George Gilbert Scott

The chapel of St John's College, Cambridge is characteristic of Scott's many church designs

Sir George Gilbert Scott (July 13, 1811 – March 27, 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. 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.

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 constriction, 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.

Designs

Scott felt that St Pancras station was his most successful project.

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)
*All Souls church, Haley Hill, Halifax (1859)
* Brighton College, Sussex (1848-1866)
*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
*St James' Church, Cradley, Herefordshire Chancel (1868) The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p106 ISBN 0140710256
*St John's Church, Eastnor, Herefordshire Church (1852) and Monument (1855). The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p122-123 ISBN 0140710256
*The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St. John's, Newfoundland (1847)
*St Mary, Edvin Loach, Herefordshire (?1860). The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p126 ISBN 0140710256
*St Mary, Tedstone Delamere, Herefordshire Chancel (1856-7). The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p299 ISBN 0140710256
*St Michael, Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire designed (1875) started (1881) by son John Oldrid Scott, never finished and partly demolished. The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968 p271
*St. Nikolai, Hamburg
*St Pancras Station, London (1865)
*St Peter, Bushley, Worcestershire. Roof (1856). The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968 p113
*St Peter and St Paul, Priory Church Leominster, Herefordshire Quatrefoil piers (1872-9). The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p226 ISBN 0140710256
*St Peter's Church, Elworth, Cheshire.
*Sandbach School, Sandbach, Cheshire.
*Workers' housing at Akroydon, Halifax (1859)
*Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Whitehall, London (1861-1868)
*the Albert Memorial, London (1862)
*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)
*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.

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) The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p63 ISBN 0140710256
*St John the Baptist Church, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire Restoration of Norman and 13th century church (1858) The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968 p109
*St John the Baptist Church, Upton Bishop, Herefordshire Restoration (1862) The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p304 ISBN 0140710256
*St Leonard, Yarpole, Herefordshire Restoration of chancel(1864). The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p327 ISBN 0140710256

The West Front of Lichfield Cathedral

Cathedrals include
*Chichester
*Exeter
*Gloucester
*Hereford east side (1856-63) The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1963 p146 ISBN 0140710256
*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.

References