John Dando Sedding (13 April 1838 – 7 April 1891) was an English church architect, working on new buildings and repair work, with an interest in a "crafted Gothic" style. He was an influential figure in the
Arts and Crafts movement, many of whose leading designers, including
Ernest Gimson
Ernest William Gimson (; 21 December 1864 – 12 August 1919) was an English furniture designer and architect. Gimson was described by the art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest of the English architect-designers". Today his reputati ...
,
Ernest Barnsley and Herbert Ibberson, studied in his offices.
His 1889 lecture, "The Architectural Treatment of Gardens", was influential in the revival espoused by
Reginald Blomfield
Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield (20 December 1856 – 27 December 1942) was a prolific British architect, garden designer and author of the Victorian and Edwardian period.
Early life and career
Blomfield was born at Bow rectory in Devon, w ...
, of "Jacobean" features such as terraces, covered walks,
bowling green
A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls.
Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
s, clipped yew hedges and
topiary
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...
, which would combine with "
cottage garden
The cottage garden is a distinct style that uses informal design, traditional materials, dense plantings, and a mixture of ornamental and edible plants. English in origin, it depends on grace and charm rather than grandeur and formal structure. Ho ...
" elements in the
Arts and Crafts gardens
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...
of 1890–1915.
The German architect and critic
Hermann Muthesius
Adam Gottlieb Hermann Muthesius (20 April 1861 – 29 October 1927), known as Hermann Muthesius, was a German architect, author and diplomat, perhaps best known for promoting many of the ideas of the English Arts and Crafts movement within German ...
said that "he formed the first bridge between the architects' camp and that of handicraft proper".
Biography
![Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, Chelsea](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Holy_Trinity%2C_Sloane_Street%2C_Chelsea.jpg)
Sedding was born in 1838, at
Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England.
Eton may also refer to:
Places
*Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England
* Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States
* Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
in Berkshire. He was the son of a village schoolmaster, who spent much of his youth in
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
. He was 15 when "The Nature of Gothic" first appeared in
John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
's ''
Stones of Venice'' (1853). In 1858, like
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 ...
,
Philip Webb
Philip Speakman Webb (12 January 1831 – 17 April 1915) was a British architect and designer sometimes called the Father of Arts and Crafts Architecture. His use of vernacular architecture demonstrated his commitment to "the art of commo ...
and
Norman Shaw
Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...
before him, Sedding became a pupil of the Gothic Revival architect,
George Edmund Street
George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Victorian Gothic Revival. Though mainly an eccl ...
(1824–1881). His elder brother,
Edmund Sedding
Edmund Sedding (20 June 1836 – 1868) was an English architect and musician.
Biography
Sedding, son of Richard and Peninnah Sedding of Summerstown, near Okehampton, Devon, was born on 20 June 1836: John Dando Sedding was his younger brother. He ...
, had also trained as an architect with Street. Street had studied in the office of Sir
Gilbert Scott (1811–1878), and his own practice was a cradle of the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Sedding left Street in 1863 and by about 1865 he had joined his brother
Edmund Sedding
Edmund Sedding (20 June 1836 – 1868) was an English architect and musician.
Biography
Sedding, son of Richard and Peninnah Sedding of Summerstown, near Okehampton, Devon, was born on 20 June 1836: John Dando Sedding was his younger brother. He ...
, who had set up as an architect in
Penzance, Cornwall. The brothers shared an interest in church music, and Edmund is remembered as the composer of the music for the hymn, ''Jerusalem the Golden''. Edmund suffered from
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
and died young in 1868.
Sedding moved first to Bristol, and then to London, though he always retained an affection for Cornwall, the West Country and country life. One of his first churches was the Anglo-Catholic St Martin's at
Marple Marple may refer to:
Places
* Marple, Greater Manchester, a town close to Stockport, in England
** Marple Bridge, a village within the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester
** Marple railway station in Marple, Greater Manches ...
in Cheshire completed in 1872. The interior was designed by William Morris with contributions from
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...
,
Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his most notable painti ...
,
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman ...
and
William Holman Hunt
William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolis ...
.
In 1873 Sedding designed
St Clements Church Boscombe, Bournemouth, now a Grade One listed church. The reredos, high altar, candlesticks, church plate, pulpit, lectern, choir stalls, encaustic tiles, statue of St Clement and rood screen were all designed by Sedding.
In 1875, he was elected 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 supp ...
and moved from Bristol to set up in practice in London the following year, taking offices on the upper floors of 447
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...
, next door to the premises of
Morris & Co.
In 1876 Sedding met Ruskin under whose influence he developed a freer Gothic style, introducing natural ornament into his designs. Sedding encouraged his students to study old buildings at first hand, focusing on the practicalities of craft techniques. He placed an emphasis on texture and ornament; the naturalistic treatment of flowers, leaves and animals, always drawn from life; and the close involvement of the architect in the simple processes of building and in the supervision of a team of craftsmen employed direct. He was elected a member of the
Art Workers Guild
The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 by a group of British painters, sculptors, architects, and designers associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The guild promoted the 'unity of a ...
in 1884, the year of its foundation, and was elected as its second master in 1886.
