Sir George Gilbert ScottRA (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started his career as a leading designer of workhouses. Over 800 buildings were designed or altered by him.[1]
Born in Gawcott, Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, Scott was the son of the Reverend Thomas Scott (1780–1835) 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, who specialised in the design of workhouses,[2] a field in which Scott was to begin his independent career.[3]
Early workedit
Scott's first work was built in 1833; it was a vicarage for his father in the village of Wappenham, Northamptonshire. It replaced the previous vicarage occupied by other relatives of Scott. Scott went on to design several other buildings in the village.[4]
Commemorating three Protestants burnt during the reign of Queen Mary, the Martyrs' Memorial was intended as a rebuke to those very high church tendencies which had been instrumental in promoting the new authentic approach to Gothic architecture.[15] St Giles' was in plan, with its long chancel, of the type advocated by the Ecclesiological Society: Charles Locke Eastlake said that "in the neighbourhood of London no church of its time was considered in purer style or more orthodox in its arrangement".[16] It did, however, like many churches of the time, incorporate wooden galleries, not used in medieval churches[17] and highly disapproved of by the high church ecclesiological movement.
In 1844 he received the commission to rebuild the Nikolaikirche in Hamburg (completed 1863), following an international competition.[18] Scott's design had originally been placed third in the competition, the winner being one in a Florentine inspired style by Gottfried Semper, but the decision was overturned by a faction who favoured a Gothic design.[19] Scott's entry had been the only design in the Gothic style.[3]
In 1854 he remodelled the Camden Chapel in Camberwell, a project in which the critic John Ruskin took a close interest and made many suggestions. He added an apse, in a Byzantine style, integrating it to the existing plain structure by substituting a waggon roof for the existing flat ceiling.[20]
Scott was appointed architect to Westminster Abbey in 1849, and in 1853 he built a Gothic terraced block adjoining the abbey in Broad Sanctuary. In 1858 he designed ChristChurch Cathedral, Christchurch, New Zealand which now lies partly ruined following the earthquake in 2011 and subsequent attempts by the Anglican Church authorities to demolish it. Demolition was blocked after appeals by the people of Christchurch, and in September 2017 the Christchurch Diocesan Synod announced that the cathedral would be reinstated.[21]
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.[22]
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.[citation needed]
Scott advocated the use of Gothic architecture for secular buildings, rejecting what he called "the absurd supposition that Gothic architecture is exclusively and intrinsically ecclesiastical."[17] He was the winner of a competition to design new buildings in Whitehall to house the Foreign Office and War Office. Before work began, however, the administration which had approved his plans went out of office. Palmerston, the new Prime Minister, objected to Scott's use of the Gothic, and the architect – after some resistance – drew up new plans in a more acceptable style.[26]
Scott designed the memorial to Thomas Clarkson in Wisbech, where his brother Rev John Scott was vicar. The Clarkson Memorial was completed after his death under the direction of his son John in 1881.[27]
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. Vol. I. London: John Murray. 1879.
Lectures on the Rise and Development of Medieval Architecture. Vol. II. London: John Murray. 1879. online texts for vols. I & II
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.
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.
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.
Lichfield Cathedral's ornate West Front was extensively renovated by Scott from 1855 to 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[who?] as some of his finest work.
In 1854 Gilbert Scott began a restoration of Sudeley Castle "working on the western side of the inner court in the style of the existing Medieval and Elizabethan buildings" and subsequently began the restoration of St Mary's chapel, with the assistance of John Drayton Wyatt.[90]
^"George Gilbert Scott (1811–1878) and William Bonython Moffatt (−1887)". The Workhouse. 23 April 2007. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
^Whiting, R. C. (1993). Oxford Studies in the History of a University Town Since 1800. Manchester University Press. p. 56. ISBN 9780719030574. The terms of the commission had stipulated that it should be based on the Eleanor Cross at Waltham
^Mallgrave, Harry Francis (2005). Modern Architectural Theory: A Historical Survey, 1673–1968. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521793063.
^Blanch, William Harnett (1875). Y parish of Camberwell. A brief account of the parish of Camberwell, its history and antiquities. G.W. Allen.
^"Media Releases". Cathedral Conversations. Anglican Diocese of Christchurch. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020.
^Hayman, Richard (April 2010). "Ballad of the Green Man". History Today. 60 (4).
^Tomaini, Thea (2017). The Corpse as Text: Disinterment and Antiquarian Enquiry, 1700-1900. Gloucestershire: Boydell & Brewer. p. 152. ISBN 9781782049517.
^Murray, John (1872). A Handbook for Travellers in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire. Gloucestershire. p. 163.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^"The English queen buried amidst a castle garden". Royal Centre. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2021. a new tomb, carved by John Birnie Philip, and featuring a full length depiction of her. Her crest along with those of her four husbands are on the tomb while on the wall next to it is a plaque commemorating the words found on her coffin.
^Arber, Agnes; Goldbloom, Alexander. "Scott, Dukinfield Henry". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35984. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^Stamp, Gavin (2004). "Scott, Elisabeth Whitworth (1898–1972), architect". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24869. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^"A view of Amersham Infirmary (Formerly the workhouse), Whielden Street, Amersham, Buckinghamshire. Designed by George Gilbert Scott and William Bonython Moffatt, erected 1838. - YOONIQ Images - Stock photos, Illustrations & Video footage". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
^Higginbotham, Peter. "The Workhouse in Williton, Somerset". www.workhouses.org.uk. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
^Sutton, James C, ed. (1999). Alsager the Place and its People. Alsager: Alsager History Research Group. p. not cited. ISBN 0-9536363-0-5.
^John Parsons Earwaker, "The History of the Ancient Parish of Sandbach", 1890, (p. 86)
^"Gate House to Cemetery About 50 Metres South of Cemetery Chapel, with Side Walls, Ramsgate". www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
^"Sandbach Almshouses Foundation Plaque", Wikipedia Commons
^"Vicarage, Jarrom Street". Flickr. 10 October 2005.
^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. Retrieved 21 July 2007.
^Bridges, Tim (2005). Churches of Worcestershire (2nd ed.). Logaston Press. p. 157. ISBN 1-904396-39-9.
^Historic England. "Christ Church, Cricklade Street, Swindon (1283770)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
^Historic England. "Former Church of St Clement, Barnsbury (1298052)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
^Willats, Eric A. (1987). Streets with a story : the book of Islington. [London]: [Islington Local History Education Trust]. ISBN 0-9511871-0-4. OCLC 18221322.
^"St Andrew's Church, London Road, Litchurch". Derby Mercury. England. 30 March 1864. Retrieved 4 June 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ Earwaker, J. P. (1890). "The History of the Ancient Parish of Sandbach". https://archive.org/stream/historyofancient00earw#page/28/mode/2up/search/Gilbert+Scott p. 28.
^"The Restoration of St Cuthbert's Church, Darlington". Newcastle Journal. England. 15 December 1865. Retrieved 30 December 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ Kerwin, M. S. and Griffin, G. Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Danbury. pp.33-4.
^Tyack, Bradley and Pevsner, Geoffrey, Simon and Nikolaus (2010). The Buildings of England: Berkshire. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 443. ISBN 978-0-300-12662-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"Sudeley Castle and St Mary's Chapel, Sudeley". Gilbert Scott. 20 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2021. Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2 volumes (Continium, London, 2001), vol. II, p. 1075.
Sourcesedit
Bayley, Stephen (1983). The Albert Memorial (paperback ed.). London: Scolar Press.