a market hall and a prison. Sadly, much of be turning as, in a number of the most as being ‘mostly in a rather dour early his work was destroyed in Second World recent series of Pevsner revisions, he has Gothic style’. This was unfair as St Aubyn’s War bombing, although the market hall, a received more favourable comment. But houses are actually nicely detailed, fine Italianate building, largely survived and even if the tide has not turned, St Aubyn although it is fair to say that they err on the has been converted into an arts centre. may have had a subtle revenge on his arch comfortable rather than the monumental. The greatest disappointment of St Aubyn’s nemesis Betjeman, for Betjeman’s grave lies St Aubyn’s most remarkable country career was not winning the competition to in the churchyard of St Enodoc, Cornwall, house project was the extension and design the new Truro Cathedral. As the one sandwiched between a church restored by modernisation of the St Aubyn family seat, St Cornishman invited to enter, this was a St Aubyn and a lychgate designed by him. n

18 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 “Pevsner sent Annual Lecture me off with the parting advice, ‘Read the will; find out who got the money!’”

This year’s Annual Lecturer, Dr Lynne Walker, speaks to Aymee Thorne Clarke about her 1978 thesis on Arts & Crafts architect E.S. Prior, the influence of supervisor Nikolaus Pevsner and reoccurring subjects in contemporary architectural culture

Could you say a little about your early Arts & Crafts Movement was very much engagement, prolific production and integrity career and what led you to the subject a Pevsnerian topic, and he called for the but an accessible, conscientious supervisor, of your thesis? development of Victorian architectural eagle-eyed to content, style and language. As an art history undergraduate in the history through more research on individual He scrutinised every word I wrote. Before US, my initial studies were devoted to the architects. A sign of the times, it produced supervisions, which occurred after each history of painting and sculpture, I found theses including James Brooks, James chapter was drafted, a letter typed on small architecture dry and rather heavy-going. Knowles, W.R. Lethaby, and G.G. Scott Jr. half sheets of stationery would be sent to However, reading Pevsner’s Pioneers of Pevsner and I went through a list of highlight general areas for discussion with Modern Design was an epiphany and my possibilities agreeing on the Arts & Crafts other brief remarks and corrections noted allegiance from then on was to architecture. architect and scholar, E.S. Prior. Pevsner knew on the script in a spidery hand. At the end After completing my degree and moving that Margaret Richardson had secured an of this well-practised process, the whole to London, post-graduate work seemed archive of Prior’s drawings and photographs thesis was re-read, reviewed and passed. a natural step. I applied to the History of for the RIBA and he had the contact details of There was however never any instruction Art Department at Birkbeck to do a PhD a close family member. Both became the basis per se. Independence of critical thought and in architectural history on a proposed of my research. He sent me off to go through action were inculcated through expectation. but unspecified nineteenth century topic. the RIBA Library and Drawings Collection with A bibliography, provisional list of Prior’s Peter Murray, who was head of department, the parting advice ‘Read the will; find out who work and outline were not requested but, in conveyed his regrets that there was no got the money!’ due course, produced, eliciting the gentle one available to supervise this area, but comment, ‘That was what I had hoped’. he arranged for me to meet the Emeritus What was your experience of being Above Home Place, Kelling, near Holt, Norfolk, Professor, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner. supervised by Pevsner? 1903-1905, designed by E.S. Prior. Martin Godfrey Disappointment turned to elation! The Pevsner was not only a model of academic Cook/Edward Prior: Arts and Crafts Architect, 2015

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 19 principals and witnessed or participated in The interview became a events that offered insights based on their highly useful way to research direct knowledge and experience. These inter-war women architects, witnesses and participants, with a bit of prompting, could often produce relevant who were not represented correspondence, drawings and photographs. in archival collections; Inevitably, generational attrition places more whereas interviews reliance on established archives, but it also prompts an awareness of the historian’s provided an essential means responsibility, and fleeting ability, to identify for getting under the skin and encourage their collection. of contemporary women It is fascinating how many themes of practitioners the thesis have a renewed interest for architects; such as local materials due to climate/carbon footprints, modelling, Dr Lynne Walker (left) participatory design and mass customisation and artisanal design rather than mass production. Quite right, although participatory design was more often Arts & Crafts ideal rather than The breadth of references and media in the give a unique, incisive verbal description practice and did not normally extend to clients thesis is quite striking, especially without of Randall Wells, a Prior collaborator on his or user-groups. It is notable that none of these the accessibility of online catalogues. Could two best known buildings, Home Place (also themes were on the architectural agenda, you describe your research methodology? called Voewood) and Roker Church. In my or at least a priority, when the thesis was My experience of having Pevsner as a work, the interview became a highly useful written. However, Prior would recognise, and supervisor has had a profound and lasting way to research inter-war women architects, undoubtedly applaud, the current emphasis effect. As a student, I was given enormous who were not represented in archival on sustainability and the re-emergence of the freedom to follow my own interests and collections; whereas interviews provided an use of local materials. Simple, sustainable methods without prescription. Archival essential means for getting under the skin local materials and a concern for their research and its interrogation were the focus, of contemporary women practitioners. qualities of texture, colour and pattern, but other key approaches had a long-lasting One final observation here should be which were his chief values, are well- influence. The interdisciplinary approach of about the implications of the thesis in represented in some of the most innovative the thesis employed social history in relation terms of conservation. It authorised my contemporary architecture, such as Sarah to architectural history (as initiated by Mark advocacy for defending Prior’s buildings from Wigglesworth’s Straw Bale House and The Girouard), and this was foregrounded in my demolition or spoilation, a job that fell to me. Barn designed by Wendy Perring of PAD Studio. later work, for example, on suffrage and the home. Like other historians, I subsequently How do you think research methods have As you suggest in the thesis, Prior’s drew on a wide range of disciplines, such changed since, for the better or worse? scholarship was one of his greatest as art and design history, philosophy, It is a truism that technology has completely contributions – should more practising sociology and social geography. Closely changed and facilitated research through architects write about architecture? related was an exploration of the role of the the internet and online catalogues. The ease I would welcome a return the nineteenth- client in architectural production which of access to source material reproduced century model of the architect-historian, became important for understanding and online is of course a boon, highly efficient such as Prior, Lethaby and Blomfield, and depicting the central part played by women and time-saving, but without looking closely encourage practising architects to write about patron-builders (or in Peter Thornton’s at the original item – the back as well as architecture, other than their own. Architects phrase ‘client-architects’) before the the front, getting the heft and sense of the have a different perspective and valuable professionalisation of architectural practice. medium, seeing its wear and tear – much experience of buildings, both contemporary Oral history was also an important tool, can be missed. Researchers who work and historical, than architectural historians. which became an effective technique applied mainly online should not ignore the In the recent past, we have the example of to different topics throughout my research. archivist as a vital source, not everything a practising architect, Roderick Gradidge, When writing the thesis, it was still possible is online or even in the catalogue, but who took a leading role in challenging to interview Prior’s daughter, niece and may be in the archivist’s head. Pevsner’s dominance by promoting the grandson and to hear from the vicar of a Prior Research methods had to change for alternative modern tradition that moved church about the infamous structural issues Victorian architecture, as they have for the away from a single, linear modernism that were encountered in its construction. inter-war period. Sources are in one important based on the Modern Movement. This Outside existing printed archives, the way more constrained without living subjects, argument broke open the study of a more sculptor, Lawrence Bradshaw, was able to family members or friends who knew the diverse architecture of the 1920s and 30s.

20 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 Many of the themes addressed relate to the view of history and there are a few references to the importance Prior saw in understanding ancient art and architecture, not for mimicry but for inspiration. On that basis, is there a role for the historian in the architectural profession? Especially one that is increasingly believing it is non-referential in its products of digital design. Well on the way to a better architectural world would be complementary practising architects who write about history and architectural historians who have a substantial place in the profession. Today, historians are employed or consulted by a few practices to advise on projects, often around conservation issues. However, architectural historians have more to offer as your question implies, to inspire and contextualise through a more general knowledge and discussion of historic architecture. Digital technology and design have a tendency to suck all the oxygen out of the process of architectural production and it becomes the focus of the process, leaving little space for a concern for architecture’s values, social role or its users or indeed its builders. History can broaden and enrich the design process, provide alternative questions for architects/architecture and suggest answers to design issues, while stimulating the architectural imagination and provoking a Ruskinian joy in labour.

Finally, as you have made a significant contribution to the history of gender and women in architecture, was there anything in your thesis, or the period in which you wrote it, that helped to refine your later interests and research? Modern feminism crystallised in the 1970s when my thesis was written, but a feminist perspective on a project centred on a white male architect in a male-dominated Above St Andrew’s Church, Roker, near Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, by E.S. Prior and Randall Wells (1905-07). profession may appear difficult to claim. James O. Davies/Historic England However, the impact of gender and privilege on architectural and cultural production was This dissonance led to my curiosity about client for a terrace of spec built houses, impossible to avoid in the circle of public women’s participation in architecture as both endeavours just a few minutes’ school, university-educated architects that architects and to the beginnings of my work walk from the Prior family home. I could Prior inhabited, as well as in the all-male on women’s history. The thesis contained not, and did not, get these activities and Art-Workers’ Guild, the central organisation another ‘recessive gene’ which sparked their implications for a broader approach of the Arts & Crafts Movement, which he new directions away from the patriarchal – beyond the architect – out of my mind. co-founded. Prior was, nevertheless, an early mainstream. It highlighted the philanthropic n Dr Lynne Walker will be in member of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition role of Prior’s aunts as donors to the Harrow conversation online with Dr Elizabeth Society, which exhibited design work by Mission Hall which Prior designed and Darling on 14 December, and the Annual many women in the applied and decorative represented the entrepreneurial ambition Lecture will be held early in 2021. arts often related to architecture. of his mother, Hebe Prior, who was his Check sahgb.org.uk for details