Buildings and church work
![The Knole, Now Freemason's Hall, Knole Road, Boscombe - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/The_Knole%2C_Now_Freemason%27s_Hall%2C_Knole_Road%2C_Boscombe_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1727510.jpg)
Sedding's buildings include the London churches of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London N6 (1884, completed by others),
Our Most Holy Redeemer
Our Most Holy Redeemer is a late 19th-century church in Clerkenwell, London, England, by the architect John Dando Sedding. It is an Anglo-Catholic church in the Diocese of London of the Church of England. It is at the junction of Exmouth Mar ...
,
Clerkenwell (1887; in Italianate style),
St Peter's Church, Ealing (1889) and
Holy Trinity Sloane Street
The Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity with Saint Jude, Upper Chelsea, commonly called Holy Trinity Sloane Street or Holy Trinity Sloane Square, is a Church of England parish church in London, England. It was built in 1888–90 at th ...
(begun in 1888 and completed by his pupil Henry Wilson),
[ which Sir John Betjeman described as "the cathedral of the Arts and Crafts Movement", although much of the decoration Sedding intended was not carried out.]
His other churches include St Clement's, Boscombe
Boscombe is a suburb of Bournemouth, England. Historically in Hampshire, but today in Dorset, it is located to the east of Bournemouth town centre and west of Southbourne.
Originally a sparsely inhabited area of heathland, from around 1865 B ...
, Dorset (1871–73), and those at Holbeton
Holbeton is a civil parish and village located 9 miles south east of Plymouth in the South Hams district of Devon, England. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 579, down from 850 in 1901. By 2011 it had increased to 619.
The south ...
and Ermington in Devon, and St Elwyn's (1886–88) at Hayle
Hayle ( kw, Heyl, "estuary") is a port town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River (which discharges into St Ives Bay) and is approximately seven miles (11 km) northeast of Penzance. ...
in Cornwall. At All Saints' Church, Falmouth
All Saints' Church, Falmouth is a parish church in the Church of England Diocese of Truro located in Falmouth, Cornwall, United Kingdom.
History
The foundation stone was laid by Albert, Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall (later Edward VII) i ...
(1887–90), he unconventionally combined tall round-arched arcades with Gothic windows. He also gained a reputation in the West Country as a skilled repairer of old churches. His most notable work in the Bristol area is the so-called "House of Charity" (1890–5), with picturesque detailing. He added a new vestry to St Mary's Church, Stamford, in 1890, and was the architect of St Edward's Church in the Hampshire village of Netley Abbey
(Happy Place), Lieu-Saint-Edward, Letley
, order= Cistercians
, established= 1239
, disestablished= 1536/7
, mother= Beaulieu Abbey
, diocese= Diocese of Winchester
, founder= Peter des Roches and Henry III
, dedication= Virgin Mary and ...
and the 1870 Church of St Martin, Marple, Stockport.
He carried out restorations at St. Levan's Church, St. Levan and St John's Church, West Wickham, Kent; also St Mary's Church, Stogumber, Somerset in 1872–75.
He is noted for his many designs for church furnishings and plate, and contributed rich decorative features to numerous churches, such as screens at Axbridge
Axbridge is a small town in Somerset, England, in the Sedgemoor district on the River Axe, near the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. The town's population according to the 2011 census was 2,057.
History
''Axanbrycg'' is suggested as the sou ...
, Somerset (1888) (with Art Nouveau-style detailing to the arches and lettering), and a reredos at St Saviour's, Walcot, Bath
Walcot is a suburb of the city of Bath, England. It lies to the north-north-east of the city centre, and is an electoral ward of the city.[Henry Wilson
Henry Wilson (born Jeremiah Jones Colbath; February 16, 1812 – November 22, 1875) was an American politician who was the 18th vice president of the United States from 1873 until his death in 1875 and a senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to ...]
(who completed the work on Sedding's death), he was commissioned by 6th Duke of Portland to create an extension to Welbeck Abbey to link the old building with the Riding School. He was also commissioned to build a Chapel, which was also completed by Wilson. Both buildings contain very fine Arts and Crafts design features including a St George and the Dragon moulding over the fireplace with the tail forming a frieze around the room and magnificent bronze door to the chapel and a particularly fine font and altar table.[Information from Guide at Welbeck Abbey]
Death
Sedding died on 7 April 1891, at Winsford in Somerset. There is a memorial on the north wall of the Lady Chapel of Holy Trinity Sloane Street. He was buried in the churchyard of St John's Church, West Wickham. His wife, Rose, died a few weeks after him.
Selected publications
* ''Garden-craft Old and New'' (1891; repr. 1903)
* ''Art and Handicraft'' (1893)
Notes, references and sources
;Notes and references
;Sources
*
Further reading
*Architectural Association (1892) ''A Memorial of the Late J. D. Sedding''; with a short sketch of his life by H. Wilson
* P. Skipwith (2002) ''Holy Trinity Sloane Street''
External links
Holy Trinity Church, Chelsea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sedding, John Dando
19th-century English architects
1838 births
1891 deaths
Arts and Crafts movement artists
Architects from Berkshire
Masters of the Art Worker's Guild