James Cubitt (1836–1914) was a Victorian

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

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 ...

specialising in building non-conformist chapels.''History of the Union Chapel''
accessed 7 June 2009 He was the son of a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

minister, from

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

who taught at Spurgeon's Pastor's College in

South Norwood Hill The A215 is an A road in south London, starting at Elephant and Castle and finishing around Shirley. It runs through the London Boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Croydon. Beginning as Walworth Road, the A215 becomes Camberwell Road—mu ...

''James Cubitt (1836-1912) ''
(Archiseek) accessed 7 June 2009 — then on the outskirts of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Cubitt was articled to the firm of

Isaac Charles Gilbert Isaac Charles Gilbert (7 Jan 1822 – 4 March 1885) was an English architect based in Nottingham. Career He was born in Kingston upon Hull in 1822, the son of Joseph Gilbert (1779–1852) a Congregational minister and his wife Ann (Taylor) (17 ...

, in Nottingham (1851–56) and joined W. W. Pocock building chapels for the

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

s. From 1862, he formed his own office, forming a partnership with Henry Fuller in 1868. Cubitt's philosophy was laid out in his book, ''Church Design for Congregations''. He attacked as obsolete the traditional

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

design. When the "columns are thick or moderately thick, it inevitably shuts out a multitude of people from the service ... When, on the other hand, its columns are thin, the inconvenience is removed, but the architecture is ruined ... The type as it remains is but a shadow of its former self – a medieval church in the last stage of starvation". Too many architects were failing the principal criteria of their brief: "to produce a grand and beautiful church in which everyone could see and hear the service". His chapels are built as broad uncluttered spaces around a central pulpit and Lord's table. Cubitt lived most of his professional life at

Loughton Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...

, where he built several private houses and three schools. He is commemorated by a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

on Monghyr Cottage, 2 Traps Hill, Loughton, where he died, and was buried in an unmarked grave next to his wife in Loughton Cemetery.

References

;Notes ;Sources *''The Contexting of a chapel architect: James Cubitt 1836-1912'' Clyde Binfield (The Chapels Society, 2001) *''The Buildings of Loughton and notable people of the town'' Chris Pond (Loughton and Dist Historical Society, 2nd ed, 2010)

Works

*Architecture ** Emmanuel Congregational Church in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

(1873) **

Union Chapel, Islington Union Chapel is a working church, live entertainment venue and charity drop-in centre for the homeless in Islington, London, England. Built in the late 19th century in the Gothic revival style, the church is Grade I-listed. It is at the north ...

(1877) **Church of the Redeemer, Edgbaston, Birmingham (1882) ** Welsh Presbyterian Chapel on

Charing Cross Road Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street) and then becomes Tottenham Court Road. It leads from the north in the direction of ...

(1888) **Dulwich Grove United Reformed Church (formerly Congregational), East Dulwich London (1890) **Staples Road Junior School, Loughton (1888) **Sunnybank, nos 7-9 Woodbury Hill, Loughton, Essex (1889) *Books **''Church Design for Congregations'' (1870)

References

Works

See also