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 21 News and events

Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion and Colvin Prize winners to be revealed

This year’s shortlists for two of the most include Howard Colvin, Dorothy Stroud, John The Colvin Prize, established in 2017, is important prizes in architectural history Summerson, Nikolaus Pevsner, Hermione awarded to an outstanding work of reference have been announced – embracing a Hobhouse and Jill Lever. This year’s judging of value to the discipline irrespective of wide range of subjects and approaches panel are Dr Christine Casey (University format. This year’s judges are Edward to architectural history, ranging from College Dublin), Dr Elizabeth Darling (Oxford Bottoms (Architectural Association), the culture of church building in Stuart Brookes University, Chair), Dr Michael Hall Matthew Bristow (Historic England/Victoria England and the historiographies of the (Burlington Magazine), Dr Tania Sengupta (The County History Online), Prof Elizabeth Bauhaus, to oral history in architectural Bartlett, University College London) and Dr McKellar (The Open University, Chair), research, and much more. Max Sternberg (University of Cambridge). A Ashleigh Murray (Donald Insall Associates) The Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion is series of five videos, in which Neil Jackson and Dr Colin Thom (Survey of London). awarded to a monograph that makes an interviews this year’s shortlisted authors, have n The winners will be announced on outstanding contribution to the study of been assembled by Hugh Memess and are Monday 14 December. Please contact architectural history – previous winners available for viewing on the Society’s website. [email protected] for further details.

When writing Architecture in Global Socialism, I imagined its future readers to be architectural historians, but also my students at the Manchester School of Architecture. Many of them come from the Global South, and it is essential that they get to know how non-Western actors produced 20th century architecture as a global project. I am very honoured that my book has been shortlisted for the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion.

Lukasz Stanek, Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion nominee

Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion shortlist Louise Campbell, Studio Lives: Architect, Art and Artist in 20th-Century Britain (Lund Humphries) David Hemsoll, Emulating Antiquity: Renaissance Buildings from Brunelleschi to Michelangelo (Yale University Press) Anne-Françoise Morel, Glorious Temples or Babylonic Whores: The Culture of Church Building in Stuart England through the Lens of Consecration Sermons (Brill) Otto Saumarez-Smith, Boom Cities: Architect Planners and the Politics of Radical Urban Renewal in 1960s Britain (Oxford University Press) Lukasz Stanek, Architecture in Global Socialism: Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East in the Cold War (Princeton University Press)

22 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 New editorial board for Architectural History

Following the appointment of Professor discipline at a national and international The new Editorial Board: Mark Swenarton, Emeritus Professor of level – and to deliver on the Society’s vision Prof Mark Swenarton, Editor, Architecture at the University of Liverpool, of: All Places, All Periods, All Welcome.’ University of Liverpool as Editor of Architectural History (see The Among the Deputy Editors will be Dr Emily Mann, Executive Editor, Architectural Historian, April 2020), the Architectural History’s previous Lead Editor, Courtauld Institute of Art Society has appointed a new editorial Dr Anthony Gerbino, who has overseen Deputy Editors board for its principal publication. the journal for the past three years, enhancing Dr Sussan Babaie, Courtauld Institute of Art Dr Emily Mann of the Courtauld its reputation as one of the leading academic Dr Geoff Brandwood, independent scholar Institute of Art continues her role on the journals in the world for architectural Dr Anthony Gerbino, University of Manchester journal with the title Executive Editor. history, and maintaining its reputation Dr David Hemsoll, University of Birmingham There will also be a new, expanded team for rigorous peer-reviewed scholarship. Dr Felipe Hernández, University of Cambridge of 12 Deputy Editors, along with two Book He has also worked to broaden the Dr Julian Holder, University of Oxford Reviews Editors. ‘With the wide spread of journals scope to encompass post- Dr Shona Kallestrup, University of St Andrews subject matter and the increased number war and contemporary topics, and Prof Barbara Penner, Bartlett School, UCL of articles that we publish in each issue, architecture in all its global contexts. Dr Otto Saumarez Smith, University of Warwick there was an urgent need to expand Submissions are accepted for Architectural Dr Léa-Catherine Szacka, University of and diversify the Editorial Board,’ says History on a year-round basis – full details Manchester Swenarton. ‘Accordingly, to complement the on the submission process are available at Prof Ola Uduku, Manchester School of expertise of the existing members we have sahgb.org.uk. The journal seeks to promote Architecture brought in specialists in a wide range of architectural history as an international Dr Matthew Walker, Queen Mary, University approaches, periods and regions, including discipline, reflecting developments abroad of London North and Latin America, eastern Europe, as much as at home, and welcomes Book Reviews Editors Africa and the Muslim world, as well as submissions from authors not just in the UK Prof Paul Davies, (pre-1750), University the UK. With its expanded Editorial Board, but worldwide, including first-time authors. of Reading the journal is in an unrivalled position For further information, please contact Dr Robert Proctor, (post-1750), University to take forward the development of the [email protected]. of Bath.

