Edward Blore
Edward Blore | |
|---|---|
 Blore, by Georg Koberwein (1820–1876) | |
| Born | 13 September 1787 Derby,England |
| Died | 4 September 1879(aged 91) Manchester Square,London |
| Resting place | Highgate Cemetery West,London, England 51°34′01″N0°08′49″E/ 51.567°N 0.147°E |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Known for | Buckingham Palace;Lambeth Palace restoration |
Edward Blore(13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect andantiquary.
Early career[edit]
Bloor was born inDerby,the son of the antiquarian writerThomas Blore.[1]
Blore's background was in antiquarian draughtsmanship rather than architecture, in which he had no formal training. Nevertheless, he designeda large palacefor PrinceMikhail Semyonovich VorontsovinAlupka,Crimea,and important ecclesiastical furnishings designed by him included organ cases forWinchester CathedralandPeterborough Cathedral(the Peterborough case since removed) and the choir stalls inWestminster Abbey.Charles Locke Eastlake,writing in 1872, believed that he had been apprenticed to an engraver,[2]but other sources dispute this.[3]He illustrated his father'sHistory of Rutland(1811), and over the next few years he made the drawings ofYork Minsterand Peterborough Cathedral and measured drawings of Winchester Cathedral forJohn Britton'sEnglish Cathedrals,and drew architectural subjects for various county histories.[1]In 1816 he was introduced toWalter Scottand worked withWilliam Atkinsonon the design ofAbbotsford House.[4]In around 1822 Blore supplied the illustrations toThomas Frognall Dibdin'sAedes Althorpianæ.[2]In 1823 he toured Northern England, making drawings for a work called theMonumental Remains of Noble and Eminent Persons.It was issued in parts with text by the Rev. Philip Bliss, and completed in 1826. Blore engraved many of the plates himself.[5]
Westminster Abbey and Lambeth Palace[edit]
In 1826, he was appointedSurveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey.[6]The following year he was engaged to furnish plans for the chancel fittings of Peterborough Cathedral. Shortly afterwards he was employed to restoreLambeth Palace,then in a state of near ruin. His work there included the construction of a fire-proof room for the preservation of manuscripts and archives.[7]
Eastlake praised Blore's careful detail in his work at Westminster Abbey, adding "this was, in short, his great forte. He had studied and drawn detail so long and zealously that its design came quite naturally to him, and in this respect he was incomparably superior to his contemporaries".[8]
Later career[edit]
Blore is most notable for his completion ofJohn Nash's design ofBuckingham Palace.Following Nash's dismissal, he completed the palace in a style similar to but plainer than that intended by Nash. In 1847, Blore returned to the palace and designed the great facade facingThe Mallthus enclosing the centralquadrangle.He also worked onSt James's Palacein London, and a large number of other designs in England and Scotland, including restoring the Salisbury Tower atWindsor Castle.
Blore was a personal friend of SirWalter Scott,having been introduced byDaniel Terry,[3]and like Scott was interested in thebaronial architecture of Scottish castles. This led to PrinceVorontsov's invitation to design his extensiveVorontsov PalaceinAlupka,Crimea.The Alupka palace was built between 1828 and 1846, in a mixture of styles ranging fromGothic RevivaltoMoorish Revival.The palace's guidebook describes the building as "Blore's tribute to Muslim architecture". The structure features two façades, contrasting "the starkness of Scottish Baronial on its landward side with Arabian fantasy facing the sea".[9]
As a recognised establishment architect, Blore was involved in many projects related to theBritish Empire;this includedGovernment HouseinSydney,Australia, which he designed in 1834 in the form of a Gothic castle. Such designs were unusual and display a more adventurous side to Blore's work than can be seen from his work in London. His East front, the public face, of Buckingham Palace was criticised from the moment of its completion as banal street architecture, a view shared by KingGeorge Vwho had the façade redesigned by SirAston Webbin 1913. Around 1840 Blore was possibly responsible for alterations atWythenshawe HallinManchester.[10]
He was electedFellow of the Royal Societyin 1841.[citation needed]
Students[edit]
ArchitectsPhilip Charles HardwickandFrederick MarrableandHenry Cluttonwere his pupils.William Masonworked for him before going to Australia and New Zealand.[citation needed]
Death[edit]
Blore died at home, 4,Manchester Square,London, on 4 September 1879,[1]and was buried inHighgate Cemetery(West), Highgate, London.
