Arthur Blomfield

Sir Arthur William Blomfield (6 March 182930 October 1899) was an English architect, a keen church builder. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 and vice-president of the RIBA in 1886. Blomfield became architect to the Bank of England, built the Law Courts branch in 1883, an associate of the Royal Academy in 1888 and he was knighted, and in 1891 he received the gold medal of the RIBA.

Background He was the fourth son of Charles James Blomfield, Anglican Bishop of London, who began a programme of new church construction in the capital. Born in Fulham Palace, Arthur Blomfield was educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied Architecture He was then articled as an architect to Philip Charles Hardwick, and subsequently obtained a large practice on his own account.

The young Thomas Hardy joined Blomfield's practice as assistant architect in April 1862, and the writer remained friends with Blomfield. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 (proposed by George Gilbert Scott, H. Brandon and J. P. Seddon); and vice-president of the RIBA in 1886. Two of his daughters, Mary Esther and Ellinor Blomfield, were supporters of the suffragette movement and famously made a representation to the King. Two of his sons, Charles James and Arthur Conran Blomfield, were brought up to his own profession, and of which they became distinguished representatives. and was buried on 3 November in Broadway, Worcestershire, where he lived at Springfield House.thumb

Major works Blomfield designed St Peter's in Eastgate in 1870 as a replacement for a medieval church. The church as it now stands is the combined work of three eminent architects: nave and chancel by Blomfield, south aisle by Temple Moore (1914) and the chancel decoration by George Frederick Bodley (1884).

In 1882 Blomfield designed the Royal College of Music in London. In 1887 he became architect to the Bank of England and, in association with Arthur Edmund Street, designed the Law Courts branch of the Bank of England in Fleet Street.

In 1890–7 he rebuilt the nave of St Saviour's parish church, Southwark (now Southwark Cathedral), replacing an earlier reconstruction of 1839–40. It is a notable example of his use of a Gothic Revival style. He was highly regarded as a restorer;

Other works (in chronological order)

St Leonard's Church, Linley, Shropshire, restoration, 1858 Christ Church, Crouch End 1862 Christ Church, East Sheen 1863 St Mary's parish church, Jackfield, Shropshire, 1863 All Saints' parish church, Windsor, Berkshire, 1862–64

St Mary's Church, Banbury, Oxfordshire: restoration 1864 Dartford Grammar School, Kent, 1864. St. Mary's parish church, Adwell, Oxfordshire, 1865 St Mark's parish church, Binfield, Berkshire, 1866 St Mary's parish church, Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, 1867–68 St John the Baptist parish church, Eton Wick, Buckinghamshire, 1867–69 All Saints' parish church, Upper Caldecote, Bedfordshire, 1868 St. Mary's Church, Strood, Kent, 1868 The Halsteads, East Sheen, London, 1868 Vicarage House for Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry, Oxfordshire, 1868 St Saviour's parish church, Eddington, Berkshire, 1868 St Mary Magdalen Church, Sheet, Hampshire, 1868–69 St John's Church, St. Moritz, 1868–75 St. Barnabas parish church, Jericho, Oxford, 1869 St Peter in Eastgate, Lincoln 1870 St Stephen's Church, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 1870 All Saints' parish church, Neenton, Shropshire, 1870–71 St Saviour's Church, Oxford Street, London 1870–73 St John the Baptist, Bathwick, Bath, 1871 Whitgift School, Croydon, 1871 St Mary-at-the-Walls, Colchester, 1872 St Nicholas' Church, Chawton 1872–73 St James' parish church, Ramsden, Oxfordshire, 1872 Church of St Mary and St Ethelbert, Luckington, Wiltshire, 1872 St. Andrew's parish church, Surbiton, Surrey 1872 St John the Baptist parish church, Crowthorne, Berkshire, 1873 Holy Innocents parish church, High Beach, Essex, 1873 Tyntesfield chapel, Wraxall, Somerset, 1873 Christ Church, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, 1873-75 St Peter's Church, Netherseal, Derbyshire 1874 St Michael and All Angels Church, Hughenden, Buckinghamshire, 1874–90 Grove Gardens Chapel, Richmond, Surrey, c.1875 St John the Baptist's Church, Eltham, Kent, 1875 Holy Trinity Church, Privett, 1876–78 Haileybury and Imperial Service College Chapel, 1877 St Andrew's Church, Collingbourne Ducis, Wiltshire: restoration, 1877 All Saints' parish church, Roffey, West Sussex, 1878 St. Mary Magdalene parish church, Woodstock, Oxfordshire: restoration, 1878 Trinity College, Cambridge Bishop's Hostel additions 1878 St Paul's Church, Clapham: East end extension, 1879