Colvin Prize shortlist Nat Alcock, Paul Barnwell and Martin Cherry (eds), Cruck Building: A Survey (Shaun Tyas) Murray Fraser and Catherine Gregg (eds), Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture (Bloomsbury) Janina Gosseye, Naomi Stead and Deborah van der Plaat (eds), Speaking of Buildings: Oral History in Architectural Research (Princeton Architectural Press) Andrew Tierney, Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Yale University Press) Ines Weizman (ed.), Dust & Data: Traces of the Bauhaus Across 100 Years (Spector Books)

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 23 News and events

Till we meet again … the SAHGB embraces the virtual world

It’s a cliché now to say we live in interesting Right Philip Webb’s times but in the circumstances, Programmes Standen will be the subject of a virtual tour have presented both challenges and led by Anne Stutchbury opportunities. We were lucky to have had a new website constructed largely thanks to the efforts of Lucca Ferrarese, and thanks are also due to a team of smart young people: Grace Connelly and Irma Delmonte, for publishing details online and managing registrations, and Hugh Memess and Natalie Arrowsmith, who promote events through social media. Hundreds of you have already enjoyed the webinars and virtual tours advertised at sahgb.org.uk/whatson. For the present, we are hoping to keep them free so everyone can access them in these financially straitened Darling. And around Christmas, the President, Crafts House’; Alec Hamilton on ‘1900: Lions times. Some members have asked whether Neil Jackson, plans to host a quiz about the and lambs – the irresistible rise and bashful we might make available the recordings to history of architecture, and of the SAHGB. demise of the Arts & Crafts church’; and those who could not attend, or would like to re- The Monday seminars – hosted in Simon Green on Sir Robert Lorimer and ‘what watch them. Trustees are currently observing partnership with the University of London’s a Scotch gentleman’s home ought to be’. the precautionary principle regarding the IHR, and with Oxford University – are an For 2021 we have many projects in copyright of images used in our speakers’ exciting season where new research is development and have continued forging presentations and so have not yet made tested in the crucible of debate. November partnerships with other institutions. Following them available; we hope you will understand has seen topics representing many periods last year’s popular evening classes with while we ascertain the legal position. and geographies: from ‘The Greater London the RIBA, we are developing a short course October saw a new departure with a walking Council’s Homesteading Scheme and the looking at the transmission and transition tour of Oxford’s Radcliffe Infirmary Quarter, Urban Geography of Conservative Politics, of architectural style and asking what we featuring Geoffrey Tyack and architect Níall 1977-81’ by Tess Pinto, and ‘Histories of actually mean by stylistic categories and McLaughlin, and filmed by Hugh Memess. Architecture and the Architecture of History terms. And reflecting current interests, Since social distancing measures restrict in Pakistan’ by Chris Moffat, to Sean we are organising a series on the art, conventional practices, we are reimagining Ketteringham’s ‘Hot silence where the older architecture, and experience of spaces of sociability: the Annual Awards Ceremony on mansions hide: Modernist Homelessness, sickness and wellbeing in conjunction with 14 December will feature the Annual Lecturer, Georgian Preservation and Imperial Decline’. the IHR and the Wellcome Institute. During Lynne Walker in conversation with Elizabeth In December Christine Casey will deliver the 2020 our preoccupation with ‘Opening up last of 2020’s seminars with a bold argument the Libraries and Archives’ was most clearly for the importance of ornament, decoration expressed in Ewan Harrison’s blockbuster October saw a new and materiality in architectural history. Symposium, ARCH/TECTURES ARCH/VES – departure with a walking Since we aim to entertain as well as many thanks to our partners, the Architectural inform, events will continue with a short Association and RIBA Collections. tour of Oxford’s Radcliffe series on the Arts & Crafts movement and n Ann-Marie Akehurst, Programmes Infirmary Quarter, featuring its architecture, starting with a virtual tour Officer, SAHGB. To register for online Geoffrey Tyack and architect of Philip Webb’s Standen, in the company of events, go to sahgb.org.uk/whatson. For curator Anne Stutchbury. From November to more content related to the Symposium, Níall McLaughlin January, events will include Esmé Whittaker’s as well as a number of online features, visit ‘Barn Close and the Evolution of the Arts & the Knowledge section of the website.

