|
The Traditional House Under Threat?
|
|
INFLUENTUAL DOMESTIC ARCHITECTS Richard Norman Shaw 1832-1912 Shaw, a London architect, had enormous outputs and influence - mainly in two kinds of work and style. In 1861 at age 30, he toured Yorkshire and later Sussex to sketch country buildings - the vernacular of cottages and barns. At Penshurst Place in Sussex, he drew the recent cottages in a local vernacular by George Devey, ten years his senior. He already had many clients for large country houses which seem to have grown over time - organic in their setting with varied treatments, Tudor half-timbered, gables, overhangs and tile hung walls - features used from job to job! In 1877, he made designs for pairs and detached houses for the picturesque new suburb Bedford Park near Chiswick, West London. These are in his 'Queen Anne' style using white painted windows, balconies etc. . contrasting with plain and ornamental brick and tile hanging (see this influence in one example in the Windows section of this exhibition). A more severe version with much terracotta is seen in the town houses and mansion flats at Hampstead, Kensington and Pont Street that freely adapt Christopher Wren - so called 'Wrenaissance'. Charles Francis Annesley Voysey 1857-1941 Voysey had worked in three architect offices, the third was by request of George Devey. He has opened his own office by 1890, having developed the simple style he used for nearly twenty years. His personal vernacular consisted of white rendered walls with buttresses, gables, roofs which swept down and stripped cottage interiors. Each part was refined and repeated in lodge or main house. This style was employed in many vernacular areas of the country. Herman Muthesius, German Cultural attaché, illustrated Voysey houses in his book "Das Englische Haus" published in 1908-11. The reputation of C. R. Mackintosh, M. H. Baillie-Scott and Voysey in Germany was immense. They were seen as formative in the development of the Modern Movement. However, the house features of Scott and Voysey were common in 1930 semi-detached speculative housing (again see examples in exhibition). Sir Edwin Lutyens 1869-1944 The early work of Lutyens is based on his study of the traditional country buildings of Surrey. Already at the age of 18, his stated principles were that 'anything put up by man should harmonise with nature who had been there first. Materials should be drawn from those obtainable in the area and foreign elements strictly eliminated.' (What would he have thought of PVC windows!). After a short time, as a pupil in the office of Ernest George, where he learnt to draw and design in picturesque perspective, he obtained his first commission at the age 20. Soon he met Gertrude Jekyll, the landscape designer, and worked with her on a house at Munstead Wood in a free version of the local vernacular. This was the beginning of a collaboration on many grand houses. Lutyens domestic style used thatch for the roof, if that was the local, but the roof was always important. Often it was steep and emphasised by massive chimney stacks. To introduce texture he persuaded English brickyards to learn from Holland to help create a handmade look. Lutyens houses in the Home Counties have been much imitated, throughout suburbs nearly everywhere. NOTABLE BIRMINGHAM BASED DOMESTIC ARCHITECTS John Henry Chamberlain 1821-1883 The firm Martin and Chamberlain were the leading Victorian Gothicists in Birmingham, Chamberlain being a follower of John Ruskin, the influential writer on art and architecture. Their work was mainly public buildings especially schools, where Gothic was used almost exclusively. See Ladypool School, Stratford Road built in 1895. The caretakers house is more elaborate than the normal Victorian house due to the use of decorative bricks and terracotta, which were real hallmarks of Martin and Chamberlain. See also Joseph Chamberlains house (no relation) off Queensbridge Rd for further evidence of Chamberlains house style, of which few exist. Henry Tudor Buckland 1869-1951 After working with Charles Bateman, in the long established firm of Bateman and Bateman, and now working in the arts and crafts style, Buckland began his own practise in 1893. In Yately Road, Harborne he built his own and adjoining houses in 1899. Typically they feature a prominent gable, arched front door, steep roofs and white roughcast walls. Comparisons with Voysey are interesting. William Alexander Harvey 1875-1951 Harvey began his long association as the architect to Bournville and introduced a variety of treatment, quite sparingly used, to this nationally famous 'workers estate'. The play of gables, side wings and porches gave interest to the semi-detached houses that relied on good materials simply used. This has resulted in a most picturesque and varied environment. Where to see houses in Birmingham by notable architects: Salisbury Road - both sides and adjacent to Amesbury Rd junction - Moseley Corner house "Glengarriff" by Crouch and Butler (much work done in Birmingham) is typical of these architects - a composition that seems to have grown over time. Next door and further up the road can be seen Norman Shaw influenced houses with balconies with tile hung walls. Note opposite the three houses in roughcast with porch canopies hung from iron brackets by architects de Lacy Aherne. In Russell Road there are several houses slightly varied close to the park entrance and also further up a typical house by Buckland. All derive somewhat from Voysey. Finally in Amesbury Road next to "Glengarriff" - a very plain house by Holland Hobbis (who built many public houses) which is Lutyens influenced in style. There are of course many more houses of interest in Moseley and further afield, which are beyond the scope of this simple introduction. The above articles were compiled by Richard Miles of the Birmingham Group of The Victorian Society |
![[Media]](images/newspaper.jpg){kind=link}