Arthur Blomfield

The Royal College of Music was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield.

Sir Arthur William Blomfield was an English architect.

Background

Son of Bishop C. J. Blomfield, 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 the Architectural Association in 1861, and a fellow (1867) and vice-president (1886) of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1889, he was knighted. He was awarded the Royal Gold Medal in 1891.

He was twice married. His second wife was Lady Blomfield a noted author and humanitarian.^[2] He had two sons, Charles J. Blomfield and Arthur Conran Blomfield, who he brought up to his own profession, of which they became distinguished representatives. His nephew, Sir Reginald Blomfield, apprenticed under him, and 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

In 1882 Blomfield designed the Royal College of Music in London. In 1887 he became architect to the Bank of England and designed the Law courts Branch in Fleet Street. He was associated with A. E. Street, the son of the architect G.E. Street.^{[citation needed]}

In 1897 he completed the restoration of St. Saviour's parish church, Southwark (now Southwark Cathedral). It is a notable example of his use of a Gothic Revival style. He was highly regarded as a restorer.^{[citation needed]}

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.

Other works

• All Saints' parish church, Windsor, Berkshire, 1862-64^[3]
• St. Andrew's parish church, Leytonstone, Essex 1886-93^[4].
• St. Andrew's parish church, Surbiton, Surrey 1872^[5].
• St. Barnabas parish church, Jericho, Oxford, 1869^[6]
• St. Luke's chapel at the former Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, 1864^[7]
• St Luke's Church, Queen's Park, Brighton, Sussex, 1882-85.
• St. Mary's parish church, Banbury, Oxfordshire: restoration 1864^[8]
• St. Mary's parish church, Adwell, Oxfordshire, 1865^[9]
• St. Mary's parish church, Liss, Hampshire 1892^[10].
• St. Mark's parish church, Binfield, Berkshire, 1866^[11]
• St Mary's Church, Swansea, Glamorgan, 1896.
• St Mary's Church, Walmer, Kent, 1887.
• St. John the Baptist parish church, Eton Wick, Buckinghamshire, 1867-69^[12]
• St. Saviour's parish church, Eddington, Berkshire, 1868^[13]
• St. Saviour's parish church, Oxford Street, London 1870-73^[14].
• St. Saviour's Church of Ireland parish church, Arklow, County Wicklow, 1899^[15].
• St. James' parish church, Ramsden, Oxfordshire, 1872^[16]
• St. John the Baptist parish church, Crowthorne, Berkshire, 1873^[17]
• St John the Evangelist's Church, Preston Village, Brighton, Sussex, 1901.
• St. Mary Magdalene parish church, Woodstock, Oxfordshire: restoration 1878^[18]
• St. Michael's parish church, Hughenden, Buckinghamshire, 1874-90^[19]
• St. Michael's parish church, Abbey Wood, Kent, 1907^[20]
• St. Nicholas' parish church, Heythrop, Oxfordshire, 1880^[21]
• Selwyn College, Cambridge, 1882.
• Trinity College, Cambridge Bishop's Hostel additions 1878.
• Wellington College, Berkshire: chapel apse and dormitories, 1886^[22]
• West Sussex County Asylum, Chichester, West Sussex, 1894-7^[23]
• St. Mark's parish church, Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, 1889^[24]
• Chester Cathedral restoration and additions, 1882.
• Minster Chuch of St Denys, Warminster, Wiltshire, rebuilding 1887-89.
• Bancroft's School, Woodford Green, Essex.
• Charterhouse School, the Great Hall 1884^[25].
• Epsom College Chapel, Surrey 1895^[26]
• Eton College, Buckinghamshire: Lower Chapel and Queen's Schools, 1889-91^[27]
• Dartford Grammar School, Kent.
• Haileybury and Imperial Service College Chapel, 1877.
• Magdalen College School, Oxford, 1893-94^[28]
• Wellington College, Berkshire: chapel aisles, 1899^[29]
• Oxford House, Bethnal Green, London, 1891.

Sources

• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). The Buildings of England: Berkshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. 
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1960). The Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire. 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 the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

References