Charles Locke Eastlake (11 March 1836 – 20 November 1906) was a British
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
and
furniture designer
This is a list of notable people whose primary occupation is furniture design.
A
* Alvar Aalto (1898-1976)
* Eero Aarnio (born 1932)
* Robert Adam (1728-1792)
* Thomas Affleck (1745-1795)
* Franco Albini (1905-1977)
* Davis Allen (1916-199 ...
.
His uncle, Sir
Charles Lock Eastlake
Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (17 November 1793 – 24 December 1865) was a British painter, gallery director, collector and writer of the 19th century. After a period as keeper, he was the first director of the National Gallery.
Life
Eastlak ...
PRA (born in 1793), was a Keeper of the
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
, from 1843 to 1847, and from 1855 its first Director, which results in some confusion between the two men, whose names are distinguished only by the presence or absence of an "e" in their middle names.
The style of furniture named after him,
Eastlake style
The Eastlake movement was a nineteenth-century architectural and household design reform movement started by British architect and writer Charles Eastlake (1836–1906). The movement is generally considered part of the late Victorian period in t ...
, flourished during the later half of the nineteenth century. The
Eastlake movement
The Eastlake movement was a nineteenth-century architectural and household design reform movement started by British architect and writer Charles Eastlake (1836–1906). The movement is generally considered part of the late Victorian period in t ...
, a style of architecture, with old English and Gothic elements, is also named for him.
Life
Eastlake was born March 11, 1836 in
Plymouth. His formal education included studies at the
Westminster School
(God Gives the Increase)
, established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, head_label = Hea ...
and the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
where he discovered an interest in architecture, along with the talent for drawing and painting in watercolors. Eastlake furthered his education with three years of travel throughout France, Italy, and Germany, developing his love for medieval building and architecture.
Trained by the architect
Philip Hardwick
Philip Hardwick (15 June 1792 in London – 28 December 1870) was an English architect, particularly associated with railway stations and warehouses in London and elsewhere. Hardwick is probably best known for London's demolished Euston Arch ...
(1792–1870), he popularized
William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
's notions of decorative arts in the
Arts and Crafts style, becoming one of the principal exponents of the revived Early English or
Modern Gothic style popular during the nineteenth century. His book, ''A History of the Gothic Revival,'' published in 1872, depicted buildings of
English Gothic
English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...
architectural style and the
Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
built between 1820 and 1870. This was influential to revivalists interested in restoring the language of Gothic tradition in England.
Although he had the qualifications of an architect, Eastlake did not practice as one. In the years 1855 and 1856 he put forward several architectural designs for a number of projects, including a design for the
Rugby Town Hall
Rugby Town Hall is a municipal building on Evreux Way in the town centre of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. The building is the headquarters of Rugby Borough Council.
History
Two previous town halls existed on High Street: The first one was bui ...
, but all were rejected.
In the years following, Eastlake instead focused on journalism, the occasional design of interior goods, and furniture design.
He did not make any furniture; his designs were produced by professional
cabinet makers.
In 1868 he published ''Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery and other Details'', which was very influential in Britain, and later in the United States, where the book was published in 1872. From 1866 to 1877 he was secretary to the
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...
, and from 1878 to 1898 he was Keeper of the
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
, London.
He died, aged 70, at Leinster Square,
Bayswater
Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...
, and was buried at
Kensal Green.
Artistic Recognition
A bust of Eastlake by
John Gibson is held in the
National Portrait Gallery, London
The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...
.
[Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis p.173]
See also
*
Humewood Castle
Humewood Castle is a Gothic-fantasy mansion built in 1870 in 427 acres of parkland at Kiltegan, County Wicklow in the Republic of Ireland. The mansion was originally built as a private residence of the Hume family. It is currently owned by Amer ...
*
Stick-Eastlake
Notes
References
*
Bibliography
''A History of the Gothic Revival: an Attempt to Show How the Taste for Mediæval Architecture, which Lingered in England during the Two Last Centuries Has since Been Encouraged and Developed''.Publisher: Longmans, Green & Co., London 1872;
''Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery, and Other Details''. Edited by Charles C. Perkins. Publisher: J. R. Osgood, Boston 1874
''Notes on the Principal Pictures in the Brera Gallery at Milan'' Publisher: Longmans and Co., London 1883;
* ''Notes on the Principal Pictures in the Louvre''. Publisher: Longmans and Co., London 1883; 1883
''Notes on the Principal Pictures in the Old Pinakothek at Munich'' Publisher: Longmans & Co, London 1884;
* ''Notes on the Principal Pictures in the Accademia in Venice'', 1888
Art for the Nation: Sir Charles Eastlake at the National Gallery.Exhibition at the National Gallery 27 July – 30 October 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eastlake, Charles
19th-century English architects
British furniture designers
People from Plymouth, Devon
1836 births
1906 deaths
Architects from Devon