George Gilbert Scott

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Sir George Gilbert Scott

Sir George Gilbert Scott
Born 13 July 1811(1811-07-13)
Parsonage, Gawcott, Buckinghamshire
Died 27 March 1878(1878-03-27) (aged 66)
39 Courtfield Gardens, South Kensington, London
Nationality British
Awards Royal Gold Medal (1859)
Work
Buildings Albert Memorial
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Midland Grand Hotel, St Pancras railway station
Main building of the University of Glasgow
St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (Episcopal)

Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878) was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses. He was one of the most prolific architects that Great Britain has produced, over 800[1] buildings being designed or altered by him.

Scott was the architect of many iconic buildings, including the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras Station, the Albert Memorial, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, all in London, the main building of the University of Glasgow, and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Contents

[edit] Life and career

Born in Gawcott, Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, Scott was the son of a clergyman and grandson of the biblical commentator Thomas Scott. He studied architecture as a pupil of James Edmeston and, from 1832 to 1834, worked as an assistant to Henry Roberts. He also worked as an assistant for his friend Sampson Kempthorne.[2]

In about 1835, Scott took on William Bonython Moffatt as his assistant and later (1838–1845) as partner. Over the next 10 years Scott and Moffatt designed over 40 workhouses. Scott also designed working-class housing for Akroydon, Halifax in 1859.

Meanwhile, he was inspired by Augustus Pugin to join the Gothic revival of the Victorian era, his first notable works in this style being the Martyrs' Memorial on St Giles', Oxford (1841) and the new St Giles' Church, Camberwell with its fine octagonal spire (1844). The choir stalls at Lancing College in Sussex, which Scott designed with Walter Tower, were among many examples of his work that incorporated green men.[3] Later, Scott went beyond copying mediaeval English gothic for his Victorian Gothic or Gothic Revival buildings, and began to introduce features from other styles and European countries as evidenced in his Midland red-brick construction, the Midland Grand Hotel at London's St Pancras Station, from which approach Scott believed a new style might emerge.

Between 1864 and 1876, the Albert Memorial, designed by Scott, was constructed in Hyde Park. It was a commission on behalf of Queen Victoria in memory of her husband, Prince Albert.

Scott was awarded the RIBA's Royal Gold Medal in 1859. Knighted in 1872, he died in 1878 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

He married Caroline Oldrid of Boston in 1838. Two of his sons George Gilbert Scott, Jr. and John Oldrid Scott, and his grandson Giles Gilbert Scott, were also prominent architects. He was also related to the architect Elisabeth Scott. His youngest son was the botanist Dukinfield Henry Scott.

[edit] Pupils[4]

Scott's success attracted a large number of pupils, many would go on to have successful careers of their own, not always as architects. In the following list, the year next to the pupil's name denotes their time in Scott's office, some of the more famous were: Hubert Austin (1868), George Frederick Bodley (1845–56), Charles Buckeridge (1856–57), Somers Clarke (1865), William Henry Crossland (?), C. Hodgson Fowler (1856–60), Thomas Gardner (1856–61), Thomas Graham Jackson (1858–61), John T. Micklethwaite (1862–69), Benjamin Mountfort (1841–46), John Norton (1870–78), George Gilbert Scott, Jr. (1856–63), John Oldrid Scott (1858–78), J. J. Stevenson (1858–60), George Henry Stokes (1843–47), George Edmund Street (1844–49), William White (1845–47).

[edit] Books[5]

  • Remarks on secular & domestic architecture, present & future. London: John Murray. 1857. 
  • A Plea for the Faithful Restoration of our Ancient Churches. Oxford: James Parker. 1859. 
  • Gleanings from Westminster Abbey / by George Gilbert Scott, with Appendices Supplying Further Particulars, and Completing the History of the Abbey Buildings, by W. Burges (2nd enlarged ed.). Oxford: John Henry and James Parker. 1863 [1861]. 
  • Personal and Professional Recollections. London: Sampson Low & Co. 1879. 
  • Lectures on the Rise and Development of Medieval Architecture. I. London: John Murray. 1879. 
  • Lectures on the Rise and Development of Medieval Architecture. II. London: John Murray. 1879. 