24 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 Supporting our Scholars during COVID-19

The SAHGB supports a well-established been able to reorganise their study plans plans as well as asking about other funders’ programme of offering doctoral funding, so that they continue to work from their responses. Ninety-two percent of UK made possible by our membership income desks, but for those who expected to be out doctoral students in their final year reported and with the support of generous donors. As and about gathering their research data, needing at least three months’ extra time a funder of higher research degrees, we have this continues to be a very difficult year. to complete their dissertation; two in five of recognised the need to monitor our Scholars’ As the time needed for a successful these students receive a mixture of funding situations during the global pandemic, and to completion of a doctorate extends beyond sources, and only a small minority reported stay informed about the range of UK university grant schemes, funding becomes an acute not receiving any additional funding. responses to supporting doctoral students. issue. Funded doctoral students are required Our SAHGB Scholars are caught up in The chief issue is one of time: full-time to keep any paid work down to a day per week, exactly these conditions, and we have been research students are on tight timetables but of course part-time work is particularly able to evaluate individual needs for our to research and write their dissertations affected by our current economic conditions. final-year scholars in order to give them within three years. Many students across Arts and humanities students receive public parity with publicly-funded students. Our the UK have found their plans severely funds via the UK Research and Innovation concern has been to minimise anxiety disrupted, with the imposition of immediate (UKRI) body, which channels government about financial support, and this includes closures of campus libraries, and of research funds through subject councils, a promise to review our support as the institutions that host archives, galleries and which for us usually means the Arts and months go by. Each of the three Scholars museums. Fieldwork for us often requires Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The expecting to complete their doctorates visits to public and private buildings, sites AHRC distributes doctoral funds through during this academic year has an agreed and landscapes, and this too has ceased a network of university consortia. UKRI set timetable and funding from us to help while universities have banned all travel out expectations for how universities would them achieve that plan. We also anticipate beyond agreed campus access. Essential help doctoral students caught up in the some disruption during two more Scholars’ research facilities for arts and humanities pandemic back in April, and as independent timetables that may mean future support scholars are only just beginning to reopen, funders the SAHGB has paid close attention from us will be necessary; this is a long- if at all, and for very limited hours. Readers to the public body. Public funds were made term commitment to enabling success. may already know from their own experiences available for final-year doctoral students to This is not a happy situation to be how hard university libraries, working as have up to six months additional support reporting, but it is one that we are able to a UK group of professionals, have tried to in order to complete their dissertations. manage thanks to the continuing support alleviate the need to find as much digitised, Some universities took policy decisions to of an active, and growing, membership. online research materials as possible, and waive a standard fee for the fourth year of I would like to join with the voices of our some prestigious publishers responded registration, known as a continuation fee. Scholars in thanking you all for staying with by making recent books available online UKRI has been able to survey the impact us, during these extraordinary challenges. for a limited period. Many students have of COVID-19 on doctoral students’ research n Susie West, Education Officer, SAHGB Introducing our new Scholars

George Jepson receives the SAHGB 2020 award Heather Alcock, starting at the University of for his PhD project at the Architectural Association, Liverpool in January 2021, receives the Graham London, ‘Shining Steel Tempered in the Fire: Child scholarship for ‘Beyond the Village: Port The Architecture of the Factory, Manchester Sunlight’s Global Influence’. Heather’s research 1790-1914’. This explores the coextensive will explore the transmission and subsequent development of the architectural spaces of reflection, adaptation or rejection of founder Manchester’s warehouses and factories with the William Lever’s architectural ideals for working- techno-social process of industrialisation as it class communities in the United Kingdom and took root in the city, beginning its spread from around the world. She will consider the impact Northern England first across the United Kingdom and ultimately globally. of the ‘architecture beyond the architect’ at case study sites to assess George’s interdisciplinary research trajectory began in literary studies, the effects of community response and stewardship models on the moving through film and its intersection with anthropology and political sustainability of historic worker villages. philosophy, and eventually arriving at the investigation of architectural Heather has worked for Port Sunlight Village Trust since 2014 where she design as it converges with labour theory and political economy. developed policy initiatives to support the sustainable management of the ‘Given the current political climate, especially the extreme concerns village, engaged with residents to restore and enhance their listed homes about both local and global labour exploitation that have been intensified and worked in partnership with stakeholders to raise awareness about the by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, my research seeks to draw parallels heritage site. between historic and contemporary formulations of labour legislation ‘As a built heritage professional, I believe strongly in the value of that have, over the last 300 years, brought new forms of existence into applied research. Port Sunlight Village is at a pivotal moment in its history being; be it in Manchester in 1790 or Leicester in 2020. These are pressing and this project will make a timely contribution to the key heritage concerns given the political juncture at which we have found ourselves.’ decisions facing the village’s stakeholders.’

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 25 Books and journals

Beyond borders

Paul Holden talks to US historian What you have produced in The Sikh Heritage: of the newly carved international border. Dalvir Pannu about his new Beyond Borders is a social history of buildings The idea for this book originated during book The Sikh Heritage – an throughout Pakistan. It is a complex, my first family trip, in December 2008, to exhaustive work documenting well-researched, and brilliantly illustrated visit religious places and the homes of our book – how did this work come together? ancestors that they had to abandon during the architectural traces of the the 1947 partition. Well aware of the fact that Sikh religion in its ancestral The Sikh community has faced vicissitudes so many families like mine share the same homeland of Western Punjab of life since it’s humble beginnings more nostalgia for their abandoned homeland (now Pakistan) than 500 years ago. Over the centuries, the in Pakistan, I began to ponder on how our Sikhs have learned to adapt to demanding visit might help the Sikh community revisit circumstances and have been resilient to their past and help in reviving the forgotten providence’s disposition and have accepted memories. I started communicating and Above The ruins destiny’s obstacles with a smile. The coordinating with historians, scholars, of Gurdwara Baoli community faced significant challenges at photographers and heritage enthusiasts Sahib Sialkot. A hymn was composed by the time of partition in 1947 when the Sikhs around the globe. For the next eleven years, Guru Nanak at this had to vacate their ancestral homes and I continued to collaborate with people of location, which is lands along with their religious, cultural, all faiths to document the Sikh heritage included in Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the holy heritage sites back in West Punjab (now buildings in Pakistan. I assembled and scripture of the Sikhs Pakistan) and migrate to the Indian side supervised a large team of photographers

