Norman Adolphus Evill

FRIBA 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 ...

(1873 – 5 August 1958) was an English architect and draughtsman, apprenticed to Edwin Lutyens.

Life and works

Evill was born in the village of

Hewelsfield Hewelsfield is a village in Hewelsfield and Brockweir civil parish, in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire, England. The village is located 6 miles south of Coleford and 5 miles north-east of Chepstow, close to the Wye valley and ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, in 1873. His father, Walter, was also an architect, who undertook much work in the nearby town of

Chepstow Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the wester ...

. Evill was apprenticed to Edwin Lutyens as a draughtsman in 1899, later recording that he observed, and tried to learn, Lutyens' ability to see "in the round". Evill worked at Lutyens' office in

Bloomsbury Square Bloomsbury Square is a garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, London. Developed in the late 17th century, it was initially known as Southampton Square and was one of the earliest London squares. By the early 19th century, B ...

for three years. Establishing his own architectural and drawing practice in the early 20th century, Evill undertook a range of work, often restorations and re-buildings, rather than entirely new works. These include the re-building and extension of

Nymans Nymans is an English garden to the east of the village of Handcross, and in the civil parish of Slaugham in West Sussex, England. The garden was developed, starting in the late 19th century, by three generations of the Messel family, and was br ...

Manor in

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

, although Evill was replaced by

Walter Tapper Sir Walter John Tapper (21 April 1861 – 21 September 1935) was an English architect known for his work in the Gothic Revival style and a number of church buildings. He worked with some leading ecclesiastical architects of his day and was Presi ...

after a disagreement with the owner, Leonard Messel.

Clive Aslet Clive Aslet (born 15 February 1955) is a writer on British architecture and life, and a campaigner on countryside and other issues. He was for many years editor of '' Country Life'' magazine. He is Visiting Professor of Architecture at the Univers ...

, the architectural writer, describes the combined result as "a Victorian house transformed into a medieval romance". Evill also built a row of cottages on the Nymans estate. Other works in the South of England included a garden house, and internal refurbishment, at Bratton, Wiltshire, and classrooms and a chapel at Ashdown House School, East Sussex, where his cousin was headmaster. For the inhabitants of the Hampshire village of Silchester, he designed a

village hall A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as: United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...

which was redeveloped in the early 21st century. He undertook other work in Silchester, including large extensions to Silchester House, and two smaller houses, the Grange and High Timbers, now Romans Hotel. Bullen, Crook, Hubbuck and Pevsner, in their ''Hampshire: Winchester and the North'' volume of the ''

Buildings of England The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were publish ...

'' series, describe Romans as being "in his

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

Surrey style". In London, Evill restored Park House at Hampton Court Palace, and undertook the conversion of a coach house in the garden of his own home on

Church Row, Hampstead Church Row is a residential street in Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. Many of the properties are listed on the National Heritage List for England. The street runs from Frognal in the west to Heath Street in the east. St John-at-Hamps ...

. Renamed 24 Perrins Walk, the coach house later became the home of the comedian

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...

. Work in the West and Wales included the reconstruction of

Shirenewton Hall Shirenewton Hall, originally Shirenewton Court, is a country house and estate adjoining the village of Shirenewton, Monmouthshire, Wales, about west of Chepstow. The estate is located on a hillside, and commands views across the "Golden Valley ...

in Monmouthshire, and a house, Ivy Rock, at

Tidenham Tidenham () is a village and civil parish in the Forest of Dean of west Gloucestershire, England, adjoining the Welsh border. Tidenham is bounded by the River Wye (which forms the Welsh border) to the west and the River Severn to the south. Offa ...

, Gloucestershire. In the North, Nevill built Barn Close, Carlisle for the architect and industrialist Edwin Scott-Nicholson. Hyde and

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

, in their ''Cumbria'' volume of the ''Buildings of England'', note the Arts and Crafts design of the house, a style that Evill favoured. Evill died in 1958.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Evill, Norman 1873 births 1958 deaths Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects 20th-century English architects People from Forest of Dean District Arts and Crafts architects