Happy 200th Birthday, GGS

[Gareth Hughes]

Google says it's George Gilbert Scott (Senior)'s 200th birthday today. Without him, there'd be no St Pancras Station Hotel, no Albert Memorial and (without his rather heavy handed church restorations, which provoked William Morris' ire) no Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.
I would drink to that, but the tide seems to have gone out.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

In true PPUK style, does anyone have any embarrassing photos of him? Sadly I'm not his Facebook friend.

I guess Penners might have some photos - I understand they were at school together; albeit Penners was a form below.

8)

 

[JoceAndChris]

I would drink to that, but the tide seems to have gone out.

Well, I'm going to drink to it today! Happy Birthday GGS.

I find it really puzzling still - this critique of the heavy handed church restoration. I understand he was responsible for ripping out 16th 17th and 18th C alterations to the building in order to create a nice medieval interior. And that William Morris got very cross about that. But I've yet to read any specific detail of what was destroyed, what condition it was in, and whether what he revealed was more interesting? At least he had a nice clear vision.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Interestingly I can't find many before and after views of the most controversial restorations (Tewkesbury being the one that really set Morris off). A lot depends on whether you think:

1. That old buildings which have altered over time should show some evidence of those changes, and
2. That where a lot of the original building has been completely replaced over time, it's acceptable to remove all the later changes and then invent new "original" stuff to fill the gaps.

With the caveats that every case is different, and that many churches and cathedrals in the mid 19th century were near-derelict, here are before and after views of Reading Abbey gateway, restored by Scott.



I would suggest that the problems with this one are that:
Before it was a bit of a mish mash but I would argue that this showed the surviving mediaeval parts more clearly, and that
The new work is pretty routine, dull, and rather mechanically executed.

The real problem though (see the thread about the current BBC2 programme), is perhaps that the word "restoration" gets used to describe this sort of work.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

In true PPUK style, does anyone have any embarrassing photos of him? Sadly I'm not his Facebook friend.

I guess Penners might have some photos - I understand they were at school together; albeit Penners was a form below.

8)

Not especially embarrassing, but in an uncharacteristically uncluttered interior:

 

[robgil]

H e looks grumpy.

 

[LadyArowana]

H e looks grumpy.

How happy would you be if you had been dressed up in that outfit and forced to sit in chair for ages while the photographer got the plates etc organised?

 

[robgil]

If all my hair fell over the side of my head like his has then yes , I suspect I may be a tad grumpy.

 

[Nigel Watts]

GGS was so prolific that I wonder how far anyone can be from the nearest building he put up or restored?

I live about 400m away from his St Clement Barnsbury:

This was a fairly simple but well detailed church in the Early English style, without a tower. Now converted to flats and missing most of one aisle, but the exterior is still largely intact.

My great grandfather, a vicar, officiated in a GGS church:

His father, also a vicar, had GGS restore his church and build him a school, some almshouses and a vicarage:

 

[philpjuk100]

GGS was so prolific that I wonder how far anyone can be from the nearest building he put up or restored?]

Kelham hall,about two mins on foot,now newark and sherwood council offices!

 

[Gareth Hughes]

According to English Heretics (who I suspect may have conflated George Gilbert ("great") Scott with his son George Gilbert ("mad") Scott):

Top 10 architects for Listed Buildings in England

607 - Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811–1878)
413 - George Edmund Street (1824–1881)
402 - Edwin Landseer (1802-1873)
308 - William Butterfield (1814-1900)
266 - Richard Norman Shaw (1831-1912)
258 - Alfred Waterhouse (1830-1905)
251 - John Carr (1723-1807)
238 - Arthur William Blomfield (1829-1899)
217 - Giles Gilbert Scott (1880– 1960)
217 - George Devey (1820–1886)

Edit: and given the hash EH have made of their new National Heritage Database I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of the figures were completely wrong too - certainly a search for Edwin Landseer (the painter and sculptor) only turns up 5 entries, which suggests Edwin Landseer Lutyens (the architect) has been mixed into the 402 entries.

 

[Penners]

given the hash EH have made of their new National Heritage Database I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of the figures were completely wrong too - certainly a search for Edwin Landseer (the painter and sculptor) only turns up 5 entries, which suggests Edwin Landseer Lutyens (the architect) has been mixed into the 402 entries.

Oh, give me strength... :roll:

Scott's chef d'oeuvre, St Pancras Station Hotel, is possibly my favourite building. So in my book he's right up there with P G Wodehouse and Ian Scott Anderson.

So I'll definitely drink to his birthday. No tidal problems here.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

In true PPUK style, does anyone have any embarrassing photos of him? Sadly I'm not his Facebook friend.

I guess Penners might have some photos - I understand they were at school together; albeit Penners was a form below.

8)

Not especially embarrassing, but in an uncharacteristically uncluttered interior:

Thanks for the picture of Penners - do you have one of GGS?

 

[Penners]

Don't be silly, FW. I'm nowhere near as youthful as the chap in that photo.

Think Slartibartfast without his teeth in.

 

[Feltwell]

Think Slartibartfast without his teeth in.

That's hard enough to say with your teeth in.

 

[philpjuk100]

Original drawings of Kelham hall are being made available to the public to mark 200 years since the birth of the architect,Sir George Gilbert Scott.
To make an appointment to see the drawings,contact the resource centre on Brunel Drive,Newark,on 01636 655777
(from the newark advertiser 14 july)

 

[Penners]

Yes, I even had to wipe down my screen after I'd typed it.