26 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 Above Gurdwara Nanaksar Fateh Bhinder was dedicated to the sojourn of Sri Guru Nanak and is presently used as a storage room by a local farmer

Left The ‘Prakash Asthan’ at Gurdwara Nanaksar Fateh Bhinder, where the Sikh holy scripture was recited to the congregation

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 27 ends with the shrine at Kartarpur, where he spent the twilight years of his life. Each chapter is created around the photographs of the structure or their remnants and illustrated details of their architecture. Then I proceeded to formulate the information on the history, religious affiliation, and significance of the sites with the help of the research that I conducted in the archives. This book also serves as a travel guide to cultural enthusiasts as it provides relevant information on the exact location in terms of longitudes and latitudes.

The wonderful illustrations in this book portray unprejudiced and energetic architectural forms such as pointed, ogee, semi-circular and elliptical arches and abstract use of the architectural orders. From where does Sikh architecture develop its unique style?

So little has been written about Sikh architecture that it is difficult for many international historians to believe that such a style of architecture exists at all. In the initial phase, the Sikh religious places were called dharmsal, which means a place of religion or community place. The architecture of such structures was straightforward, sometimes resembling hut-like shapes made of bricks, mud, and whitewashed. With time, as the community prospered, so did the buildings. The concept of Gurdwara succeeded dharmsal. The word Gurdwara is compounded of the words Guru (guide or master) and Dwara (gateway or seat) and therefore has an architectural connotation. The architecture of Sikh buildings includes four doors, opening in four directions, welcoming people from all classes, castes and faiths, disregarding any prejudice. Besides, they have the main hall with scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, positioned in the center, Sukhasan Asthan (a resting room for the holy scripture), a sacred pond, circum-ambulatory Above Gurdwara Opposite Abraded and editors who wholeheartedly assisted me corridors, Nishan Sahib (Sikh flag), Patshahi VI and VII artwork inside the in this endeavour. Along with gathering the community kitchen, and langar (dining) hall. Ghalotian Khurd. The historic Gurdwara in inscriptions displaying the village of Kahna. A enormous multimedia field data from the The murals and pictures on the walls contain names of the donors marble inscription is scorching deserts of Sindh and Balochistan to a variety of designs from the portraits of the has been well preserved still extant at the site the mountainous terrains of Kyber Pakhtunwa Sikh Gurus, the portrayals of tales from Sikh by locals, though the and commemorates building has suffered Baba Jamiat Singh, and Kashmir, I began researching these sites hagiography, flower designs, writings from major weather damage, who died in 1885 – their history, architecture and artworks the holy scripture, to historical scenes such leaving only the central with help from different archives, inter- as the battles between Sikhs and the British. elevated structure of the Gurdwara intact library loans and other academic channels. It’s also interesting to note that the I developed a design for the book that remnants of many Gurdwaras in rural areas began with Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Pakistan consist of the stand-alone of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, and tall structure only bearing a large dome.

28 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 However, if carefully observed, one can You write on 84 sites across Pakistan. see the foundations of the circumbulatory The original character, What were the golden ages of building, corridors ravaged by forces of time, leaving distinctive design and and what encouraged them? only the cuboid structure with a dome in patterns have endured with tact in the center, serving as a reminder of I have compiled detailed data of about 270 the once magnificent Gurdwara structure. the passage of seasons, as if Sikh heritage sites in Pakistan, though, in And, though as a rule, an onion-shaped frozen in a time capsule this first volume published in 2019, I have gumbad (dome) is the crowning feature been able to document only 84 buildings. The of a Gurdwara, I have come across a few golden age of these structures dawned during flat-roofed Gurdwaras in Pakistan as well. the period of the Sikh empire (1780-1839). Maharaja Ranjit Singh undertook the task of Can you detect any western repairs, construction and decoration of several influences on their development? Sikh shrines and buildings. During the early 19th century, many Gurdwaras were ornated There are only a handful of Gurdwaras where with gold embossing, carvings, mirror work, I could see some western influence on the inlaid stonework, and frescoes and paintings architecture. A Gurdwara in Sargodha, which is on the walls. By the end of the Sikh rule, more now a local high school, shows the traditional than 200 institutions were administered by European gothic-style towers with red bricks the Udasi Mahants, three-quarters of which at the main entrance and the corners of the enjoyed state patronage under Maharaja complex. Many structures that are described Ranjit Singh and his successors. Soon after and analysed in the book demonstrate the annexation of Punjab in 1849, the British adaptation of some salient features of administrators also learned of the Sikh Mughal architecture, such as domes, community’s strong affinity for their shrines, arched windows and square gardens in the and, therefore, they extended their patronage courtyards. Besides, the other significant over the Gurdwaras, as well. During the British influence comes from Rajput architecture, rule, canal colonies were developed in the Baar in terms of decorations, carvings, chattries, (west Punjab), which led to the rapid economic circum-ambulatory paths, and vestibule development of this region, and many corrupt for the first sight of the sacred site. Mahants altered legal documents to stake