Additionally he wrote over forty pamphlets and reports. As well as publishing articles, letters, lectures and reports in The Builder, The Ecclesiologist, The Building News, The British Architect, The Civil Engineer's and Architect's Journal, The Illustrated London News, The Times and Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

[edit] Architectural work

Although he is best known for his Gothic revival churches, Scott felt that the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras station was his most successful project.

His projects include:

[edit] Public buildings[6]

Glasgow University's main building (1870)

[edit] Domestic buildings[8]

[edit] Church buildings

Cambridge University, St John's College Chapel, by George Gilbert Scott, 1866-1869
The chapel of St John's College, Cambridge is characteristic of Scott's many church designs

[edit] Restorations

[edit] Churches

Scott was involved in major restorations of medieval church architecture.

The West Front of Lichfield Cathedral

[edit] Cathedrals[27]

Additionally Scott designed the Mason and Dixon monument in York Minster (1860), prepared plans for the restoration of Bristol Cathedral in 1859 and Norwich Cathedral in 1860 neither of which resulted in a commission, and designed a pulpit for Lincoln Cathedral in 1863.

[edit] Abbeys, Priories and Collegiate Churches[28]

[edit] Other Restoration work

Scott restored the Inner Gateway (also known as the Abbey Gateway) of Reading Abbey in 1860 - 1861 after its partial collapse[29]. St Mary's of Charity in Faversham, which was restored (and transformed, with an unusual spire and unexpected interior) by Scott in 1874, and Dundee Parish Church (St Mary's), and designed the chapels of Exeter College, Oxford, St John's College, Cambridge and King's College London. He also designed St Paul's Cathedral, Dundee. Lichfield Cathedral's ornate West Front was extensively renovated by Scott from 1855 - 1878. He restored the Cathedral to the form he believed it took in the Middle Ages, working with original materials where possible and creating imitations when the originals were not available. It is recognised as some of his finest work.

[edit] Gallery of architectural work

  • Work house, Louth Lincolnshire (1839)

  • St. Mary's Hanwell, Middlesex (1841)

  • East end, St. Mary's Hanwell, Middlesex (1841)

  • Martyrs' Memorial, Oxford (1841-43)

  • St. Giles Church, Camberwell (1842-44)

  • Reading Gaol, Berkshire (1842-44)

  • St Martin's Zeal, Wiltshire (1845-46)

  • Nikolaikirche, Hamburg, Germany (1845-80), bombed during World War II and now a ruin

  • Nikolaikirche, Hamburg, Germany (1845-80), bombed during World War II and now a ruin

  • Cathedral of St.John's, Newfoundland, Canada (1847-1905)

  • Cathedral of St.John's, Newfoundland, Canada (1847-1905)

  • St. Peter's Church, Croydon (1849-51)

  • St. Anne's Alderney (c.1850)

  • St. Barnabas's Church, Weeton, North Yorkshire (1852)

  • St. George's Church, Doncaster, Yorkshire (1853-8)

  • St. George's Church, Doncaster, Yorkshire (1853-8)

  • Lichfield Cathedral, as restored and with fittings by Scott (1855-61) & (1877-81)

  • All Souls', Haley Hill, Halifax (1856-59)

  • Interior looking east, All Souls', Haley Hill, Halifax, Yorkshire (1856-59)

  • Cottages, Ilam, Staffordshire (c.1871)

  • Chapel door, Exeter College, Oxford (1857-9)

  • East end, Chapel, Exeter College, Oxford (1857-9)

  • Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshire (1858-62)

  • Crimea War Memorial, Westminster School, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster (1858)

  • Walton Hall, Warwickshire (c.1858-62)

  • St. Mary's, Edwin Loach, Herefordshire (c.1859)

  • The Chapel, Brighton College (1859)

  • All Saints, Nocton (1860-63)

  • SS. Peter and Paul Church, Buckingham, heavily restored (1860-67)

  • Nave Vault, Bath Abbey (1860-77) (copy of the medieval vault in the chancel)

  • The Chapel, King's College, London (1861-62)

  • Christ Church, Southgate, London (1861-62)

  • Vaughan Library, Harrow School, London (1861-3)

  • Hafodunos Hall, Caernarfonshire (1861-66)

  • Screen from Hereford Cathedral (1862) now in the Victoria and Albert Museum

  • All Saints' Church, Sherbourne, Warwickshire (1862-64)

  • Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London (1862-75)

  • Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London (1862-75)

  • Grand Staircase, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London (1862-75)

  • Ceiling, Grand Staircase, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London (1862-75)

  • Looking east, St. John's College Chapel, Cambridge (1863-69)

  • Clifton Hampden Bridge, Oxfordshire (1864)

  • Leeds General Infirmary (1864-70)

  • St. David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire, showing Scott's west front (1864-76)

  • Albert Memorial, London (1864-76)

  • Central ciborium, Albert Memorial, London (1864-76)

  • Christchurch Cathedral, Christchurch, New Zealand (1864-1904)

  • St. Mary's Church, Norney, Shackleford, Surrey (1865)

  • Former Albert Institute Dundee (1865-69)

  • Former Midland Grand Hotel, St. Pancras Station (1866-76)

  • Roof scape, Former Midland Grand Hotel, St. Pancras Station (1866-76)

  • Former Midland Grand Hotel, St. Pancras Station (1866-76)

  • Detail of decoration in the Train Shed, St. Pancras Station (1866-76)

  • Clock Tower, Former Midland Grand Hotel, St. Pancras Station (1866-76)

  • Reredos high altar, Worcester Cathedral (1867-68)

  • University of Glasgow (1867-70), the spire was added after Scott's death by his son John Oldrid Scott

  • Highclere Church, Hampshire (1869-70)

  • Brownsover Hall, Warwickshire (c.1870)

  • St Mary Abbots Church, Kensington (1870-72)

  • Design for Reichstag, Berlin, not executed (1872)

  • Pulpit, Worcester Cathedral (1873-74)

  • West front, St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (1874-80)

  • East front, St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (1874-80)

  • Grahamstown Cathedral, South Africa (1874-78) & finished (1893)

  • Hall, Bombay University, India (1876)

  • Clarkson Memorial, Wisbech, (1880-82)

  • New Court, Pembroke College, Cambridge (1881)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cole, 1980, page 1
  2. ^ "George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878) and William Bonython Moffatt (-1887)". The Workhouse. 2007-04-23. http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?buildings/Scott.shtml. Retrieved 29 April 2011. [dead link]
  3. ^ Hayman, Richard (April 2010). History Today: page not cited. 
  4. ^ Cole, 1980, pages 232-235
  5. ^ Cole, 1980, pages 202-203
  6. ^ Cole, 1980 pages 205-228
  7. ^ Sutton, James C, ed. (1999). Alsager the Place and its People. Alsager: Alsager History Research Group. p. not cited. ISBN 0953636305. 
  8. ^ Cole, 1980, pages 205-228
  9. ^ Reynolds, Susan, ed. (1962). A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington. Victoria County History. pp. 230–33. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22345&strquery=Hanwell. Retrieved 21 July 2007. 
  10. ^ Pevsner, 1963, pages 122-123
  11. ^ Pevsner, 1968, page 113
  12. ^ Pevsner, 1963, page 299
  13. ^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 682
  14. ^ Pevsner, 1963, page 126
  15. ^ Pevsner, 1963, page 106
  16. ^ A short history of our church building by Ian Thomas (Parish Magazine September 2010)
  17. ^ Pevsner, 1963, page 226
  18. ^ visit Ayscoughfee Hall Museum, Spalding for further information
  19. ^ "Church of St. Mary the Virgin". Images of England. http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=32876. Retrieved 2007-09-29. 
  20. ^ Pevsner, 1968, page 271
  21. ^ Pevsner, 1963, page 63
  22. ^ Pevsner, 1968, page 109
  23. ^ Clarke, John (1984). The Book of Buckingham. Buckingham: Barracuda Books. p. 145. ISBN 0-86023-072-4. 
  24. ^ Pevsner, 1963, page 304
  25. ^ Pevsner, 1963, page 327
  26. ^ "Church of St. Mary, causeway bridge, and gates". Images of England. http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=267143. Retrieved 2007-11-20. 
  27. ^ Cole, 1980, pages 205-228
  28. ^ Cole, 1980, pages 205-228
  29. ^ Tyack, Bradley and Pevsner, Geoffrey, Simon and Nikolaus (2010). The Buildings of England: Berkshire. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. pp. 443. ISBN 978 0 300 12662 4. 

[edit] Sources

[edit] External links

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