George Gilbert Scott

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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.

Born in Gawcott, 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.[1]

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. A notable example was the Akroydon model housing scheme.

Meanwhile, he was inspired by Augustus Pugin to join the Gothic revival of the Victorian era, his first notable work in this style being the Martyrs' Memorial on St Giles in Oxford (1841). 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 glorious Midland red-brick construction, the 'Midland Grand Hotel' at London's St Pancras Station, from which approach Scott believed a new style might emerge.

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

His sons George Gilbert Scott Junior and John Oldrid Scott and grandson, Giles Gilbert Scott, were also prominent architects.

[edit] Designs

His projects include:

• workhouses in Brackley, Kettering, Northampton, Oundle and Towcester (all in Northamptonshire), Billericay and Dunmow (Essex), Windsor (Berkshire), Boston (Lincolnshire), Amersham and Buckingham (Buckinghamshire), Guildford (Surrey), Penzance and Redruth (Cornwall).
• two lodge houses at Great Barr Hall, near Birmingham (pre-1863)
• St Mark's Church, Worsley, Greater Manchester (1844-6)
• All Souls church, Haley Hill, Halifax (1859)
• Brighton College, Sussex (1848-1866)
• The General Infirmary at Leeds
• Lanhydrock House, near Bodmin, Cornwall (1857), formal gardens assisted by Richard Coad
• St George's Minster, Doncaster (1858) - one of the country's best examples of Victorian Gothic architecture
• The Grammar School, Thorne Road, Doncaster
• St James' Church, Cradley, Herefordshire Chancel (1868)^[1]
• St John's Church, Eastnor, Herefordshire Church (1852) and Monument (1855).^[2]
• The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St. John's, Newfoundland (1847)
• St Mary, Edvin Loach, Herefordshire (?1860).^[3]
• St Mary, Tedstone Delamere, Herefordshire Chancel (1856-7).^[4]
• St Michael, Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire designed (1875) started (1881) by son John Oldrid Scott, never finished and partly demolished.^[5]
• St. Nikolai, Hamburg
• St Pancras Station, London (1865)
• St Paul's Parish Church, Spalding, Lincolnshire.
• St Peter, Bushley, Worcestershire. Roof (1856).^[6]
• St Peter and St Paul, Priory Church Leominster, Herefordshire Quatrefoil piers (1872-9).^[7]
• St Peter's Church, Elworth, Cheshire.
• St John The Baptist Church, Busbridge, Godalming, Surrey
• Sandbach School, Sandbach, Cheshire.
• Workers' housing at Akroydon, Halifax (1859)
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Whitehall, London (1861-1868)
• the Albert Memorial, London (1862); in the podium frieze, one of the images of architects, sculpted by John Birnie Philip shows Scott himself.
• the main building of the new campus of the University of Glasgow (1870), often called the "Gilbert Scott Building" in his honour.
• The Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin, Glasgow (1873)
• Christ Church, Bradford-on-Avon (additions) (1875)
• The Clarkson Memorial in Wisbech. Scott first put forward designs in 1875, but work did not start until 1880. The eventual design was a slightly altered version of Scott's original design.
• All Souls, Blackman Lane, Leeds (1879) - his last work, large lancet-style church

[edit] Restorations

Scott was involved in major restorations of medieval church architecture.

• St. Mary's Church, Nottingham 1850s
• St John the Baptist Church, Aconbury, Herefordshire Restoration (1863)^[8]
• St John the Baptist Church, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire Restoration of Norman and 13th century church (1858)^[9]
• St John the Baptist Church, Upton Bishop, Herefordshire Restoration (1862)^[10]
• St Leonard, Yarpole, Herefordshire Restoration of chancel(1864).^[11]

Cathedrals include

• Chichester
• Exeter
• Gloucester
• Hereford east side (1856-63)^[12]
• St Albans
• Wakefield

Plus Bath Abbey, Pershore Abbey, Great Malvern Priory, St Margaret's, Westminster, 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 and St John's College, Cambridge. 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] References

1. ^ The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p106 ISBN 0-14-071025-6
2. ^ The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p122-123 ISBN 0-14-071025-6
3. ^ The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p126 ISBN 0-14-071025-6
4. ^ The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p299 ISBN 0-14-071025-6
5. ^ The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968 p271
6. ^ The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968 p113
7. ^ The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p226 ISBN 0-14-071025-6
8. ^ The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p63 ISBN 0-14-071025-6
9. ^ The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968 p109
10. ^ The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p304 ISBN 0-14-071025-6
11. ^ The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p327 ISBN 0-14-071025-6
12. ^ The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p146 ISBN 0-14-071025-6

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