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The Architectural Profession in Leeds 1800–50: a case-study in provincial practice
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 April 2016
Extract
Frank Jenkins identified the second half of the eighteenth century as the period during which the architectural profession began to emerge as ‘something approaching. . . . the pattern which we accept today.’ This may be true of the London scene, but even by 1800, the availability of professional services in the provinces was still decidely patchy. It was during the first half of the nineteenth century that the profession developed to an extent where almost every moderately important town could boast of an architect or two. In West Yorkshire a mere handful of practitioners in the late eighteenth century had grown to dozens by 1853: twenty-three firms in Leeds, thirteen in Bradford, ten each in Halifax and Huddersfield, and three in Wakefield.
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- Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1995
References
Notes
1 Jenkins, F., Architect and Patron, Oxford, 1961, p. 91 Google Scholar.
2 Linstrum, D., West Yorkshire Architects and Architecture, 1978, pp. 32–33 Google Scholar; W. White, Directory and Gazetteer of Leeds, Bradford Sheffield, 1853.
3 For instance: Colvin, H., A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1978, pp. 26–41 Google Scholar; F. Jenkins, op. cit.; B. Kaye, The Development of the Architectural Profession in Britain, 1960; Saint, A., The Image of the Architect, New Haven, 1983 Google Scholar.
4 The most useful study of the profession in a provincial location in D. Linstrum, op. cit., chapter 1. Material from this source is gratefully acknowledged as a starting point for the present work.
5 Ryley, J., The Leeds Directory, Leeds, 1798 Google Scholar; Binns, and Brown, , A Directory of the Town of Leeds, Leeds, 1800, p.33 Google Scholar; Baines, F., The Leeds Directory of 1809, Leeds, 1809, p. 44 Google Scholar; Wardle, and Bentham, , The Commercial Directory for 1814-15, Manchester, 1814, p. 73 Google Scholar; Baines, E., History, Directory and Gazetteer of the County of York, Leeds, 1822, p. 101 Google Scholar; Parsons, W. and White, W., Directory of the Borough of Leeds. . ., Leeds, 1830, p. 127 Google Scholar; White, W., History, Gazetteer and Directory of the West Riding, Leeds, 1837, p. 623 Google Scholar; White, W., Directory and Topography of the Borough of Leeds, Leeds, 1843, p. 128 Google Scholar; Charlton, R.J., Charlton’s Directory of the Borough of Leeds, Leeds, 1847, p. 151 Google Scholar; Slade, W., Slade and Roebuck’s Directory of the Borough and Neighbourhood of Leeds, Leeds, 1851, p. 467 Google Scholar; W. White, (1853) op. cit., p. 216.
6 The Appendix lists these architects with the chronological spans of their careers, according to the entries in the relevant local directories.
7 Barfoot, P. and Wilkes, J., The Universal British Directory, 1793, 3, p. 539 Google Scholar. Linstrum, D. op. cit., p. 379.
8 J. Ryley, op. cit., p. 33; Binns and Brown, op. cit., p. 35; G., Wilson, A New and Complete Directory for the Town of Leeds, Leeds, 1807, p. 33 Google Scholar; Leeds Mercury, 17 January 1807. A raff-merchant dealt in foreign timber.
9 Pigot, , Directory of Yorkshire, 1830 p. 1013 Google Scholar; White, W., Leeds and West Riding Directory, Leeds, 1842, p. 128 Google Scholar.
10 R.J. Charlton, op. cit., p. 151; Williams, , Leeds Directory, Leeds, 1845, p. 68 Google Scholar.
11 Beckworth, F., Thomas Taylor, Regency Architect, The Thoresby Society, Leeds, No. 94, 1949, pp. 11–12 Google Scholar; Webster, C., R. D. Chantrell, Architect. . ., The Thoresby Society, Leeds, second series, 2, 1992, pp. 15–37 Google Scholar; Linstrum, op. cit., p. 374.
12 Linstrum, op. cit., p. 383.
13 Colvin, op. cit., p. 728; W. White, (1842) op. cit., p. 128.
14 Ibid.
15 Papers of Church Building Commission, Board Meetings Minute Book 30, p. 119; Linstrum, op. cit:, p. 374; Baines, E., and Newsom, , General and Commercial Directory of the Borough of Leeds, Leeds, 1834, p. 248 Google Scholar.
16 Leeds Intelligencer, 17 January 1835; Baines, E., and Newsom, , A General and Commercial Directory of the Borough of Leeds, Leeds, 1839, p. 251 Google Scholar.
