John Shaw Jr. (1803–1870) was an English architect of the 19th century who was complimented as a designer in the "Manner of
Wren". He designed buildings in the classical
Jacobean fashion and designed some of London's first
semi-detached
A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single family duplex dwelling house that shares one common wall with the next house. The name distinguishes this style of house from detached houses, with no shared walls, and terraced hou ...
homes in the area close to
Chalk Farm
Chalk Farm is a small urban district of north London, lying immediately north of Camden Town, in the London Borough of Camden.
History
Manor of Rugmere
Chalk Farm was originally known as the Manor of Rugmere, an estate that was mentioned ...
. Shaw retired in the early 1860s and moved to
Kensington where he died in 1870. He is buried with the Shaw and Hardwick families at
Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederick ...
.
Family
John Shaw Jr. was born in
Holborn
Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London.
The area has its root ...
, London. His father,
John Shaw Sr. (1776–1832), was architect to the
Port of Ramsgate
The Port of Ramsgate (also known as Port Ramsgate, Ramsgate Harbour, and Royal Harbour, Ramsgate) is a harbour situated in Ramsgate, south-east England, serving cross-Channel freight traffic and smaller working and pleasure craft. It is owned an ...
and
Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553. ...
school in London. Father and son did extensive work at both places while Shaw Senior trained his son; John Shaw Junior designed the
lighthouse at
Ramsgate.
Shaw's sister married the architect
Philip Hardwick
Philip Hardwick (15 June 1792 in London – 28 December 1870) was an English architect, particularly associated with railway stations and warehouses in London and elsewhere. Hardwick is probably best known for London's demolished Euston Arch ...
; their son
Philip Charles Hardwick
Philip Charles Hardwick (London 1822–1892) was an English architect.
Life
Philip Charles Hardwick was born in Westminster in London, the son of the architect Philip Hardwick (1792–1870) and grandson of architect Thomas Hardwick (junior) ( ...
was also an architect. The two families lived close together in Holborn and
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
.
Career
Following his father's death in 1832, Shaw took on the surveyor role at Christ's Hospital, keeping an office there. He also took over work on the church of
St Dunstan-in-the-West on
Fleet Street in London. It was completed between 1833 and 1834. A building next-door to the church, at 187 Fleet Street, built for the Law Life Assurance Society in 1834
is a typical example of Shaw's Jacobean style. He was the designer of the
Royal Naval School
The Royal Naval School was an English school that was established in Camberwell, London, in 1833 and then formally constituted by the Royal Naval College Act 1840. It was a charitable institution, established as a boarding school for the sons of ...
at
New Cross
New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwic ...
(now part of
Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...
).
[Littlehampton Fort website article about Locke & Nesham]
accessed 7 February 2016
Shaw was appointed architect to
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, ...
, Berkshire where he contributed the Tudor Gothic buildings. In the same year as working for Eton (1825) Shaw developed the Chalcots estate, Chalk Farm, building semi-detached villas.
Shaw was looked upon favorably by
Prince Albert as an architect who could offer something different from the usual
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
Gothic revival architecture
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th cent ...
. The Prince helped secure work for Shaw, including the Royal Naval School in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
and
Wellington College Wellington College may refer to:
*Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England
** Wellington College International Shanghai
** Wellington College International Tianjin
* Wellington College, Wellington, Ne ...
in
Berkshire.
From 1844 to 1855 Shaw was one of the official referees of metropolitan buildings.
References
External links
John Shaw Jr BiographyWebsite in memory of John Shaw Jr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw Jr, John
1803 births
1870 deaths
19th-century English architects
People from Holborn
Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery
Architects from London