Jonathan Thomas Carr(1845–1915) was an English cloth merchant turnedproperty developerand speculator. He is remembered for founding theBedford Parkgarden suburbinChiswick,west London. While he probably was not made bankrupt by that development, he later received a record-breaking 342 bankruptcy petitions.[1]
Life
editBackground and character
editJonathan Thomas Carr was born in 1845. His father was a cloth merchant in theCity of London,known for his radical political views; Jonathan inherited a share of his business.[2]His brother was theGrosvenor Galleryart critic and dramatist J. Comyns Carr.[2][3]His sister studied art at theSlade School of Art.In 1873 he married Agnes Fulton (1849-1902), whose fatherHamilton Henry Fulton,a civil engineer, was one of the few inhabitants of the Bedford Park estate before it was developed, living in Bedford House, which had 24 acres of land.[2][4]The architectural history authorMark Girouardwrites that his family seem to have found him an embarrassment, suggesting that their description of Carr as "genial and optimistic" was a euphemistic gloss for "specious and not altogether honest".[2]Carr seems to have been a difficult person to do business with; the architectNorman Shawsoon resigned as estate architect, apparently exasperated, either by Carr's tight requirements or by his late payments.[2][5]
Speculation and bankruptcy
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It is popularly supposed that the Bedford Park development brought Carr tobankruptcy,but this is not supported by the evidence: he extended the estate with an extra 89 acres, took out a £200,000mortgageon it, and in 1881 sold all of it to a new company, Bedford Park Ltd, which he managed but held nosharesin. The company was wound up in 1886, and Carr worked on other development projects including the Kensington Court estate and theWhitehall Courtland. He kept his large 16-roomed house, Tower House in Bedford Park, all his life.[2][8]He continued to speculate in property, and received 342bankruptcy petitions,a record.[1]Both the Kensington Court and the Whitehall Court developments proved to be too risky, and by 1888 Carr's creditors had taken over both of them.[9]Carr died in February 1915.[1][10]
Developing Bedford Park
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The decision to develop the Bedford Park estate was made either by Carr privately, or in partnership with his father-in-law Hamilton Fulton, in 1875.[2] Carr engaged some of England's best architects to design Bedford Park's houses and community buildings, starting withE. W. Godwinand the Scottish firm Coe and Robinson, but when their designs were criticised by the architectural press, he soon afterwards engagedNorman Shawas estate architect. Shaw set the tone for the entire development.[1][11]
Thearchitecture of Bedford Parkis described asBritish Queen Anne Revival,meaning a mixture of designs in red brick based on English and Flemish domestic architecture, often with tile-hunggables,and often with white-paintedroughcastfor part of the surface.[11][2]
Carr commissioned the artistF. Hamilton Jacksonto create publicity images for the development; one of them, showing the estate's church and neighbouring red brick buildings, has become "iconic".[12]
Reception
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Carr's work at Bedford Park was both admired and mocked.[3]The journalist and authorG. K. Chestertonjokingly compared Carr's red brick Bedford Park withJohn Burgon's 1845 poemPetra,"Match me such marvel save in Eastern clime, A rose-red city half as old as time", writing "Match me this marvel save where aesthetes are, A rose-red suburb half as old as Carr".[3]
In 1881,St James's Gazettepublished the humorousBallad of Bedford Park,seemingly penned by a resident of the garden suburb,[3]which began:[2]
In London town there lived a man
a gentleman was he
Whose name was Jonathan T. Carr
(as has been told to me).
'This London is a foggy town'
(thus to himself said he),
'Where bricks are black, and trees are brown
and faces are dirtee.'
'I will seek out a brighter spot',
continued Mr. Carr.
'Not too near London, and yet not
what might be called too far.'
'Tis there a village I'll erect
with Norman Shaw's assistance
Where men may lead a chaste correct
aesthetical existence.[2]
References
edit- ^abcd"History of the garden suburb: The creator of Bedford Park".Bedford Park Society.Retrieved12 August2021.
- ^abcdefghijGirouard, Mark(1984) [1977].Sweetness and Light: The Queen Anne Movement, 1860–1900.Yale University Press.pp. 160–176.ISBN978-0-300-03068-6.
- ^abcdFletcher, Ian(2016)."4. Bedford Park: Aesthete's Elysium?".In Ian Fletcher (ed.).Romantic Mythologies.Routledge.pp. 169–207.ISBN978-1-317-27960-0.
- ^"Hamilton Henry Fulton (1813-1886)".Grace's Guide.Retrieved12 August2021.
- ^"Bedford Park, Ealing".Hidden London.Retrieved3 August2021.
- ^"Adolf Manfred Trautschold (German, 1854 – 1921)".The Knohl Collection.Retrieved4 August2021.
- ^"The Exhibition that saved Bedford Park".The Bedford Park Society.Retrieved4 August2021.
- ^"1879 – Tower House, Bedford Park, Chiswick, London".Archiseek.5 October 2009.Retrieved4 August2021.
Published inThe Building News,October 31, 1879
- ^"John James Stevenson".Scottish Architects.Retrieved12 August2021.
- ^"Mr. Jonathan Carr".The Guardian.4 February 1915. p. 6.Retrieved7 February2020– via Newspapers.
- ^abBanerjee, Jacqueline (24 September 2008)."A road in Bedford Park, London's first" garden suburb "".The Victorian Web.Retrieved1 August2021.
- ^"St Michael's in Health & Architecture exhibition".St Michael and All Angels, Bedford Park.11 October 2018.Retrieved11 August2021.
Further reading
edit- Budworth, D.W. (2012)Jonathan Carr's Bedford Park.London:Bedford Park Society.ISBN978-0-9570702-3-3