17 Leeds Intelligencer, 1 February 1827; 28 January 1843;
25 June 1842; W. White, (1842) op. cit., p. 128; Moore, R. W., A History of the Parish Church of Leeds, Leeds, 1877, p. 54 Google Scholar.
18 For instance: Leeds Intelligencer, 28 June 1827.
19 He first appears in the directory of 1814; his death was mentioned in Leeds Intelligencer, 22 October 1836. His designs include St Mark’s Terrace, Leeds (Leeds Intelligencer, 31 May 1832) and new building at the rear of the Leeds Library, 1823 (unclassified papers in the Library archives). See further: Leeds Intelligencer, 2 August 1832, 9 August 1832, 5 October 1833; Leeds City Archives (West Yorkshire Joint Archive Service, Leeds Office, DB /197/254; Archives of the Incorporated Church Building Society, Lambeth Palace.
20 Enlargement of Albion St Methodist Chapel, Leeds (Leeds Intelligencer, 20 March 1823); he submitted a design for the Leeds Baths, 1819. (Baths Committee Minute Book 1818-27, Leeds City Archives (West Yorkshirejoint Archive Service, Leeds Office), DB 276).
21 For example: he surveyed the roof of the Leeds Library 1818 (unclassified papers in the library archives).
22 Baines, E., Directory of the Town and Borough of Leeds, Leeds, 1817, p. 75 Google Scholar; Leeds City Archives (West Yorkshire Joint Archive Service, Leeds Office), DB 197/241.
23 For instance St Anne’s Catholic Church, Leeds, Leeds Intelligencer, 22 September 1838.
24 Leeds Intelligencer, 12 August 1837, 15 June 1844; Leeds Improvement Act, Commissioners’ Minutes, Civic Hall, Leeds. Meeting of 21 September 1842; Leeds Intelligencer, 1 September 1844.
25 Ibid., 1 February 1827; 28 June 1845; 25 October 1851.
26 E. Baines, (1826) op. cit., p. 166.
27 He was awarded the second premium for a design for the South Market, Leeds, 1823. (Archives of the Thoresby Society, Leeds, TS Box A).
28 Williams, op. cit., p. 270.
29 For example, he produced a plan for laying out Woodhouse Moor. (Leeds Intelligencer, 27 April 1833); and in 1828 a plan for laying out Hanover Square, Leeds which may have included designs for buildings. (Leeds Intelligencer, 31 July 1828).
30 W. White, (1837) op. cit., p. 582.
31 For instance, in the case of the new South Market, Leeds. (Leeds Intelligencer, 26 June 1823).
32 Fraser, D., (ed.) A History of Modern Leeds, Manchester U. P., 1980, p. 73 Google Scholar.
33 For instance, Clark designed ‘cottages’ at Sheepscar in 1832 and in Marsh Lane in 1833. In both cases he was working for the Borough of Leeds. Leeds City Archives (West Yorkshire Joint Archive Service, Leeds Office, DB 197/287 and DB 197/292).
34 Colvin, op. cit., pp. 818-19.
35 Webster, op. cit., pp. 149-51.
36 Colvin, op. cit., pp. 215-16; drawings for the Manchester and Berwickshire buildings were exhibited in the Leeds Public Exhibition, 1839.
37 These are listed in Colvin, op. cit., p. 738; for the Rochdale chapel, see Leeds Mercury 29 August 1840; nineteen editions of the Leeds Intelligencer between 1846 and 1850 contained advertisements requesting tenders for Burleigh’s buildings; the Leeds Intelligencer of 1839-51 contain forty-nine advertisements requesting tenders for Perkin and Backhouse’s buildings.
38 Netlam and Francis Giles’ plan of Leeds of 1815 lists forty-eight churches, chapels and public buildings, whereas by 1844, when Charles Fowler produced his plan, the number had increased to 181.
39 See Fraser, D. (ed.) op. cit., pp. 108-09; Leeds Public Baths, Committee Minute Book 1818-27, Leeds City Archives (West Yorkshire Joint Archive Service, Leeds Office).
40 Fletcher, R. F., The History of the Leeds General Cemetery Company, unpublished M. Phil. Thesis, University of Leeds, 1975, pp. 31–32 Google Scholar.