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 29 individual claims over the vast lands of the school authorities have maintained the Below The book’s cover depicts Gurdwara Darbar shrines in their care. In the next 50 years or so, Sikh symbols and artwork in many such Sahib, which has been recently connected along the Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free border the Sikh community had to undertake tedious buildings. Another interesting point that I crossing between India and Pakistan legal proceedings to secure the administration noticed is that the floral patterns, Gurmukhi of these shrines. In the history of Sikh sites inscriptionsaand other geometrical designs and buildings, the success of the Gurdwara have rarely been disturbed by miscreants, Reform Movement brought substantial but the human characters painted in changes in recuperating from the corruption murals are defaced at some sites, mainly of the Udasi Mahants, when many of the by blotching the eyes. The marble slabs shrines underwent renovation in the 1930s. with an inscription of the donor’s names can also be found intact in many places, How are these buildings looked which helped me to locate the families of after in Pakistan? Are there any those benefactors. In a few cases after such heritage movements? a discovery, the current descendants living in different parts of the world would gladly Currently, the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara adopt the respective shrine in Pakistan Parbandhak Committee, residents and for its future upkeep and maintenance. devotees maintain most Sikh historical and heritage sites. Some buildings are protected Why did you chose to work on Sikh by the provincial and federal government architecture in Pakistan when there heritage institutions, while others are private are hundreds of easily accessible and properties. What I found is that the Sikh well maintained Sikh heritage sites in shrines that got converted into educational India and other parts of the world? institutes are generally well preserved. The The abandoned and neglected Sikh heritage

An update on Mark Girouard’s Biographical Dictionary

Mark Girouard has published many learned Barnwell and Paula Henderson. In his essay he and new information was constantly being books and articles on architecture over a long explained how, in 1956, he received a letter published which needed to be incorporated. and successful career. In a recent conversation from John H. Harvey, author of the seminal The huge task for Mark was collating all the with this author he said that he understood that English Mediaeval Architects: a Biographical information in his possession, compressing many regard The Return to Camelot: Chivalry Dictionary Down to 1550 (London 1954), and absorbing new material that was brought and the English Gentleman (New Haven and in which Harvey considered Mark by far the to his attention, filling in gaps, checking London, 1981) as one of his best. However, over best person to bridge the gap between his references and assessing all the material. the last 10 years he has published two rather own work and Howard Colvin’s Biographical The dictionary, again quoting Mark, different books. The first, entitledEnthusiasms Dictionary of British Architects, 1660-1840. provides a ‘picture of the English building (Frances Lincoln, 2011) explores his eclectic Mark would be the first to admit that the world in the period, exclusive of vernacular range of literary interests and the second, project has been a long while coming, a architecture’. There is inevitable overlap Friendships (Bitter Lemon Press, 2017) consequence of having other projects running with other works, not least that of Colvin. reproduces and discusses a selection of letters concurrently. It was not until 2012 that he Yet, Mark’s scholarly commentary has, as you from a wide group of friends and acquaintances. signed a contract with Yale University Press, would expect, its own voice. For example, Despite these diversions (which he declared and by the time the project received his full whereas Colvin elevated Inigo Jones as the a ‘relaxation’ and ‘escape’ from the rigours attention new archival research was going hero (the man with whom it all started), Mark of academic work) Mark has not forgotten to be out of the question, as age was not on considers that, in the shadow of Jones, others his commitment to architectural history and his side. His plan however was always to draw of the period were treated inadequately by his Biographical Dictionary of Architecture on his own collated papers amassed over his him. In the new volume, Mark has looked at 1540-1640 is now with the publisher, although career. Indeed, those who know Mark will such people in a different light. Jones himself he reports that there is still substantial recognise him as an avid collector and meticulous has been given a thorough new assessment. work to be done before publication. guardian of files and card indices – as Mark Despite having fewer entries than Harvey and Mark discussed his plans for a biographical himself points out he must be one of the last Colvin, the dictionary provides more detail and, dictionary in his contribution to Architect, of the ‘card-index generation’. This archive where warranted, more context and informed Patron and Craftsman in Tudor and Early has been put to good use. In addition, many judgement. Mark adopts the methods used by Stuart England (Shaun Tyas, 2017) − a set of friends and contacts contributed information Colvin in many respects, for example footnote collected essays for Malcolm Airs, edited by Paul based on their own research and scholarship, material is contained in brackets in the text.

