![Henry Currey](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Henry_Currey.jpg)
Henry Currey (1820–1900) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
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
surveyor.
Family life
He was born in October 1820, the third son of a solicitor, Benjamin Currey of Old Palace Yard, Westminster. He married Emily Harriet Rugge-Price in
Spring Grove, London on 2 April 1845. Emily, born in 1818 and two years Henry's senior, was the daughter of Sir Charles Rugge-Price. There were four children from the marriage: Annette, Charles, Henrietta and Percival, who also became an architect.
[
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Education and work
Educated at Dr Pinckney's School at East Sheen and at Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...
, where he rowed in the school eight against Westminster, Currey was articled to the architect Decimus Burton for five years. He then worked for five years at the office of William Cubitt (1791–1863) and Company of Gray's Inn Road, London.
His first medical works were for the Surrey Lunatic Asylum, and soon after, in 1847, he was appointed as the architect and surveyor to the governors of St Thomas' Hospital, a post he held until his death. In this post, he designed the new hospital, built in the 'pavilion style', which opened on the Albert Embankment
Albert may refer to:
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* Alber ...
by Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side.
The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats in the ...
in 1871, including a teaching hospital and a nursing school to a design approved by Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, i ...
.
He was also the architect and surveyor to Coram's Foundling Hospital and to the Magdalen Hospital in London.
Other notable works include the hotel at London Bridge Station
London Bridge is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Southwark, south-east London. It occupies a large area on three levels immediately south-east of London Bridge, from which it takes its name. The m ...
, 1861–62, a grand 250-room terminus hotel built at a cost of £111,000, later turned into offices for the LBSCR in 1892 and demolished after bomb damage in 1941
He was a Fellow of the RIBA
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 supp ...
from 1856 and served as its vice-president in 1874–77 and 1889–93. He was also a fellow of the Surveyors' Institute (now the RICS
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for surveyors, founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental level, and aims to promote and enforce the highest international standards in the val ...
) and an associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...
.
In 1859, he was appointed by the 7th Duke of Devonshire to replace his former architect, James Berry. Currey held the position for 40 years.
Work at Buxton
As architect for the extensive Devonshire Estate in Buxton, Currey was highly influential in the town's development as a Victorian spa resort, much in his preferred Italianate design. Between 1852 and 1853 the Thermal Baths and Natural Baths (on either side of The Crescent) were completely rebuilt to his designs. He also designed Buxton's St Ann's Well of 1852. He was the architect of Corbar Hall and Devonshire Villas in the same year. Currey's Market Hall was built in 1857 but it was destroyed by fire in 1885 (the present Buxton Town Hall
Buxton Town Hall was opened in 1889 on the Market Place in Buxton, Derbyshire, England. It lies in the town's central Conservation area (United Kingdom), Conservation Area overlooking The Slopes, Buxton, The Slopes. It is a Grade-II-listed build ...
was built on the site in 1889). In 1859 he remodelled half of John Carr's Great Stables as the Devonshire Hospital (to which Robert RIppon Duke later added the dome), now known as the Devonshire Dome
The Devonshire Dome building (previously known as the Devonshire Royal Hospital) is a Grade II* listed 18th-century former stable block in Buxton, Derbyshire. It was built by John Carr of York and extended by architect Robert Rippon Duke, w ...
. In 1863 he designed the grand Palace Hotel in the style of a French château
A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions.
Now ...
. The dining room extension to the Old Hall Hotel was designed by Currey. During the 1860s he designed various villas on Cavendish Terrace (now the Broad Walk). He was also the architect of several churches: Holy Trinity Church (built in 1873), Christ Church at Burbage (built in 1861), Congregational Church (built in 1863, demolished in 1983), Devonshire Park Chapel (built in 1873, demolished c.1970) and the vicarage for St John's Church. In 1894 he designed Buxton's new Pump Room (at the foot of The Slopes), which was opened by the 8th Duke of Devonshire in front of a vast crowd.
Work at Eastbourne
The Duke of Devonshire owned many buildings and much land in Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...
. In 1870, he designed the original College House for Eastbourne College
Eastbourne College is a co-educational independent school in the British public school tradition, for day and boarding pupils aged 13–18, in the town of Eastbourne on the south coast of England. The College's headmaster is Tom Lawson.
Over ...
, a project which was followed three years later by drawings for the chapel, and in 1879, Currey was to design the school's Cavendish Library. The gables and dormer windows of many of the large houses in the same part of Eastbourne (now known locally as 'Lower Meads
The Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) is a ground-mobile air and missile defense system intended to replace the Patriot missile system through a NATO-managed development. The program is a development of the United States, Germany and Italy ...
') also bear witness to his style of architecture. Between 1874 and 1875, he designed the Winter Garden and Pavilion in Devonshire Park, both of which are now Grade II listed buildings
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
. Nearby is the Devonshire Park Theatre, in Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...
style, a building which was influenced by his travels to Italy in the early 1860s. The Queen's Hotel on Marine Parade was his largest single project in the town. The building took a mere 11 months to erect and opened for guests in June 1880. The hotel stands in a prominent position opposite the pier and enjoys easterly views to Hastings and to Beachy Head
Beachy Head is a chalk headland in East Sussex, England. It is situated close to Eastbourne, immediately east of the Seven Sisters.
Beachy Head is located within the administrative area of Eastbourne Borough Council which owns the land, formi ...
in the west. Between 1881 and 1883, he designed the Bedfordwell Pumping Station for the Eastbourne Waterworks Company; the yellow- and red-brick Classical-style building was listed at Grade II in March 2014. His Kentish ragstone
Rag-stone is a name given by some architectural writers to work done with stones that are quarried in thin pieces, such as Horsham Stone, sandstone, Yorkshire stone, and the slate stones, but this is more properly flag or slab work. Near London ...
and Bath Stone St Peter's Church, again in the 'Lower Meads' area of the town, was completed in 1895 in Early English Gothic Revival style
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 ...
and could accommodate 800 worshippers. It was, however, made redundant and demolished in 1971.
Death and interment
He died at his home, The Chestnuts, Lawrie Park, Sydenham Sydenham may refer to:
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, on 23 November 1900 and was buried in West Norwood Cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery.
One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of ...
.
See also
* Listed buildings in Eastbourne
*List of demolished places of worship in East Sussex
In the English county of East Sussex, many former chapels, churches and other places of worship have been demolished without direct replacement. Declining congregations, structural problems, commercial redevelopment, wartime bombing and many oth ...
References
External links
*
* For more about Henry Currey (in particular his hospital buildings) se
* For more about St Thomas's Hospital see British History Online a
{{DEFAULTSORT:Currey, Henry
1820 births
1900 deaths
19th-century English architects
English civil engineers
Burials at West Norwood Cemetery
Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects