(b Oxford, 12 Jan 1831; d Worth, W. Sussex, 17 April 1915). English architect and designer. He was articled from 1849 to 1852 to the architect John Billing (1818-63) of Reading. Billing retained him as assistant until 1854 when Webb joined the firm of Bidlake & Lovatt in Wolverhampton. Appalled by the effects of heavy industry in that city, he left after four weeks, returning to Oxford to work for G. E. Street. In 1856, while working as Street's chief clerk, he was made responsible for a new pupil, William Morris, with whom he formed a close friendship. (It was to be Webb who, when Morris died in 1896, designed his tomb (Kelmscott, Oxon, St George) after a Viking ridged tomb-house.) Later that year Webb and Morris moved with Street to London, where both became closely involved with the Pre-Raphaelite circle. This group and its patrons provided Webb with a steady supply of clients after 1859 when he set up his own practice, his first commission being the design for Morris's new home, Red House (1859), Bexleyheath, Kent. Webb's output was small because, following Street's example but lacking his speed, he designed every detail himself. He lived and worked in Gray's Inn, London, and employed only a couple of assistants.

See the Abbreviations for further details.

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(1831-1915)

A leading figure in the British Arts and Crafts Movement, Webb was an architect and designer in many fields including furniture, interiors, glass, silver, jewellery, stained glass, and lettering. In addition to playing a central role in progressive design circles in the latter half of the 19th century he was admired by a contemporary analyst of the British Arts and Crafts, the German writer, educator, and design theorist, Hermann Muthesius. After early training in architecture, including a period commencing in 1854 under the Gothic Revivalist George Street in Oxford, Webb was drawn to the writings of John Ruskin, a major source of inspiration for arts and crafts thinking. He also met William Morris, a fellow member of Street's office, and became a close friend for life. After a trip to France with Morris in 1858 he established his own architectural practice. In the following year he designed Morris's new home, the Red House in Bexley Heath, drawing on English Vernacular traditions encountered when working for Street. Again looking to the vernacular, he also designed furniture for the Red House. In 1861 Webb joined the newly founded firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (see Morris & co.) going on to design a sideboard, bedstead, and a washstand for the company's showing at the International Exhibition in London in the following year. He also designed a number of interiors, including the Green Room at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1967, the same year in which he was made consulting manager of the Morris firm. Among Webb's more important architectural designs was Standon (1891), a substantial country house in East Sussex. He had continued to design furniture since the 1850s, often for his own houses and was well known to many arts and crafts designers as a friend and adviser. He retired in 1900.

(1831–1915)

Influential English Arts-and-Crafts architect, specializing in houses. With Norman Shaw he was one of the leaders of the English Domestic Revival. His style from the first was deliberately eclectic, drawing on elements from Gothic, Queen Anne, and vernacular architecture. Initially, his fame grew from his association (dating from his time (1852–9) in the office of G. E. Street) with William Morris, for whom he designed the Red House, Bexley Heath, Kent (1859–60), and many artefacts for Morris's firm. Later, he was involved with Morris in the setting up of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (1877). At the Red House the influence of Butterfield and Street is clear, especially in relation to the clear expression of materials and the very free asymmetrical composition: with this building and Benfleet Hall, Fairmile, near Cobham, Surrey (1860), he established his reputation. His best town buildings are the Prinsep House, 14 (formerly 1) Holland Park Road, Kensington (1864–92), 1 Palace Green, Kensington (1868–73—with interior decorations by Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833–98), Walter Crane (1845–1915), and William Morris), and 19 Lincoln's Inn Fields (1868–9), all in London, in which steep gables, Queen Anne sash-windows, and a few Gothic features are used in free compositions. His country-houses include Joldwynds, near Dorking, Surrey (1872–3—destroyed), Smeaton Manor, Great Smeaton, North Riding, Yorkshire (1876–9—much altered), and Standen, East Grinstead, Surrey (1891–4), all gabled and freely composed. Clouds, East Knoyle, Wilts. (1876–91), is perhaps his most eclectic composition, with a veritable jumble of styles making the building almost style-less. His one church, St Martin's, Brampton, Cumb. (1874–8), is certainly Gothic, but treated very freely, with ceilings that are more domestic than ecclesiastical in character. Claims that Webb was somehow a precursor of the Modern Movement do not stand up to serious examination, for his work showed too much of an understanding of traditional materials and vernacular architecture, and his sources lay in historical exemplars. Indeed, his disciples included Lutyens among their number, none of whom could be regarded as Modernists.

Bibliography

• R. Curry & S. Kirk (1984)
• D&M (1985)
• Ferriday (ed.) (1963)
• Garnett (ed.) (1993)
• S. Kirk (1990, 2002)
• Lethaby (1935)
• McLeod (1971)
• G. Naylor (1971)
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)
• Placzek (ed.) (1982)
• M.Richardson (1983)
• Swenarton (1989)
• Jane Turner (1996)

The full bibliography for this book is available to download as a pdf file.
Download the bibliography for A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (PDF: 1.2MB)

1831–1915, English architect. His influence, together with that of R. N. Shaw and W. E. Nesfield, established after the mid-19th cent. a revival of residential architecture based upon the Queen Anne and Georgian styles and upon the use of materials for their own artistic values. He became the assistant of G. E. Street, and he was an intimate friend of William Morris and a supporter of his aesthetic creeds. Webb's first commission was the historic Red House, Bexley Heath, built (1859) for Morris, in which the theories of both owner and architect received their practical crystallization. Its planning and specially designed furnishings led to the establishment (1861) of Morris's celebrated decorating business, the firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company, important in the development of the arts and crafts movement. Webb was one of the six members of this firm, and for it he designed furniture, tiles, and stained glass.

Bibliography

See study by W. R. Lethaby (1935).

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