Rowland Plumbe, also known as Roland Plumbe (2 February 1838,

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

– 2 April 1919,

Willesden Willesden () is an area of northwest London, situated 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933, and has forme ...

), was an English

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 ...

, famous for being the author of many residential schemes across

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 ...

, many being considered the first examples of the Victorian Garden City.

Biography

Plumbe was born on 2 February 1838 in

. After leaving

university college In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

he was articled to Nockalls Johnson Cottingham and Frederick Peek, then spent 2 years in America with

Frederick Clarke Withers Frederick Clarke Withers (4 February 1828 – 7 January 1901) was an English architect in America, especially renowned for his Gothic Revival ecclesiastical designs. For portions of his professional career, he partnered with fellow immigrant Cal ...

, returning to London in 1860 to start his own practice. Over a long career he designed a wide variety of buildings including churches, hospitals and housing, from the modest to the grand. His churches include the red-brick

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...

Gothic Revival St John the Baptist's Church at

Loxwood Loxwood is a small village and civil parish with several outlying settlements, in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, within the Low Weald. The Wey and Arun Canal passes to the East and South of the village. This Civil Parish is at t ...

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 ...

and red brick Grade II listed St Margaret,

Streatham Hill Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surre ...

. Hospitals designed by Plumbe include thirty years of work on the

London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and sp ...

, new wings at Poplar Hospital between 1891 and 1902 and

Napsbury Hospital Napsbury Hospital was a mental health facility near London Colney in Hertfordshire. It had two sister institutions, Harperbury Hospital and Shenley Hospital, within a few miles of its location. History The hospital was designed by Rowland Plumb ...

London Colney London Colney () is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. It is located to the north of London, close to Junction 22 of the M25 motorway. It is near St Albans and part of the St Albans District. At the time of the 2001 census ...

completed in 1905. He also designed the entertainment hall (completed 1879) at the Normansfield home for people with a learning disability in

Teddington Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long me ...

, built at the instigation of

John Langdon Down John Langdon Haydon Down (18 November 1828 – 7 October 1896) was a British physician best known for his description of the genetic condition now known as Down syndrome, which he originally classified in 1862. He is also noted for his work in ...

.Earl, John (1997). Borough of Twickenham Local History Society Occasional Paper No.6: ''Dr Langdon Down's Normansfield Theatre''. London: Borough of Twickenham Local History Society, p. 17. The Artizans, Labourers & General Dwellings Company (Artizans Company) was established to build low rise, high-quality houses for the working classes in open countryside, alongside existing railway lines, to allow workers to live in rural surroundings and commute into the city.Welch, p. 7 In 1881 they appointed Plumbe to design their

Noel Park Noel Park in north London is a planned community built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries consisting of 2,200 model dwellings, designed by Rowland Plumbe. It was developed as the Noel Park Estate on a tract of land on the edge of north ...

estate with 2,200 houses in five classes. At the other end of the residential scale, Plumbe redesigned Woodlands Park House, now Woodlands Park Hotel, in Cobham for industrialist William Bryant. In contrast, Fieldgate Mansions in Whitechapel, completed in 1907 were tenement blocks in a very urban setting. Other examples of his London work include warehousing in Ray Street and offices in

Old Street Old Street is a street in inner north-east Central London that runs west to east from Goswell Road in Clerkenwell, in the London Borough of Islington, via St Luke's and Old Street Roundabout, to the crossroads where it meets Shoreditch High ...

. He also designed the entertainment hall (completed 1879) at the Normansfield home for people with a learning disability in

, built at the instigation of

. His students include

Charles Worley Charles H Worley (1853–1906) was a British architect. Early life Allinson puts forward that Charles Worley was the son of the architect Robert James Worley (1850–1930), of the architectural practice Worley & Saunders, who was "involved ...

, who was articled to him in 1870. Family Grave of Rowland Plumbe in Highgate Cemetery

He died on 2 April 1919 and is buried in a family grave on the eastern side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

Gallery

St John the Baptist's Church, Loxwood (Geograph Image 1821825 2be8c4ef).jpg, St John the Baptist's Church,

Noel_Park_original_designs.jpg, Early designs for houses in

Hornsey Hornsey is a district of north London, England in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood and Alexandra Park to the ...

, London Noel Park plans.jpg, Floor plans for the five classes of house built in Noel Park Walton Buildings (6847618710).jpg, Montclare Street, Bethnal Green, completed in 1894 London Colney, Napsbury Park - geograph.org.uk - 475383.jpg,

, completed in 1905

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Plumbe, Rowland 1838 births 1919 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery 19th-century English architects Artists' Rifles officers Architects from London People from Whitechapel