Arthur Blomfield
English architect

Arthur Blomfield

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English architect
A.K.A.
Arthur William Blomfield, Sir Arthur William Blomfield
Gender:
Male
Places:
United KingdomGreat BritainEngland
Is:
Architect
Work field:
Engineering
Birth:
6 March 1829(Fulham Palace)
Death:
30 October 1899
Family:
Father:
Charles Blomfield
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Biography

Introduction

Sir Arthur William Blomfield ARA (6 March 1829 – 30 October 1899) was an English architect.

Background

The fourth son of Charles James Blomfield, Anglican Bishop of London, who began a programme of new church construction in the capital. Born in Fulham Palace, Arthur Blomfield was educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was then articled as an architect to Philip Charles Hardwick, and subsequently obtained a large practice on his own account. The young Thomas Hardy joined Blomfield's practice as assistant architect in April 1862, and the writer remained friends with Blomfield. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 (proposed by George Gilbert Scott, H Brandon and J P Seddon); and vice-president of the RIBA in 1886. In 1889, he was knighted. He was awarded the Royal Gold Medal in 1891.

He was twice married. His second wife, Lady Blomfield, was an author and humanitarian. He had two sons, Charles J. Blomfield and Arthur Conran Blomfield (1863–1935), who he brought up to his own profession, of which they became distinguished representatives. His nephew, Sir Reginald Blomfield, apprenticed under him, went on to design numerous buildings, public works, and sculpture, including the Cross of Sacrifice or War Cross, for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. These are in Commonwealth cemeteries in many countries.

Major works

The Royal College of Music was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield
St.Peter's in Eastgate. A replacement for a medieval church, St.Peter's is the combined work of three eminent architects: nave & chancel by Sir Arthur Blomfield (1870), south aisle by Temple Moore (1914) and the chancel decoration by George Frederick Bodley (1884)

In 1882 Blomfield designed the Royal College of Music in London. In 1887 he became architect to the Bank of England and, in association with A. E. Street, designed the Law courts Branch in Fleet Street. A. E. Street was the son of the architect G.E. Street.

In 1890-7 he rebuilt the nave of St. Saviour's parish church, Southwark (now Southwark Cathedral), replacing an earlier reconstruction of 1839–40. It is a notable example of his use of a Gothic Revival style. He was highly regarded as a restorer; a spokesman for the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings said of his 1898 restoration of Salisbury Cathedral spire "conducted in the most conservative way possible... I am confident that anyone who had been privileged to see the work that is being done... would not withhold his subscriptions even though he was as ardent an anti-restorer as your obedient servant."

In 1899 he completed St. George's Anglican Cathedral in Georgetown, Guyana, which was the tallest wooden church in the world until 2003 when the Peri Monastery near Săpânţa in northern Romania was completed.

Other works (in chronological order)

