John Shaw Sr.

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For other people with the same name, see John Shaw (disambiguation).

John Shaw Sr.

FSA (1776–1832) was an English architect. He was architect to Christ's Hospital in London, and to the Port of Ramsgate. Many of his works, including the church of St Dunstan-in-the-West
in Fleet Street, London, were in a Gothic Revival style.

Early life and career

Shaw was born in Bexley, Kent in 1776. His father, also named John Shaw, was a surgeon, and his mother, Elizabeth Latham, was from a wealthy landowning family. He moved to Southwark, Surrey and trained under the architect George Gwilt the elder. It is thought that Shaw and Gwilt were related as Gwilt had married a Sarah Shaw, and it is quite possible that the two architects were cousins.

In 1799 Shaw married a cousin, Elizabeth Hester Whitfield, who was from a missionary family, at St George's, Hanover Square, in London

Architectural works

St Dunstan-in-the-West in 1842

Gothic mansions

Shaw worked with

Ilam Hall in Staffordshire in the Gothic style for the manufacturer Jesse Watts Russell.[2]

Christ's Hospital

In 1816 Shaw was appointed architect to

Charles Locke Eastlake commented

Neither in the basement nor in any part of the building which is out of public sight were any pains taken to preserve a structural consistency of design. The Gothic of that day was, it must be confessed, little better than a respectable deception. It put a good face on its principal elevations, but left underground offices and back premises to take care of themselves.[5]

Shaw also built school's infirmary (1822), and the "New Schools", a block in a Tudor style, in yellow brick with stone facings. This had a covered cloister running along the front, and staircases at each end of the building housed in rectangular projections surmounted by pinnacles and domes.[6] All these buildings were demolished when the site was cleared for new buildings for the General Post Office, following the school's removal to Horsham in 1902.[7]

Ramsgate

Jacob's Ladder, Ramsgate

As architect to

King George IV
passing through the port on a journey to Hanover.

St Dunstan-in-the-West

Shaw's last work, considered his

Boston Stump) and designed an unusual octagonal tower in the gothic style. Shaw died in 1832 before the church was finished and left the remaining work to his son, John Shaw Jr.
, whom he had trained at his office in Christ's Hospital.

The Shaws were pioneers in the development of

semi-detached housing in London, breaking away from the common design of terraced housing.[citation needed
]

Societies and exhibitions

Shaw was a member of the Architects' Club and a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Linnean Society of London and the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Shaw exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1799 and 1834, showing landscapes as well as designs for buildings.[8]

Death

Shaw died suddenly at Ramsgate in July 1832, aged 56. His son John Shaw Jr., born 1803, took over his posts as architect at Christ's Hospital and Ramsgate, as well as finishing St Dunstan's.

Family

Shaw's most famous son was John Shaw Jr., born 1803, who also became an architect. Another son was Thomas Budd Shaw, who became tutor of English literature to the grand dukes of Russia in St Petersburg. His daughter, Julia Shaw, married the eminent London architect Philip Hardwick, whom Shaw had helped elect into the Royal Society in 1831. The Shaws and Hardwicks often lived close by each other in Westminster and Holborn.

Shaw Senior is buried at St Mary's Church in Bexley. His portrait was painted by Abraham Daniel (1760–1806) and is part of the National Portrait Gallery collection as well as having a portrait hung at the church of St Dunstan-in-the-West.

References

  1. ISBN 9780884022879
    .
  2. ^ "Ilam Hall". Archived from the original on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  3. ^ O'Donoghue, Freeman Marius (1885–1900). "Shaw, John (1776-1832)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  4. ^ Britton, J.; A. Pugin (1828). Illustrations of the Public Buildings of London. Vol. 2. London. pp. 187–92.
  5. ^ Eastlake, Charles Locke (1872). A History of the Gothic Revival. London: Longmans, Green & Co.
  6. ^ Trollope, William (1834). A History of the Royal Foundation of Christ's Hospital. London: William Pickering. p. 356.
  7. ISBN 978-0-9557949-8-8
    .
  8. ^ Graves, Algernon (1906). A Dictionary of Contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904 , Volume VII. London: Henry Graves and George Bell.

External links

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