William Douglas Caröe (1 September 1857 – 25 February 1938) was a British

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 ...

, particularly of churches.

Early life

Caröe was born on 1 September 1857 in Holmsdale,

Blundellsands Blundellsands is an area of Crosby in the ceremonial county of Merseyside, England and in the historic county of Lancashire. The area was created as a suburb for wealthy businessmen from Liverpool by the Blundell family of Crosby Hall in the m ...

, near Liverpool, the youngest son of the Danish Consul in Liverpool, Anders Kruuse Caröe (d. 1897) and Jane Kirkpatrick Green (d. 1877). He was educated at

Ruabon Grammar School Ruabon Grammar School was situated in Ruabon, Denbighshire in north-east Wales. It provided a grammar school education to boys in the parishes of Ruabon and Erbistock. Ruabon Grammar School for Boys became a Denbighshire County secondary school ...

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...

, Wales, before entering

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

in 1875. He was a senior

optime At the University of Cambridge in England, a "Wrangler" is a student who gains first-class honours in the Mathematical Tripos competition. The highest-scoring student is the Senior Wrangler, the second highest is the Second Wrangler, and so on. ...

in the mathematical tripos of 1879 and graduated with a BA in the same year. He was articled to

John Loughborough Pearson John Loughborough Pearson (5 July 1817 – 11 December 1897) was a British Gothic Revival architect renowned for his work on churches and cathedrals. Pearson revived and practised largely the art of vaulting, and acquired in it a proficie ...

and would later write the article on Pearson in the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'' (11th ed., 1911).

Career

Caröe was a major figure in the

Arts and Crafts Movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

and described as a "master of spatial painting". The firm he founded, Caroe & Partners, still specialises in

ecclesiastical architecture Church architecture refers to the architecture of Christian buildings, such as Church (building), churches, chapels, convents, and seminaries. It has evolved over the two thousand years of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly ...

, especially the restoration of historic churches. Caröe was architect to numerous ecclesiastical buildings including

St Davids St Davids or St David's (, , "David's house”) is a cathedral city in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It lies on the River Alun and is part of the community of St Davids and the Cathedral Close. It is the resting place of Saint David, Wales's ...

and

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

cathedrals, and

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town grew following the construction of Tewkesbury Abbey in the twelfth century and played a significant role in the Wars of the Roses. It stands at ...

and

Romsey Romsey ( ) is a town in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. The town is situated northwest of Southampton, southwest of Winchester and southeast of Salisbury. It sits on the outskirts of the New Forest, just over northeast of ...

abbeys. His restoration of the interior of St Lawrence's church at Stratford-sub-Castle in Wiltshire has been described as "careful". Although he primarily made his name in church architecture, he was also the architect for the 1905–1909 Main Building of University College Cardiff (now

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

), which was inspired by his ''alma mater'' Trinity College, Cambridge. Caröe designed additions to his country house, ''Vann'' in

Hambledon, Surrey Hambledon is a rural scattered village and civil parish in the Waverley borough of Surrey, situated south of Guildford. It is dominated by a buffer zone of fields and woodland, mostly south of the Greensand Ridge escarpment between Witley and ...

; the house was featured in the TV series ''

The Curious House Guest ''The Curious House Guest'' is a British television documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two in 2005. It is written and presented by Jeremy Musson, an architectural historian and journalist with '' Country Life''. In each episode he visits a ...

'' in 2006. No. 1

Millbank Millbank is an area of central London in the City of Westminster. Millbank is located by the River Thames, east of Pimlico and south of Westminster. Millbank is known as the location of major government offices, Burberry headquarters, the Mill ...

, London, was built for the

Church Commissioners The Church Commissioners is a body which administers the property assets of the Church of England. It was established in 1948 and combined the assets of Queen Anne's Bounty, a fund dating from 1704 for the relief of poor clergy, and of the Eccle ...

in 1903. In later life, Caröe lived in Cyprus in the winter months. He designed his residence in

Kyrenia Kyrenia is a city on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. It is under the '' de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. While there is evidence showing that the wider region of Kyrenia has been populated before, ...

North Cyprus Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a '' de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all o ...

: called Villa Latomia, it was built in 1933. He also designed the colonial-style Catsellis Dome Hotel on the Kyrenia seafront.

Personal life

He married Grace Desborough (d.1947), with whom he had two sons and a daughter. The couple's elder son was (Sir) Olaf Kirkpatric Kruuse Caröe (1892–1981), who became an Indian administrator; then came a daughter, Christian Desborough Caröe (1894–1973); and finally a second son, Alban Douglas Rendall Caröe (1904–1991), who followed his father's footsteps in architecture. Caröe died in Cyprus on 25 February 1938.

Gallery

References

Bibliography

*Jennifer M. Freeman (1991) ''W. D. Caroe: His Architectural Achievement''

External links

Caroe & Partners
*Entry in th
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caröe, W. D. 1857 births 1938 deaths People educated at Ruabon Grammar School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Members of the Cambrian Archaeological Association British ecclesiastical architects People from Crosby, Merseyside English people of Danish descent Architects from Lancashire