Joseph John Scoles (1798–1863) was an English

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 ...

architect, who designed many Roman Catholic churches.

Early life and education

Scoles was born in London on 27 June 1798, the son of Roman Catholic parents Matthew Scoles, a joiner, and Elizabeth Sparling. He was educated at the Roman Catholic school at Baddesley Green and then, in 1812, apprenticed for seven years to his relative,

Joseph Ireland Joseph Ireland (c.1780–1841) was an English architect who designed Roman Catholic Church buildings in the early nineteenth century. He specialized in Romanesque revival architecture and worked with Joseph John Scoles. Life Ireland was born i ...

, an architect who was extensively employed by

John Milner John David Milner (December 28, 1949 – January 4, 2000) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman and left fielder from to for the New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates and the Montreal E ...

, then the Roman Catholic vicar-apostolic of the Midland District. Ireland built several Roman Catholic churches, one of the earliest of which was at Hinckley, in Nottinghamshire. He was probably advised on the Gothic detailing of these designs by John Carter.Eastlake 1872, p.130 Between 1816 and 1819 Scoles was resident at

Hassop Hall Hassop Hall is a 17th-century country house near Bakewell, Derbyshire, which was operated as a hotel until it closed on 29 September 2019. It is a Grade II* listed building. History The Manor was owned by the Foljambe family until the 14th cen ...

, Bakewell, and in Leicester, superintending works for Ireland.

Travel

In 1822 Scoles left England in the company of

Joseph Bonomi the Younger Joseph Bonomi the Younger (9 October 1796 – 3 March 1878) was an English sculptor, artist, Egyptologist and museum curator. Early life Bonomi was born in London (Gunnis says Rome) into a family of architects. His father, Joseph Bonomi the Eld ...

for further study. He carried out archaeological and architectural research in Rome, Greece, Egypt, and Syria, often in the company of

Henry Parke Henry Parke (1790–1835) was an English architect and draughtsman. Life He was a son of John Parke the oboist, was intended for the bar, and studied under a special pleader; but a speech impediment led him to abandon the law. He studied architect ...

and

Frederick Catherwood Frederick Catherwood (27 February 1799 – 27 September 1854) was an English artist, architect and explorer, best remembered for his meticulously detailed drawings of the ruins of the Maya civilization. He explored Mesoamerica in the mid 19th ...

. In 1829 he published an engraved map of

Nubia Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...

, showing the area between the first and second cataracts of the Nile, from a survey made in 1824 jointly by him and Parke, and a map of the city of Jerusalem; his plan of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, with his drawings of the Jewish tombs in the valley of

Jehoshaphat Jehoshaphat (; alternatively spelled Jehosaphat, Josaphat, or Yehoshafat; ; el, Ἰωσαφάτ, Iosafát; la, Josaphat), according to 1 Kings 22:41, was the son of Asa, and the fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah, in succession to his father ...

, was published by Robert Willis in 1849.

Early secular work

In 1826 he returned home and resumed architectural work. In 1828 he planned and carried out the building of Gloucester Terrace,

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

, for which John Nash supplied the general elevation. Gloucester Villa, at the entrance to the park, was built completely to his design. At around this time he constructed a suspension bridge over the

River Bure The River Bure is a river in the county of Norfolk, England, most of it in the Broads.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS Explorer Map OL40 - The Broads''. . The Bure rises near Melton Constable, upstream of Aylsham, which was the original head of ...

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

. It collapsed with fatal results in 1845, due to concealed defects in two suspending rods.

Anglican churches

Scoles designed three Anglican churches: St Mary's Chapel, Southtown, Yarmouth (1830), St Peter's Church, Great Yarmouth (a commissioner's church, 1831), and St George's Church, Edgbaston, for Lord Calthorpe. His only other work for the established church consisted of some small additions and restorations to

Burgh Castle Burgh Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the east bank of the River Waveney, some west of Great Yarmouth and within the Norfolk Broads National Park. The parish was part of Suffolk until 1 ...

and

Blundeston Blundeston is a village and civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is north-west of Lowestoft, south of Great Yarmouth and around inland from the North Sea coast. It is part of the area known as Lothingland in the Eas ...

churches in Suffolk.

Roman Catholic buildings

The Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, London W1 - West end - geograph

His works for the Roman Catholic church included Our Lady's Church, St John's Wood (1832), St Peter's Church in

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Catholic Church, Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Society of Jesus, Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst, Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. Th ...

, Lancashire (1832), St Ignatius, Preston, Lancashire (1835), St James the Less and St Helen Church, Colchester (1837), St Mary's, Newport, Monmouthshire (1840), St David's, Cardiff (1842), St John the Evangelist Church, Islington (1843), the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, London (1844), St Francis Xavier's, Liverpool (1844), Our Lady Immaculate, Chelmsford (1847), St Mary's Church in Great Yarmouth (1848–1850), the chapel of Ince Hall, Lancashire (1859), and the Holy Cross, St Helen's, Lancashire (1860). His design for the church of St John in Duncan Terrace,

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

– a neo-Romanesque brick building with stone facings – was censured by Pugin in an article on "Ecclesiastical Architectures" in the ''Dublin Review'' in 1843. In 1853 he designed a group of buildings for the London Oratory at Brompton, consisting of the Oratory House – a building in a simple Italianate style, incorporating a chapel, known as the Little Oratory, and a library – and a plain red brick temporary church, which survived until 1880. He also built a convent nearby in Sidney Street. The chapel of

Prior Park Prior Park is a Neo-Palladian house that was designed by John Wood, the Elder, and built in the 1730s and 1740s for Ralph Allen on a hill overlooking Bath, Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building. The house was bu ...

College, Bath, designed by Scoles, was erected after his death by his son. Unlike Scoles' other ecclesiastical work, this was Neoclassical in style, in sympathy with the mansion to which it was attached. It was built to a simple aisled

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

n plan with an

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

Royal Institute of British Architects

Scoles 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 suppl ...

in 1835, was honorary secretary from May 1846 to May 1856, and vice-president in 1857–1858. Most of his contributions to the society's ''Proceedings'' were about the monuments of Egypt and the Holy Land, studied during his early travels.

Family

He died on 29 December 1863 at his home, Crofton Lodge, Hammersmith. He was survived by four sons and eight daughters from his marriage to Harriet Cory of Great Yarmouth, whom he had married in 1831. The eldest was

Ignatius Scoles Ignatius Scoles SJ (1 December 1834 – 15 July 1896) was a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, architect and writer. He designed churches and civic buildings and was the son of Joseph John Scoles.Guyana Times International' accessed 26 March 2013 Earl ...

who followed his father as an architect, then joined the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

and designed

Georgetown City Hall Georgetown City Hall is a nineteenth-century Gothic Revival building located on the corner of Regent Street and Avenue of the Republic in Georgetown, Guyana. The building was designed by architect Reverend Ignatius Scoles in 1887, and was comple ...

and

St Wilfrid's Church, Preston Saint Wilfrid's is a Roman Catholic Church (building), church run by the Society of Jesus, in the city centre of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire, England. It was built in 1793 and is situated between Fishergate and Winckley Square on Chap ...

.Guyana Times International
accessed 26 March 2013 His third son was Alexander Joseph Cory Scoles who became a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priest and

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

and followed his brother and father in becoming an architect. He designed many lancet style

churches in the south of England.Slevin, Malachy ''St Francis Church Handsworth'' (Birmingham, 1994) pp.1–17

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scoles, Joseph John 19th-century English architects Gothic Revival architects 1798 births 1863 deaths English ecclesiastical architects People from Hammersmith English Roman Catholics Architects from London