Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool - 2012-11-04 (4)

Cornelius Sherlock (bapt. 28 February 1823 – 20 January 1888) 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 ...

who was active in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

in the late 19th century. Sherlock is best known as one of the architects responsible for the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

in Liverpool, one of the main buildings in the area around

William Brown Street William Brown Street in Liverpool, England, is a road that is remarkable for its concentration of public buildings. It is sometimes referred to as the "Cultural Quarter". Originally known as ''Shaw's Brow'', a coaching road east from the city, ...

and a celebrated example of

High Victorian High Victorian Gothic was an eclectic architectural style and movement during the mid-late 19th century. It is seen by architectural historians as either a sub-style of the broader Gothic Revival style, or a separate style in its own right. Promo ...

Neoclassical buildings.

Life and career

Cornelius Sherlock was born in Liverpool to Thomas and Anne Sherlock. He was apprenticed to the influential Liverpudlian architect Peter Ellis (1805–1884), who designed the

Oriel Chambers Oriel Chambers is an office building located on Water Street near the town hall in Liverpool, England. It was the world's first building featuring a metal framed glass curtain wall, which has since become a defining feature of skyscrapers aro ...

. Sherlock lived in

Canning Street Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container ( jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although ...

and worked in initially at 22 King Street, before moving his offices to Manchester Buildings in Tithebarn Street. In 1867 he took up residence at Elm House in

Childwall Childwall () is a suburb and ward of Liverpool, England, located to the southeast of the city. It is bordered by Belle Vale, Bowring Park, Broadgreen, Gateacre, Mossley Hill, and Wavertree. In 2019, the population was 13,640. Overview The earli ...

, where he remained for the rest of his life. Sherlock became a member of the

Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire is a historical society and registered charity founded for the purpose of "collecting, preserving, arranging and publishing such Historical Documents, Antiquities…Specimens of Ancient and Medi ...

in 1850 and he was made a Fellow of 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 ...

in 1878. In 1866, Sherlock was commissioned by the politician and

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

magnate

Andrew Barclay Walker Sir Andrew Barclay Walker, 1st Baronet (15 December 1824 – 27 February 1893) was a brewer and Liverpool Councillor. Career Walker was born the son of Peter Walker at Auchinflower, Ayrshire, and was educated at Ayr Academy and at the Liverpo ...

to build his

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

private residence, Gateacre Grange, on Rose Brow in

Gateacre Gateacre () is a suburb of Liverpool, England, about from the city centre. It is bordered by Childwall, Woolton and Belle Vale. The area is noted for its Tudor Revival architecture and contains over 100 listed buildings within a quarter-mile ra ...

, Liverpool. Walker employed Sherlock again in 1874 in his project to build an art gallery for the City of Liverpool. Sherlock, along with co-architect H. H. Vale, were presented by Lord Sandon to the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...

at the laying of the foundation stone in 1874. Sherlock and Vale collaborated on the Walker Art Gallery project until Vale's suicide in 1875. After this date, Vale's name no longer appeared on architectural documentation and Sherlock claimed credit for the entire design. Sherlock's work for Sir James Picton on extending the

William Brown Library The William Brown Library and Museum is a Grade II* listed building situated on the historic William Brown Street in Liverpool, England. The building currently houses part of the World Museum Liverpool and Liverpool Central Library. The Willi ...

followed the opening of the Walker Art Gallery, and the Picton Reading Room opened in 1879. Sherlock's design, modelled on the Pantheon in Rome, was critically acclaimed. His choice of a Classical rotunda surrounded by a

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order w ...

is considered a graceful solution to turn the corner of the street, and together with the Walker gallery and the Brown library, the Picton forms part of a Neoclassical ensemble that was acclaimed by the public library advocate Thomas Greenwood as "without doubt the finest pile of buildings for this purpose in the whole United Kingdom and Ireland". Cornelius Sherlock went into partnership with fellow architects William James Wood and Herbert William Keef to open an

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...

and surveyors firm, Sherlock, Wood and Keef at 51, South John Street, Liverpool. The firm was responsible for a number of prominent buildings in Liverpool, such as the

Florence Institute The Florence Institute for Boys, known colloquially as The Florrie, is a local landmark and a Grade II listed building on Mill Street in Dingle, South Liverpool, England (). History Probably designed by H W Keef, it was built in 1889 by Sir Be ...

("The Florrie"), which was designed by Keef.

Death

Cornelius Sherlock died on 20 January 1888 at Elm House. He was buried in the neighbouring churchyard of

All Saints' Church, Childwall All Saints' Church, is in Childwall, Liverpool, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is the only medieval church remaining in the Metropolitan borough of Liverpool. I ...

. The firm Sherlock, Wood, and Keef was officially dissolved by Cornelius's widow, Jane Rebecca Sherlock and the surviving partners on 2 August 1889.

Works

*Conversion of Welsh Methodist Chapel to Turkish baths, Mulberry Street, for the Oriental Baths Company of Liverpool (1861) * Queen Hotel, Chester, rebuilding with

Thomas Mainwaring Penson Thomas Mainwaring Penson (1818–64) was an English surveyor and architect. His father and grandfather, who were both named Thomas Penson, were also surveyors and architects. His grandfather Thomas Penson (c. 1760–1824) worked from an office ...

(1862) *Gateacre Grange, Gateacre, Liverpool (1866) *St. Stephens Church, Gateacre, Liverpool (1874) *The Picton Reading Room, Liverpool (1875) *The

, with H. H. Vale (1877) *St Mary's Church,

Ingleton, North Yorkshire Ingleton is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is from Kendal and from Lancaster on the western side of the Pennines. It is from Settle. The River Doe and the River Twiss meet to f ...

(1886)

References

External links

* - - documentary on Northern English Neoclassical civic architecture, including Sherlock's buildings {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherlock, Cornelius 1820s births 1888 deaths 19th-century English architects Architects from Liverpool British neoclassical architects Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects People from Childwall