William Frame was an English architect.

Life and works

Frame was born at

Melksham Melksham () is a town on the River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about northeast of Trowbridge and south of Chippenham. At the 2011 census, the Melksham built-up area had a population of 19,357, making it Wiltshire's fifth-largest settlement aft ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

in 1848. Training as an architect, he was articled firstly to William Smith of

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England, on the River Biss in the west of the county. It is near the border with Somerset and lies southeast of Bath, 31 miles (49 km) southwest of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) southeas ...

, he then became assistant to

John Prichard John Prichard (6 May 1817 – 13 October 1886) was a Welsh architect in the neo-Gothic style. As diocesan architect of Llandaff, he was involved in the building or restoration of many churches in south Wales. Personal history John Prichard wa ...

of Llandaff. In 1868, he entered the office of

William Burges William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century industrialisation and the Neoc ...

and worked with Burges at Cardiff Castle and

Castell Coch (; ) is a 19th-century Gothic Revival castle built above the village of in South Wales. The first castle on the site was built by the Normans after 1081 to protect the newly conquered town of Cardiff and control the route along the Taff G ...

. Following Burges's death in 1881, Frame remained in the service of John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute and continued Burges's work at both castles, as well as designing the Grade I listed

Pierhead Building The Pierhead Building ( cy, Adeilad y Pierhead) is a Grade I listed building in Cardiff Bay, Wales. One of Cardiff's most familiar landmarks, it was built in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company. The Pierhead Building is part of th ...

in the docks built by Bute's father. Frame also worked on Bute's Scottish home, Mount Stuart House, on the

Isle of Bute The Isle of Bute ( sco, Buit; gd, Eilean Bhòid or '), known as Bute (), is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault. Formerly a constituent is ...

, and his home in

Falkland, Fife Falkland ( gd, Fàclann), previously in the Lands of Kilgour ( 1200), is a village, parish and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland, at the foot of the Lomond Hills. According to the 2008 population estimate, it has a population of 1,180. Etymo ...

, the House of Falkland. He undertook the building of the

Animal Wall The Animal Wall ( cy, Wal yr Anifeiliaid) is a sculptured wall depicting 15 animals in the Castle Quarter of the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. It stands to the west of the entrance to Cardiff Castle, having been moved from its original position ...

, in the grounds of Cardiff Castle, for which Burges had got no further than drawing the designs. Burges's favourite sculptor, Thomas Nicholls, executed the carvings. During these years he won the Royal Academy's gold medal and the Soane Medallion. Later in his life, Frame also produced a small number of very well regarded

grandfather clock A grandfather clock (also a longcase clock, tall-case clock, grandfather's clock, or floor clock) is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the tower or waist of the case. Clocks of this style are common ...

s in the village of Larkhall, Scotland. Frame's latter years were marred by alcoholism. His drinking had been problematic for some time; in 1890, Bute noted in his diary, "Frame … drunk again … had to dismiss him". He died in April 1906 and was buried on the 21st of that month in Cathays Cemetery in Cardiff. File:The Pierhead Building, Cardiff Bay - geograph.org.uk - 852953.jpg,

, Cardiff Bay, Frame's masterpiece File:Animal Wall (16927638357).jpg, Animal Wall File:Castell Coch (4548).jpg, Castell Coch File:Former Catholic church of St Edward, Sanday (geograph 5550755).jpg, St Edward's Church, Sanday

Footnotes

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frame, William 1848 births 1906 deaths 19th-century English architects People from Melksham Architects from Wiltshire