41 Leeds Intelligencer, 7 July 1825.
42 Leeds Intelligencer, 8 September 1825.
43 Thorp, W. H. John N. Rhodes, Leeds, 1901, p. 14 Google Scholar.
44 Leeds Intelligencer, 23 June 1825.
45 Grady, K. The Georgian Public Buildings of Leeds and the West Riding, The Thoresby Society, Leeds, 1989, pp. 164-67Google Scholar; Leeds Intelligencer, 12 February 1824; Linstrum, op. cit., p. 379; Leeds Intelligencer, 30 January 1841.
46 W. White, (1837) op. cit., p. 496.
47 Lovell, V. M. E., ‘Benjamin Gott of Armley House Leeds’ Thoresby Society Miscellany, LIX part 2, No. 130, pp. 177–221 Google Scholar; Leeds City Archives (West Yorkshire Joint Archive Service, Leeds Office), Richmond faculties, RD/AF/2/2, No. 7, 1825, Armley.
48 Taylor, R. V., Leeds Churches, 1875, p. 99 Google Scholar. The design is attributed to Chantrell on stylistic grounds.
49 Linstrum, op. cit., p. 374.
50 Colvin, op. cit., p. 745.
51 Linstrum, op. cit., p. 374.
52 Leeds City Archives (West Yorkshire Joint Archive Service, Leeds Office), Radcliffe of Rudding, II/399.
53 They were: Thomas Johnson, R. D. Chantrell, John Clark, C. W. Burleigh, S. D. Martin. The information is taken from various editions of the Register of Members, kept at the Library.
54 Leeds Intelligencer, 14 March 1840; 15 April 1843. Chantrell was certainly a member. The membership included a Benjamin Jackson, and a Samuel Chapman, but since no record of these members’ addresses exists, it is not absolutely certain that these men are the architects of the same names. General Minute Book, Leeds University Brotherton Library, MS (Deposit) 1975/1/1.
55 Scarth, A. and Brian, C. A., History of the Lodge of Fidelity, Leeds, 1894 Google Scholar. The architects are : Taylor; Chantrell; Nevis Compton; and William Perkin. S. D. Martin and William Hill, both in practice in Leeds before 1850, joined the lodge after 1850. Also listed is Samuel T. W. Gawthorp, who described himself an ‘architect’, but is otherwise unknown.
56 Leeds Intelligencer, 8 October 1842; 3 January 1835; 23 December 1837.
57 Ibid., 26 February 1848.
58 Ibid., 8 September 1825.
59 Beckwith, F., Thomas Taylor, The Thoresby Society, Leeds, 1949, p. 69 Google Scholar.
60 See Webster, C., The Life and Work of R. D. Chantrell, Architect, M.Phil, thesis, University of York, 1985, pp. 172-78Google Scholar. The dispute which followed the rejection of Busby’s design is fully documented in the following: Port, M. H., ‘Francis Goodwin 1784-1853’, Architectural History, 1 (1958), pp. 60–72 Google Scholar; Monthly Magazine, IV (1822), pp. 211-12; Busby published a pamphlet defending his designs, a copy of which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum Library, Box I, 35J.
61 Leeds Intelligencer, 30 June 1825.
62 Ibid., 26 August 1843; 11 November 1843; 11 March 1848.
63 Ibid., 26 February 1848.
64 Ibid., 4 March 1848.
65 Ibid., 14 November 1846.
66 Leeds Public Baths, Committee Minute Book, 1818-27, Leeds City Archives (West Yorkshire Joint Archive Service, Leeds Office), DB 276.
67 Gomme, A. et al, Bristol an architectural history, 1979, appendix 3, pp. 428-29Google Scholar, discusses similar practices in the conduct of competitions in Bristol.
68 Leeds Intelligencer, 25 March 1848. Several examples are quoted in
69 Webster (1985), op. cit., pp. 435–631.
70 Papers of the Incorporated Church Building Society, Lambeth Palace Library, File 1422 (Holmbridge).
71 Leeds Intelligencer, 25 March 1848.
72 Ibid., 11 March 1848.
73 Ibid.
74 They were: William Hurst (FIBA, 29 February 1836); Samuel Sharp (AIBA, 4 July 1836); R. D. Chantrell (FIBA, 18 July 1836);NevisCompton (AIBA, 27 January 1845). William Perkin and William Hill joined after 1850. (RIBA Library, British Architectural Biography 1834-1914).
75 Quoted in Kaye, op. cit., p. 173. Unfortunately no census figures for membership of professions exist before 1841.
76 The writer is grateful to Professor Maurice Beresford for supplying this information.
77 Soane, I., Plans, Elevations and Sections of Buildings executed in several Counties, 1788, p. 7 Google Scholar.