John Belcher (10 July 1841 – 8 November 1913) was an English architect, and president 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 ...

. He designed

Chartered Accountants Hall Chartered Accountants' Hall is a Grade II* listed building located at 1 Moorgate Place in the City of London. It is the headquarters of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW). The Hall is one of the richest exampl ...

(1890), one of the first neo-baroque buildings in London, and many of his later commissions are prime examples of lavish Edwardian municipal architecture. He was also known as a singer, cello player and conductor.

Early life

Belcher was born in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, London on 10 July 1841. His father (1816–1890) of the same name was an established architect. They lived at 60

Trinity Church Square Trinity Church Square, formerly known as Trinity Square, is a garden square in Newington, London, Newington in the London Borough of Southwark. Trinity Church, in the centre of the square, has been the classical music rehearsal and recording ven ...

from 1849 to 1852. They had previously lived nearby at 3 Montague Terrace (now 8 Brockham Street), where Belcher was born in 1841. The son was articled with his father, spending two years in France from 1862, where he studied contemporary architecture, apparently more concerned with that promoted by Baron Haussman and

Emperor Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephe ...

than historic buildings.

Career

In 1865, Belcher was made a partner with his father, who retired in 1875. He was chairman of the first meeting 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. His first work to be built was in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, the 1865

Royal Insurance Royal Insurance Holdings plc was a large insurance business originating in Liverpool but based in London from the early 20th century. It merged with Sun Alliance in 1996 to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group. History Formation and e ...

building in a

French Renaissance The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define th ...

style (razed 1913). Also in London, he designed the 1870

Mappin & Webb Mappin & Webb (M&W) is an international jewellery company headquartered in England. Mappin & Webb traces its origins to a silver workshop founded in Sheffield . It now has retail stores throughout the UK. Mappin & Webb has held Royal Warrant ...

building in

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style on the corner of Queen Victoria Street and Poultry (demolished in 1994 after a protracted controversy and public inquiry, and replaced with the

No 1 Poultry No 1 Poultry is a building in the City of London, allocated to office and commercial use. It occupies the apex where the eastern ends of Poultry and Queen Victoria Street meet at Mansion House Street, the western approach to Bank junction. T ...

building), and was joint architect, with his partner John James Joass, of

Whiteleys Whiteleys was a shopping centre in Bayswater, London. It was built in the retail space of the former William Whiteley Limited department store, which opened in 1911 as one of London's first department stores, and was one of the main department ...

department store. In 1890, he designed

for the Institute of Chartered Accountants, which was one of the first neo-baroque buildings in the City of London, where banks and commercial concerns had previously preferred a more sober classicism. It featured extensive sculptural work by Sir Hamo Thornycroft, Harry Bates and others, consisting of several

high-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

panels as well as stand-alone statues. In 1900, again with Joass, he designed

Electra House Electra House is a building at 84 Moorgate, London, England. It is notable as the wartime London base of Cable & Wireless Limited, and office of Department EH — one of the three British organisations that merged in World War II to form the Spe ...

, also in the City. Belcher's major commissions outside London include

Colchester Town Hall Colchester Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street in Colchester, Essex, England. The town hall, which is the headquarters of Colchester Borough Council, is a Grade I listed building. History The first building on the site, a mo ...

(1898–1902) and the

Ashton Memorial The Ashton Memorial is a folly in Williamson Park, Lancaster, Lancashire, England built between 1907 and 1909 by the millionaire industrialist Lord Ashton in memory of his second wife, Jessy, at a cost of £87,000 (equivalent to £ in ). Des ...

, designed and built 1906–1909 in Lancaster. Both of these are in the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

style, typical of the lavish creations of the

Edwardian era The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Vic ...

. Other works include: Southwark Church, Camberwell New Road, 1877 – now the Greek orthodox Cathedral; Cottage Hospital, Norwood, 1881; ''Redholm'', Champion Hill, Dulwich, 1885 (for himself); Yeldall Manor, Hare Hatch, Berkshire; Château Mauricien, Wimereux, France, 1897 (Belcher's only known building on the continent);

Birmingham Daily Post The ''Birmingham Post'' is a weekly printed newspaper based in Birmingham, England, with a circulation of 2,545 and distribution throughout the West Midlands. First published under the name the ''Birmingham Daily Post'' in 1857, it has had a ...

