John Norton (architect)
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2014) |
John Norton | |
---|---|
Born | 28 September 1823 |
Died | 10 November 1904 | (aged 81)
Nationality | English |
Occupation | Architect |
John Norton (28 September 1823 – 10 November 1904) was an English architect who designed
Early life
Norton was born and educated in
It was argued that only this construction truly symbolised Christian striving towards heaven and Christ's resurrection, Classical architecture having been based on
Career
Pugin died in 1852 at the time that Norton, not yet 30, was to embark upon a succession of
Norton's association with Sir Peregrine Acland, who donated the £16,000 necessary to rebuild the former mediaeval church of St. Audries, bore further fruit with the commission to design Stogursey School in 1860. This was undertaken by Norton with his now customary flamboyance and dedication to the ideals of Gothic revivalism, and was constructed from local Quantock stone with Bath stone dressings. The school stands in use today.
In accordance with Ferrey and Pugin's prescient concerns for the inter-relationship of humanity and the environment it produces, Norton's designs called for the sourcing of construction materials from their locality. Holy Trinity,
In addition to the regular ecclesiastical commissions, Norton's London practice had designed the grand residences that line
Work on country residences
Later that decade, Norton's reputation was enhanced with commissions to build
John Norton's greatest commission was now on the horizon.
William Gibbs now required a country seat for his family away from London and in 1843 purchased Tyntes Place, an attractive house with relatively simple and plain internal decoration that overlooked the Bristol Channel. The house had been rebuilt to the conservative tastes of a Reverend Seymour and further improved by Nailsea architect Robert Newton after 1836. During the 1850s the celebrated designer John Gregory Crace (1809–89), who had worked closely with Augustus Pugin, was commissioned by Gibbs to make improvements to the London house at 16 Hyde Park Gardens, and also to refurbish Tyntesfield House, as it was now officially referred to.
Norton was first invited to Tyntesfield on 21 August 1860, when Gibbs outlined his needs for further expansion to his country seat. The meeting went well and in March the following year, with fellow ecclesiastical architect
Norton's dramatic designs were completed by 1863 and the extensive re-modelling of Tyntesfield commenced in October. The building work took over two years and was completed close to the £70,000 budget allowed for it. Reverend Seymour's restrained Regency house had been utterly absorbed, doubled in size and transformed into a soaring Gothic-revival masterpiece bristling with ornamentation born from its diverse construction elements. Though quite new, the range of buildings gave the appearance of having grown over a much longer period of time. Pinnacles, gables, crenellated towers, stained glass, plain glass and leaded light windows harmonised in a testimony to Norton's visionary skills and balance, and Plucknett's craftmanship.[citation needed]
The interiors of the vast house were just as breathtaking. 'Norton's creation was quite extraordinary. He had combined the Gothic beauty of holiness with a reverence for nature. He created domestic architecture based on the recent collegiate buildings in Oxford. Suddenly, too, the tenets of Ruskin and Pugin have become transfixed in stone.' [4]
Tyntesfield remains at the zenith of Norton's designs but his architectural practice continued the ecclesiastical, country house and suburban output for which he was now rightly celebrated. St John the Evangelist's in Middlesbrough dates from 1865. Between 1866 and 1875 Norton built and restored parish churches in South Wales: St. David's, Neath,(1866), St. Matthew, Llanelwydd and the parish church of Builth Wells, (1870). In 1875, he re-designed the west wall of St. Thomas the Apostle, Redwick, Newport, inserting a large window.
Norton's occasional forays into suburban architecture, notably Berkeley Square, Clifton, and the Crystal Palace estate designs, re-emerged in 1871 when the south side of Crystal Palace Park was developed and Norton's London practice designed a series of houses.
Norton returned to South Wales in 1887 to design Gwyn Hall, the principal civic building and music hall for Neath Port Talbot. This handsome structure with its fine windows and trademark colonnade of Gothic arches cost £6,000 to design and build. It was recently undergoing a £4 million facelift when a fire gutted the building in 2007. Fortunately, Norton's exterior has mostly survived.
In the 1890s, Norton was commissioned to design
Other than his dynamic, traditional Christian faith and the references from William Gibbs' business-like diary, which note his satisfaction as to the progress at Tyntesfield, we know little of John Norton's personality. One intriguing and revealing insight however is illuminated from the autobiography of the great author
Other projects he was associated with include Berkeley Square, Bristol, for which in 1851 he made the replica of the Bristol High Cross which stands in the square; the Manor House in Chew Magna; St Audries Park; the college of St Matthias, Bristol; and Christ Church, Clifton Down, Bristol. This church was built by Charles Dyer in 1841. Norton added the steeple, which reaches 65 metres (213 ft), in 1859.
Norton died on 10 November 1904 and was buried in Bournemouth, Dorset.[1]
References
- ^ a b Lee, Sidney, ed. (1912). . Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). Vol. 3. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 27–28.
- ^ Pugin A.W.N. (1841/2003) 'The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture Set Forth (intro. T.Brittain-Catlin), (Reading: SpireBooks).[page needed]
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St Mary and St Peter, Tidenham (Grade II*) (1366270)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ^ Miller J. (2003) 'Fertile Fortune: The Story of Tyntesfield' (London: The National Trust)[page needed]
- ^ Hardy, T.& F. (1928/2007) 'Wordsworth Literary Lives: Thomas Hardy' (Ware: Wordsworth Editions)[page needed]
Sources
- Miller J. (2003) 'Fertile Fortune: The Story of Tyntesfield' (London: The National Trust)
- Hardy, T.& F. (1928/2007) 'Wordsworth Literary Lives: Thomas Hardy' (Ware: Wordsworth Editions)
- Pugin A.W.N. (1841/2003) 'The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture Set Forth (intro. T.Brittain-Catlin), (Reading: SpireBooks).
- http://www.British-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=18613 (and 40908)
- http://www.communigate.co.uk/dorset/dhs/page13.phtml[permanent dead link]
- http://www.cpat.demon.co.uk/projects/longer/churches/radnor/16845[permanent dead link]
- http://history.powys.org.uk/school1/builth/church.shtml
- https://web.archive.org/web/20100923104803/http://www.holytrinitystapleton.org.uk/history.htm
- https://web.archive.org/web/20080708145128/http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/bromley/beckenham/crystal-palace-park-road.htm
- https://web.archive.org/web/20080517211251/http://www.neath-porttalbot.gov.uk/gwynhall/
- http://www.newport.gov.ukwww.openchurchestrust.org.uk/Churches/Kilton.htm[permanent dead link]
- https://web.archive.org/web/20090107020147/http://www.oxfordshirepast.net/hen_ests.html
- http://www.stjohnshighbridge.org.uk
- https://web.archive.org/web/20080724182034/http://www.streetandwalton.co.uk/church/groups.php
- https://web.archive.org/web/20110516173413/http://www.touruk.co.uk/houses/Tyntesfield-North-Somerset.htm
- http://www.westburychurch.com
External links
Media related to John Norton (architect) at Wikimedia Commons