John Francis Bentley by William Christian Symons

John Francis Bentley (30 January 1839 – 2 March 1902) was an English ecclesiastical

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

whose most famous work is the

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City o ...

in London, England, built in a style heavily influenced by Byzantine architecture.

Life

Bentley was born in

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

. In 1839, he was associated with the firm of Holland & Hannan. He was an apt modeller and had tried his hand with success at stone carving. He studied under Henry Clutton before branching out on his own in 1868.Williamson, George. "John Francis Bentley." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 5 June 2019 His first important commission was from Cardinal Manning, for the seminary at Hammersmith. Examples of his work include Holy Rood Church, Watford, St John's Beaumont School, Corpus Christi Church, Brixton,

St Mary's, Cadogan Street St Mary's, Cadogan Street is a Grade II* listed Roman Catholic church in Cadogan Street, Chelsea, London. It was built between 1877 and 1879 by John Francis Bentley, most notable for his work as architect of Westminster Cathedral, and is one ...

, Chelsea (1879), the high altar at

St Gabriel's, Warwick Square St Gabriel's, Pimlico, is a Church of England, Anglo-Catholic parish church in Pimlico, London. It lies within the Deanery of Westminster (St Margaret) within the Diocese of London. Designed by Thomas Cundy (junior), it was constructed betwee ...

, and St Luke's Church, Chiddingstone Causeway (1897), and the Sacred Heart Chapel at the Jesuit

Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street The Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, also known as Farm Street Church, is a Roman Catholic parish church run by the Society of Jesus in Mayfair, central London. Its main entrance is in Farm Street, though it can also be accessed ...

. Though much of his work was in the

neo-Gothic 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 ...

style, he was selected to create a Byzantine Revival design for Westminster Cathedral. The great opportunity of Bentley's career came in 1894, when he was commissioned to design a new Roman Catholic cathedral in Westminster, London. After deciding on a Byzantine Revival design, Bentley travelled to Italy to study some of the great early Byzantine-influenced cathedrals, such as St Mark's Basilica in Venice. Because of illness and an outbreak of cholera in Istanbul, he was unable to complete his tour with a study of the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

. Bentley ended his tour in Venice and returned to London to begin work on Westminster Cathedral. George Williamson describes him as a person of brusque, reserved manner, but kind and friendly to those who knew him. He had the strongest dislike to the preparation of show drawings and to the system of architectural competition and, being a man wholly lacking in self-assertion, and reticent in conversation, was never as well known in general circles as he deserved to be. His great characteristics as an architect were his careful attention to detail, his solicitude that all the fittings should be in perfect harmony with the building. In 1874 he married Margaret Annie Fleuss; they had 4 sons and 7 daughters. Their house in Clapham has a blue plaque. Bentley was awarded the gold medal of the Institute of Architects in February, 1902, but never received it, as on 1 March he was seized with paralysis and died the following morning in

Clapham Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Early history ...

. He is buried at St Mary Magdalen Church, Mortlake.

Architectural work

File:Westminster.cathedral.interior.london.arp.jpg, Westminster Cathedral, interior looking east File:Westminster Cathedral 4227r.jpg, Westminster Cathedral, Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament File:Westminster Cathedral IMG 4616.JPG, Westminster Cathedral, The Baptistry File:Westminster Cathedral interior.jpg, Westminster Cathedral, The Lady Chapel File:Westminster Cathedral IMG 4502-Westminster Cathedral IMG 4505.jpg, Westminster Cathedral, The Sanctuary File:Westminster Cathedral IMG 4607.JPG, Westminster Cathedral, The Shrine of the Sacred Heart and St Michael File:St_Mary's,_Cadogan_Street_exterior.jpg,

File:Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Brixton Hill - geograph.org.uk - 472908.jpg, Corpus Christi Church, Brixton File:Church of the Immaculate Conception, The Sacred Heart Chapel.jpg, Church of the Immaculate Conception, The Sacred Heart Chapel File:Holy Rood Church by Nigel Cox Geograph 1883108.jpg, Holy Rood Church, Watford File:St Gabriel's Church, Warwick Square, London SW1 - Sanctuary - geograph.org.uk - 990884.jpg, St Gabriel's Church, Warwick Square, Sanctuary File:St John's Beaumont School, Old Windsor.jpg, St John's Beaumont School File:Franciscan_Convent_Chapel,_Broad_Road,_Bocking,_Braintree_-_geograph.org.uk_-_60646.jpg, Chapel Of The Immaculate Conception, Franciscan Convent File:Our Lady Of The Assumption Church Interior - London, UK.jpg, The interior of Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Soho Also St Francis of Assisi London W11

Notes

References

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External links

*
Winefride de L'Hôpital, ''Westminster cathedral and its architect'' Volume 1 (1919)
(This volume is written by Bentley's daughter and is about the design and construction of the Cathedral)
Winefride de L'Hôpital ''Westminster cathedral and its architect'' (1919) Volume 2
(This is Volume 2 of the biography written by Bentley's daughter and deals with his early life and works other than Westminster Cathedral) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, John Francis 1839 births 1902 deaths 19th-century English architects People from Doncaster English ecclesiastical architects English Roman Catholics Burials at St Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church Mortlake Architects from Yorkshire