Building, Fleet St, London 1902; Guildown Grange, Guildford, Surrey, 1902;

Tapeley Park Tapeley is a historic estate in the parish of Westleigh in North Devon, England. The present mansion house known as Tapeley Park is a grade II* listed country house, built or enlarged from an existing structure in about 1704, remodeled in ...

, Devon, reconstruction 1902; Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire, extension, 1902–3; Royal London Friendly Society, Finsbury Square, London, 1904–5. From 1905, John James Joass took over more of the design in the practice and together they built

, St. James's Street & Piccadilly, London, 1907–9; Headquarters of the Royal Zoological Society, Regent's Park, London, 1910–11;

Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

, Kingsway, London 1910–12;

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chambers ...

, Henrietta Street, London, 1910–12; Tatmore Place, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, 1910; and Mappin Terraces, Zoological Gardens, London, 1913. Belcher served as president of the

from 1904 to 1906. In 1907 he won the

Royal Gold Medal The Royal Gold Medal for architecture is awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects on behalf of the British monarch, in recognition of an individual's or group's substantial contribution to international architecture. It is gi ...

. During his time as president he was asked to judge the competition for the design of

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th ...

's new public library, which had attracted 71 entrants: from a shortlist of ten he chose the design of Percy Robinson and W. Alban Jones. Belcher was also chief architect for the 1908 Franco-British exhibition at

White City White City may refer to: Places Australia * White City, Perth, an amusement park on the Perth foreshore * White City railway station, a former railway station * White City Stadium (Sydney), a tennis centre in Sydney * White City FC, a football c ...

, London. He was elected

Royal Academician The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purp ...

in 1909. Russia, Belgium, Germany, Spain and the United States elected him a member of their several architectural societies. In 1907, he published ''Essentials in Architecture: An Analysis of the Principles & Qualities to be Looked for in Architecture''. Architects associated with Belcher's practice include

Arthur Beresford Pite Arthur Beresford Pite (2 September 1861 – 27 November 1934) was a British architect known for creating Edwardian buildings in Baroque Revival, Byzantine Revival and Greek Revival styles. The early years Arthur Beresford Pite was born on 2 Se ...

and

Philip Mainwaring Johnston Philip Mainwaring Johnston (1865–1936), also known as PM Johnston, was a British architect and architectural historian. Education Philip attended King's College School, London. He studied drawing and painting under Professor Delamotte at K ...

Personal life

A deeply religious man, he was a prominent member of the

Catholic Apostolic Church The Catholic Apostolic Church (CAC), also known as the Irvingian Church, is a Christian denomination and Protestant sect which originated in Scotland around 1831 and later spread to Germany and the United States.bass singer A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', a bass is typically classified as having a vocal range extending from around the second E b ...

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...

player and conductor.

Death and legacy

Belcher died at Champion Hill, Dulwich on 8 November 1913 and is buried at

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of ...

. After his death, the practice was taken over by John James Joass, his partner since 1905.

Gallery of work

File:The Mappin and Webb building, London (as was) - geograph.org.uk - 1229496.jpg, The Mappin and Webb building, London (demolished in the early 1990s and replaced by

) File:Entrance to Chartered Accountants Hall in Moorgate Place (geograph 1823529).jpg, Entrance to Chartered Accountants' Hall File:Venice bridge in Accountants' Hall (6162647534).jpg, Library, Chartered Accountants' Hall File:Electra House.jpg,

, London File:Colchester Town Hall - geograph.org.uk - 188789.jpg, Town Hall, Colchester, Essex File:Council chamber, Colchester Town Hall (2).JPG, Council Chamber, Colchester Town Hall File:Ashton memorial Lancaster 103.jpg, Ashton Memorial, Lancaster, north front File:Royal Society of Medicine - geograph.org.uk - 361439.jpg, The Royal Society of Medicine File:Whiteleys 01.jpg, Former

department store, now mall,

Bayswater Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, an ...

, London File:Whiteleys, Mall, 03.jpg, Interior of former Whiteleys store File:Tapeley Park - geograph.org.uk - 877941.jpg,

, Devon File:Château Mauricien Wimereux.jpg, Château Mauricien, Wimereux, in 2018 just after restoration

Notes

References

* ''Edwardian Architecture: A Biographical Dictionary'', A. Stuart Gray, 2nd Edition, 1988. {{DEFAULTSORT:Belcher, John 1841 births 1913 deaths 19th-century English architects 20th-century English architects Architects from London Burials at West Norwood Cemetery People from Southwark Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal Presidents of the Royal Institute of British Architects Royal Academicians