Arthur Blomfield

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Sir Arthur Blomfield
Born 6 March 1829
Died 30 October 1899 (aged 70)
Nationality British
Awards Royal Gold Medal (1891)

Buildings Royal College of Music in London,St. George's Anglican Cathedral in Georgetown, Guyana
Projects Southwark Cathedral restoration

Sir Arthur William Blomfield (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.[1] 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 theArchitectural Association in 1861; a fellow 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.[2] He had two sons, Charles J. Blomfield andArthur Conran Blomfield, who he brought up to his own profession, of which they became distinguished representatives. His nephew, SirReginald 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.[1] A. E. Street was the son of the architect G.E. Street.[citation needed]

In 1890-7 he rebuilt the nave of St. Saviour's parish church, Southwark (now Southwark Cathedral), replacing an earlier reconstruction of 1839-40.[3] It is a notable example of his use of a Gothic Revival style. He was highly regarded as a restorer; a spokesman for theSociety 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."[4]

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.
[edit]Other works (in chronological order)
Christ Church, East Sheen 1863
All Saints' parish church, Windsor, Berkshire, 1862–64[5]
St. Luke's chapel at the former Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, 1864[6]
St. Mary's parish church, Banbury, Oxfordshire: restoration 1864[7]
Dartford Grammar School, Kent, 1864.
St. Mary's parish church, Adwell, Oxfordshire, 1865[8]
St. Mark's parish church, Binfield, Berkshire, 1866[9]
St. John the Baptist parish church, Eton Wick, Buckinghamshire, 1867–69[10]
St. Mary's Church, Strood, Kent, 1868.[11]
St. Saviour's parish church, Eddington, Berkshire, 1868[12]
St. Barnabas parish church, Jericho, Oxford, 1869[13]
St. Stephen's Church, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 1870[11] (demolished in 1889 and replaced by St. Barnabas' Church on the same site).[14]
St. Saviour's parish church, Oxford Street, London 1870–73.[15]
St. Nicholas Church, Chawton 1872–73.[16]
St. James' parish church, Ramsden, Oxfordshire, 1872.[17]
St. Andrew's parish church, Surbiton, Surrey 1872.[18]
St. John the Baptist parish church, Crowthorne, Berkshire, 1873.[19]
Holy Innocents parish church, High Beach, Essex, 1873
St. Michael's parish church, Hughenden, Buckinghamshire, 1874–90.[20]
St. John the Baptist's Church, Eltham, Kent, 1875.[11]
St. Michael and All Angels Church, Maidstone, Kent, 1876.[11]
Holy Trinity Church, Privett, 1876–78[21]
Haileybury and Imperial Service College Chapel, 1877.
All Saints' parish church, Roffey, West Sussex, 1878.
St. Mary Magdalene parish church, Woodstock, Oxfordshire: restoration 1878[22]
Trinity College, Cambridge Bishop's Hostel additions 1878.
St. Nicholas' parish church, Heythrop, Oxfordshire, 1880[23]
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)[24]
Selwyn College, Cambridge, 1882.
Chester Cathedral restoration and additions, 1882.[25]
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.[26]
St Leodegar's Church, Hunston, Sussex, 1885.
St. Wystan's Church, Repton restoration 1885-1886.
Wellington College, Berkshire: chapel apse and dormitories, 1886.[27]
St. Alban's Anglican Church, Copenhagen, Denmark
St Germanus's parish church, Faulkbourne, Essex, 1886.
St. Andrew's parish church, Leytonstone, Essex 1886–93.[28]
St Mary's Church, Walmer, Kent, 1887.[11]
Minster Church of St Denys, Warminster, Wiltshire, rebuilding 1887–89.
St Mary's Church, Rostherne, Cheshire, 1888.[25]
All Saints' Church, Leatherhead, Surrey, 1888
St. Mark's parish church, Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, 1889
Bancroft's School, Woodford Green, Essex, 1889.
Eton College, Buckinghamshire: Lower Chapel and Queen's Schools, 1889–91[29]
All Souls Church, Hastings, Sussex, 1890.
St. Cyprian's Church, Brockley, London, 1890.[11]
Oxford House, Bethnal Green, London, 1891.
St. Mary's parish church, Liss, Hampshire 1892.[30]
Magdalen College School, Oxford, 1893–94.[31]
West Sussex County Asylum, Chichester, West Sussex, 1894–97[32]
The Catholic Church of Our Lady and St Edward the Confessor, Lyndhurst, Hants, 1894–96
Epsom College Chapel, Surrey 1895[33]
St Mary's Church, Swansea, Glamorgan, 1896.
St Michael's Church, Macclesfield, Cheshire, New Nave and Aisles, 1898–1901.[25]
Wellington College, Berkshire: chapel aisles, 1899[27]
St. Saviour's Church of Ireland parish church, Coolgreaney Road, Arklow, County Wicklow, 1899.[34][35]
[edit]As Sir A.W. Blomfield and Sons
St John the Evangelist's Church, Preston Village, Brighton, Sussex, 1901.
St. Michael's parish church, Abbey Wood, Kent, 1907.[36]
[edit]Sources
Homan, Roger (1984). The Victorian Churches of Kent. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0-85033-466-7.
Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). The Buildings of England: Berkshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Pevsner, Nikolaus (1960). The Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Pevsner, Nikolaus; and David Lloyd (1967). The Buildings of England: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Pevsner, Nikolaus; and Edward Hubbard (1971). The Buildings of England: Cheshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
[edit]References

^ a b Venn, J.; Venn, J. A., eds. (1922–1958). "Blomfield, Arthur William". Alumni Cantabrigienses (10 vols) (online ed.). Cambridge University Press.
^ Memorial to a shining star London, United Kingdom, 10 August 2003 (BWNS)
^ Worley, George (1905). Southwark Cathedral. Bell's Cathedrals. London: George Bell & Sons. p. 48. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
^ William Morris and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, Andrea Elizabeth Donovan, Routledge 2008, ISBN 0-203-93790-2 (p.72)
^ Pevsner, 1966, page 299
^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 305
^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 436
^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 419
^ Pevsner, 1966, page 87
^ Pevsner, 1960, page 132
^ a b c d e f Homan 1984, page 105
^ Pevsner, 1966, page 136
^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 290
^ Homan 1984, page 97
^ British-history.ac.uk
^ Chawton Village information
^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 734
^ Victorianweb.org
^ Pevsner, 1966, page 124
^ Pevsner, 1960, page 172
^ Pevsner, 1967, page 471
^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 856
^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 646
^ "Church of St John the Evangelist, Upper Maze Hill, St Leonard's, Hastings, East Sussex". The National Heritage List for England. English Heritage. 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
^ a b c Pevsner & Hubbard, 1971, pages 135+, 265, 324
^ Buildingphotography.co.uk
^ a b Pevsner, 1966, page 262
^ Standrewsleytonstone.org
^ Pevsner, 1960, page 131
^ Lissparishchurch.co.uk
^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 304
^ Cracknell, 2005, countyasylums.com
^ Imagesofengland.org.uk
^ Ireland.anglican.org
^ Philip Smith (writer), An Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of County Wicklow (Dublin: Wordwell Press /Government of Ireland, Department of the Environment, Heritage, and Local Government, National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, 2004). pp. 2–3, 70–71.
^ Stmichaelsabbeywood.co.uk