  • St Leonard's Church, Linley, Shropshire, restoration, 1858
  • Christ Church, East Sheen 1863
  • All Saints' parish church, Windsor, Berkshire, 1862–64
  • St. Luke's chapel at the former Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, 1864
  • St. Mary's parish church, Banbury, Oxfordshire: restoration 1864
  • Dartford Grammar School, Kent, 1864.
  • St. Mary's parish church, Adwell, Oxfordshire, 1865
  • St. Mark's parish church, Binfield, Berkshire, 1866
  • St. John the Baptist parish church, Eton Wick, Buckinghamshire, 1867–69
  • St. Mary's Church, Strood, Kent, 1868.
  • St. Mary Magdalen Church, Sheet, Hampshire, 1868–69
  • St. Saviour's parish church, Eddington, Berkshire, 1868
  • St. Barnabas parish church, Jericho, Oxford, 1869
  • St. Peter in Eastgate, Lincoln 1870
  • St. Stephen's Church, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 1870 (demolished in 1889 and replaced by St. Barnabas' Church on the same site).
  • St. Saviour's parish church, Oxford Street, London 1870–73.
  • St. John the Baptist, Bathwick, Bath, 1871 [1]
  • St. Nicholas Church, Chawton 1872–73.
  • St. James' parish church, Ramsden, Oxfordshire, 1872.
  • Church of St. Mary and St. Ethelbert, Luckington, Wiltshire, 1872
  • St. Andrew's parish church, Surbiton, Surrey 1872.
  • St. John the Baptist parish church, Crowthorne, Berkshire, 1873.
  • Holy Innocents parish church, High Beach, Essex, 1873
  • Tyntesfield chapel, Wraxall, Somerset, 1873
  • St Peter's Church, Netherseal, Derbyshire 1874
  • St. Michael's parish church, Hughenden, Buckinghamshire, 1874–90.
  • St. John the Baptist's Church, Eltham, Kent, 1875.
  • St. Michael and All Angels Church, Maidstone, Kent, 1876.
  • Chapel Royal, Brighton, internal structural repairs and reordering 1876; new exterior 1896
  • Christ Church parish church, Epsom, Surrey, 1876
  • Holy Innocents parish church, Hornsey, London N8, 1876–7.
  • Holy Trinity Church, Privett, 1876–78
  • Haileybury and Imperial Service College Chapel, 1877.
  • St Andrew's Church, Collingbourne Ducis, Wiltshire: restoration, 1877.
  • All Saints' parish church, Roffey, West Sussex, 1878.
  • St. Mary Magdalene parish church, Woodstock, Oxfordshire: restoration, 1878
  • Trinity College, Cambridge Bishop's Hostel additions 1878.
  • All Saints Church, Fulham, 1880-81.
  • St. Nicholas' parish church, Heythrop, Oxfordshire, 1880
  • St John the Evangelist's Church, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex (1881; partly destroyed by bombing in 1943 and rebuilt by Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel)
  • Selwyn College, Cambridge, 1882.
  • Chester Cathedral restoration and additions, 1882.
  • St Andrew's Church, Worthing, West Sussex (1882)
  • St Luke's Church, Queen's Park, Brighton, Sussex, 1882–85.
  • St Stephen's Church, North Mundham, West Sussex – Addition of a Chancel and re-ordering of interior. (1883)(Victorian History of Sussex and Chichester Diocese Faculty Document)
  • Charterhouse School, the Great Hall 1884.
  • St Leodegar's Church, Hunston, Sussex, 1885.
  • St. Wystan's Church, Repton restoration 1885–1886.
  • Wellington College, Berkshire: chapel apse and dormitories, 1886.
  • St. Alban's Anglican Church, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • St Germanus's parish church, Faulkbourne, Essex, 1886.
  • St. Andrew's parish church, Leytonstone, Essex 1886–93.
  • St Mary's Church, Walmer, Kent, 1887.
  • Minster Church of St Denys, Warminster, Wiltshire: rebuilding 1887–89.
  • St David's Church Bangor, Gwynedd, 1888.
  • St Mary's Church, Rostherne, Cheshire, 1888.
  • All Saints' Church, Leatherhead, Surrey, 1888
  • St. Mark's parish church, Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, 1889
  • Bancroft's School, Woodford Green, Essex, 1889.
  • St Stephen's Church, Brighton, additions 1889.
  • Eton College, Buckinghamshire: Lower Chapel and Queen's Schools, 1889–91
  • All Souls Church, Hastings, Sussex, 1890.
  • St. Cyprian's Church, Brockley, London, 1890.
  • Oxford House, Bethnal Green, London, 1891.
  • St. Mary's parish church, Liss, Hampshire 1892.
  • Magdalen College School, Oxford, 1893–94.
  • West Sussex County Asylum, Chichester, West Sussex, 1894–97
  • The Catholic Church of Our Lady and St Edward the Confessor, Lyndhurst, Hants, 1894–96
  • Epsom College Chapel, Surrey 1895
  • St Werburgh's Church, Derby, New church added, 1895
  • St Mary's Church, Swansea, Glamorgan, 1896.
  • St Michael's Church, Macclesfield, Cheshire, New Nave and Aisles, 1898–1901.
  • All Saints Church, Leamington Spa 1898–1902 two western bays to the nave and a south western bell tower
  • Wellington College, Berkshire: chapel aisles, 1899
  • St. Saviour's Church of Ireland parish church, Coolgreaney Road, Arklow, County Wicklow, 1899
  • Glenesk Mausoleum, East Finchley Cemetery, Barnet, 1899

As Sir A.W. Blomfield and Sons

  • St John the Evangelist's Church, Preston Village, Brighton, Sussex, 1901.
  • St George's Church, Ashtead, Surrey, 1905.
  • St. Michael's parish church, Abbey Wood, Kent, 1907.
  • The Sea Marge Hotel in Overstrand, Norfolk. Built as a private residence for Sir Edgar Speyer in 1908.