Randall Wells
Albert Randall Wells (1877–1942) was an English Arts and Crafts architect, designer, craftsman and inventor.
He was the son of an architect, Arthur Wells of Hastings.[1] After a practical training in joinery and founding as well as architecture, Randall Wells was discovered by William Lethaby and acted as his resident architect at All Saints' Church, Brockhampton, Herefordshire (1901–02) where Lethaby's experimentation with the employment of direct labour under a site architect instead of a contractor under a formal building contract, and deliberately produced few drawings, gave Wells freedom to evolve the design as the building rose and to engage in the physical activity of building.[2] He worked in a similar role with E. S. Prior at Voewood (later Home Place), Kelling, near Holt, Norfolk (1903–04), where the exterior was faced with the stones quarried from its own site, and at St Andrew's Church, Roker, Sunderland (1905–07), built for a local shipbuilder, John Priestman, for which he also carved the stone font.
In parallel to collaborative projects with other architects, he developed an independent practice. His own
In 1905 his design for a cottage for
Wells' subsequent career was undermined both by the increasingly unaffordable ethos of the Arts and Crafts movement after 1918, but probably also because of his perceived role in the failure of the Nobles' marriage.
Mr and Mrs Wells moved to Slinfold Manor near Horsham, Sussex where, to supplement his fewer architectural commissions he designed a series of devices for the use of craftsmen including secret joinery connections and self-draining tiles, which he patented in the UK and US. In 1927 they moved to Watermist House, 52 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, from where he practised for the remainder of his career.
Built work of the 1920s includes a new entrance hall at
Towards the end of his career, Wells' St Wilfrid's Church at Halton, Leeds (1937–39), funded by his old client at Roker, John Priestman, again shows Arts and Crafts blended with an advanced modernism.[11] Large expanses of clear glass within tall, stepped lancet windows allow light to flood high vaults and cast shadows on the plastered interior. He also furnished much of the interior.
Wells had one daughter, Crystal, known as Rosebud. She married in 1940 but was killed in a train accident a few weeks later. Wells and his wife, who was said to have lost her mind as a result of this tragedy, moved to a cottage on her daughter Lady Gainford's estate at Taynish, Argyllshire, where they died within weeks of each other in 1942.
References
- ^ DSA biography
- ^ Wandering Architects; Michael Drury, 2000
- ^ "Sanatorium Chapel, High Kelling, Norfolk".
- ISBN 978-0-300-11614-4
- ^ The £150 Cottage Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Listing of 126 Wilbury Road, Letchworth
- ^ Randall Wells; Nikolaus Pevsner & Enid Radcliffe; Architectural Review, November 1964
- ^ Playfair, Giles, My Father's Son, Geoffrey Bles, London 1937
- ^ BBC Year Book 1932, p.70.
- ^ 1. 5028 HIGH STREET (north side) Teddington No 23. Lloyds Bank TQ 1671 23/26 II 2, see Images of England No. 205455 National Monuments Record, English Heritage (retrieved 10 March 2012)
- ^ Religion and Place in Leeds; English Heritage, 2008. ISSN 1749-8775