30 The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 sites in Pakistan have been facing the test of time, and some are on their last legs of Around a journal in 80 seconds survival; however, their unique architecture has been unmolested over the years in the #8 The Orchard and the C.F.A. Voysey Society majority of the cases. The original character, distinctive design and patterns have endured with the passage of seasons, as if frozen The C.F.A. Voysey Society was founded in in a time capsule. The exquisite buildings 2011 to celebrate the achievement of the with their fading wall paintings and artwork architect and designer Charles Francis remind us of the broad imagination of Annesley Voysey (1857-1941), one of the leading our forefathers who constructed these figures in both the Arts & Crafts movement magnificent structures, their grandeur, and its immediate successors. It is the and our glorious past. Unfortunately, we Society’s objective to encourage research Sikhs, over the years and in the name of into all aspects of Voysey’s life and work modernisation, have changed the layout and to help to maintain his legacy. Voysey is of the many historical sites in India and considered to be one of the finest of the Arts abroad. The ostentatious construction, with & Crafts architects, and he is increasingly the ubiquitous use of marble and gold, well-known for designing not just exquisitely has turned their original character into beautiful and elegant houses, but everything sumptuous establishments, taking away to go in them – from furniture, to rugs, the original style of these revered sites. fabrics, wallpapers and light fittings, and Fortunately, we can still experience our unique even right down to the cutlery if wanted. architecture and intricate artwork by visiting The Society’s aims are to: the lands of our forefathers in Pakistan. n n assist in protecting and preserving the original character and amenities of Voysey’s designs, buildings and other objects n inform and educate the public about A discussion with the publisher may be Voysey’s work so as to increase its ongoing as to whether the dictionary should appreciation and understanding of the be made available online. Mark is not likely design philosophies and qualities involved was held in Stetchworth, Cambridgeshire, ever to be updating it himself. For this author, n undertake and promote research home of White Horse Stables (built 1905). the danger of an online version will be that in connection with Voysey’s work Originally designed by Voysey as The periodic changes and updates, however well and related matters, and promote White Horse Inn for the Earl of Ellesmere, completed, will slowly erode the enormous the dissemination of the results it is an interesting example of a building value of Mark’s own personal assessments of n focus on buildings and objects designed not solely intended for domestic use. the people he has chronicled in his dictionary. by Voysey which are considered to be at risk Previous visits have been to such well- I for one hope it does not go online. n provide assistance to the owners of known properties as Broad Leys (now Two of Mark’s architectural heroes sit within Voysey buildings, furniture, textiles home of the Windermere Motor Boat the time constraints of the new dictionary but and other artefacts in respect of Racing Club), and Moor Crag in the Lake he has regrets that more has not been done fundraising, conservation, repair and District; Perrycroft in the Malvern Hills; and on these important figures. He recognises maintenance, and sympathetic use. numerous others throughout the UK. there is a need for a new catalogue of Robert There is an enthusiastic membership of The Society has constructed and maintains Smythson’s and John Thorpe’s drawings. On currently approximately 260, and the key an excellent website – www.voyseysociety.org the former subject he has already approached benefits of membership are two visits to – which is a mine of information about Voysey, the Victoria and Albert Museum with a view to houses designed by Voysey; an annual lecture his works and many other related matters, advancing the project. The scale of cataloguing in November by a distinguished guest speaker and it is regularly updated and expanded. Thorpe, he notes ‘will take a concentrated on a Voysey related subject; four newsletters There is plenty of additional information assault’ – a challenge for whoever might have each year; and a copy of the Society’s annual available on the members-only pages. the skill and determination to take it on. scholarly journal, The Orchard (named after The Society would welcome applications to There is no doubt that the four biographical Voysey’s own house in Chorleywood), which join, and to do so please visit voyseysociety. dictionaries (including the Directory of British contains a wide range of articles, both long org/society/join.html. Membership Architects 1834-1914) will seamlessly meld and and short, on all manner of different Voysey is deliberately kept as reasonable as complement each other. The new dictionary subjects. Proposals for future contributions possible, with annual memberships being will be a fitting memorial to the towering of any length are always welcome. currently £17.85 for an individual, £29.40 achievements of Mark Girouard over many years There is also an Annual General Meeting for a family (two individuals at the same of dedication to the cause of architectural history. held every year which would normally include address); and only £6.30 for students. n Graham Child a talk from a guest speaker and a visit to n Alastair Dick-Cleland, Secretary, a Voysey house. For example, the 2019 AGM The CFA Voysey Society

The Architectural Historian Issue 11 / November 2020 31 Sir David Adjaye OBE has been named the 2021 recipient of the RIBA Royal Gold Medal. Adjaye has achieved international attention for an exceptional body of work over 25 years, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC (2016), the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo in Russia (2010); the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo, Norway (2005); the Idea Stores – two community libraries in London (2004, 2005) and Ruby City, an art centre in San Antonio, Texas (2019, above). Photo: Mark Menjivar