Buildings[edit]
- Abbotsford House
- Bedford Modern School,now the Harpur Centre facade
- Buckingham Palace
- Cambridge University Press:Pitt Building
- Chapel at College of St Mark and St John,London (1841)
- Christ Church (formerly Holy Trinity)Waltham Cross(1831-2)[11]
- Crewe Hall,Cheshire: alterations[12]and estate buildings[13][14]
- Crom Castle,County Fermanagh,Ulster
- Goodrich Court,Herefordshire(1828)
- Government House, Sydney(1835)
- Great Moreton Hall,Congleton,Cheshire(1841–1843)
- Kingston Hall, Nottinghamshire(1842–1846)
- Lambeth Palace:restoration
- St James's Palace:alterations
- St John's Church, Stratford,London (1833–1834)
- St John the Baptist, Leytonstone,London (1832-1833)[15]
- St Luke's Church, Berwick Street,London, 1839 (demolished 1936)[16]
- St Peter's Church, Stepney, London (1837–1838)
- St Thomas, Charterhouse.London, 1842[17]
- Trinity Hospital,Retford,1833 (Grade II listed)
- Vorontsov Palace, Alupka
- Warminster Town Hall,Wiltshire (c.1837);[18]imitatesLongleat[19]
- Watt Library,Greenock
- Westminster Abbey:choir and screen
Gallery[edit]
-
Buckingham Palaceas completed by Blore in 1850. It was later refaced and altered byAston Webbin 1913 -
-
Government House, Sydney,Australia (1837-1843) -
Grave of Edward Blore inHighgate Cemetery(west), Highgate, London
See also[edit]
- List of ecclesiastical works by Edward Blore
- List of miscellaneous works by Edward Blore
- List of works by Edward Blore on palaces and large houses
References[edit]
- ^abcWroth 1886.
- ^abEastlake 1873, p.138
- ^abPort, M. H. "Blore, Edward".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2679.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^"Edward Blore".Dictionary of Scottish Architects. n.d. Archived fromthe originalon 27 September 2022.Retrieved27 September2022.
- ^Eastlake 1873, p.138—9
- ^Eastlake 1873, p.139
- ^Eastlake 1873, p.140
- ^Eastlake 1873, p.141
- ^"The Crimea".ExeterInternational. Archived fromthe originalon 3 May 2006.Retrieved3 May2006.
- ^"Wythenshawe Hall – Pastscape".Historic England. Archived fromthe originalon 13 July 2012.Retrieved18 March2016.
- ^Historic England."Christ Church Waltham Cross (Grade II) (1100564)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved2 February2024.
- ^Historic England."Crewe Hall (Grade I) (1138666)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved11 August2021.
- ^Historic England."Former stables at Crewe Hall (Grade II*) (1138667)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved11 August2021.
- ^Historic England."North Lodge to Crewe Hall Park (Grade II) (1138675)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved11 August2021.
- ^Historic England."Church of St John the Baptist (Grade II) (1357631)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved2 February2024.
- ^'Broadwick and Peter Street Area', inSurvey of London: Volumes 31 and 32, St James Westminster, Part 2,ed. F H W Sheppard (London, 1963), pp. 219-229British History Online. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
- ^"The Churches of the Metropolis. — No. VI. The New Church of St. Thomas Charterhouse".The Illustrated London News.13 August 1842. p. 217.Retrieved27 September2022– via Victorian Web.
- ^"Warminster Old Town Hall".Archived fromthe originalon 17 March 2012.Retrieved25 January2011.
- ^Historic England."Town Hall (Grade II) (1364438)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved11 August2021.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Stephen, Leslie,ed. (1886). "Blore, Edward".Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 5. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
Sources[edit]
- Eastlake, Charles Locke (1872).A History of the Gothic Revival.London: Longmans, Green & Co.
Further reading[edit]
- Sir Banister Fletcher:Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture– Editor: Dan Cruickshank(Architectural Press, Oxford, 1996)ISBN0-7506-2267-9
- Charlotte Gere and Michael Whiteway:Nineteenth-Century Design: From Pugin to Mackintosh(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1993)ISBN0-297-83068-6
External links[edit]
- Works by or aboutEdward BloreatWikisource
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