Denton Hall, Denton, Lincolnshire, rebuilt 1879–1883 (demolished 1938) All Saints Church, Fulham, 1880–81 St Nicholas' parish church, Heythrop, Oxfordshire, 1880 St John the Evangelist's Church, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex (1881; partly destroyed by bombing in 1943 and rebuilt by Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel) Lecture rooms, Durham University (now part of Palace Green Library), 1882 St Thomas' Church of England, Shepherd's Bush (now St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church), 1882

Selwyn College, Cambridge, 1882-89

Chester Cathedral restoration and additions, 1882 Charterhouse School, the Great Hall 1884 St Leodegar's Church, Hunston, Sussex, 1885 St. Wystan's Church, Repton restoration 1885–1886 Wellington College, Berkshire: chapel apse and dormitories, 1886 St. Alban's Anglican Church, Copenhagen, Denmark St Germanus' Church, Faulkbourne, Essex, 1886 St Andrew's Church, Leytonstone, Essex 1886–93. Royal Memorial Church of St George, Cannes, 1886–92 St Mary's Church, Walmer, Kent, 1887 Minster Church of St Denys, Warminster, Wiltshire: rebuilding 1887–89 Holy Trinity Church, Gosport, Hampshire, restoration and campanile, 1887-89 St David's Church Bangor, Gwynedd, 1888 St Mary's Church, Rostherne, Cheshire, 1888 St Mary's parish church, Rickmansworth, 1888–90 St Mark's parish church, Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, 1889 Bancroft's School, Woodford Green, Essex, 1889 St Stephen's Church, Brighton, additions 1889 Eton College, Berkshire: Lower Chapel and Queen's Schools, 1889–91 All Souls Church, Hastings, Sussex, 1890 All Saints' Blackheath, additions in 1890 (vestries) and 1899 (porch) St Cyprian's Church, Brockley, London, 1890 Magdalen College School, Oxford, 1893–94 West Sussex County Asylum, Chichester, West Sussex, 1894–97 The Catholic Church of Our Lady and St Edward the Confessor, Lyndhurst, Hants, 1894–96 Epsom College Chapel, Surrey 1895 St Werburgh's Church, Derby, new church added, 1895 St Mary's Church, Swansea, Glamorgan, 1896 St Michael's Church, Macclesfield, Cheshire, new nave and aisles, 1898–1901 All Saints Church, Leamington Spa, two western bays to the nave and a south western bell tower, 1898–1902 Wellington College, Berkshire, chapel aisles, 1899 Glenesk Mausoleum, East Finchley Cemetery, Barnet, 1899

As Sir A.W. Blomfield and Sons St John the Evangelist's Church, Preston Village, Brighton, Sussex, 1901 St George's Church, Ashtead, Surrey, 1905 St Saviour's Church, Raynes Park, Surrey, 1905 St Michael's parish church, Abbey Wood, Kent, 1907 Sea Marge Hotel in Overstrand, Norfolk, private residence for Sir Edgar Speyer, 1908 Church of Holy Trinity, Eltham, London, 1908 St Mellitus's Church, Hanwell 1909