Thomas Charles Sorby

Thomas Charles Sorby and Harriet Ann Rayner (1808–1841), who was baptised at Sandal Magna, Wakefield. Sorby was born in Chevet in 1836,

Sorby married Elizabeth née Sorby (1829–1907) on 11 October 1857, in Islington, and they had eight children, born in London. In 1864, the family was living at 15 Bedford Row, London. By the 1870s the family was living at 27 Brunswick Square, London. Sorby emigrated to Canada in 1883.

Career Training Sorby studied architecture in London. He spent time in France,

United Kingdom In December 1866, Sorby was appointed, by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, to the Surveyorships of Police Buildings in the Metropolitan District and in the County Courts of England and Wales, following the death of his mentor Charles Reeves, who had held tenure. While holding that surveyorship "for less than two years", By 1871 he was architect to the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury. Sorby was "by some accounts a difficult character,

Canada Between 1883 and 1887, Sorby was working in Montreal, and Vancouver where "his work [was] well regarded and extensive". which was completed by 1865. It has a doorway with a fanlight and carved keystone in its archway, and a carved stone relief of the Royal Arms over a window.

Grove Road Cemetery Chapels, Harrogate, 1863

Grove Road Cemetery, Harrogate, once had two chapels with spires, designed by Sorby, at a cost of £5,000 . There were 40 entries for the design competition for this job, and Sorby achieved first prize. John Peele Clapham laid the foundation stone for the non-denominational chapel on 23 May 1863. The right hand chapel (as seen in the picture) was nonconformist, and the land in front of it was not consecrated. The left hand chapel was ecclesiastical (Anglican) and was consecrated along with the land in front of it. Having processed from the National School to the cemetery with interested parties including eleven clergymen and various Burial Board members, the Bishop of Ripon consecrated the episcopalian half of the cemetery and the Anglican chapel on 23 April 1864. Although the chapels formed an "attractive feature in the landscape", they were both demolished in 1958 to create more burial space, but the lodge – also designed by Sorby – remains.

Town Hall, Bromley, 1863

Sorby designed Bromley's Town Hall, completed in 1863. It was paid for by Cole-Childs, the local lord of the manor and Deptford coal merchant, who also manufactured the bricks. Bromley's Market Square was redesigned to accommodate it, and the building included at different times a police station, a cell, a fire station, a free library, and a room for the town corporation's meetings. However it was never used as a town hall because Bromley was run by the Vestry, which did not use the building. It was eventually rented by an estate agent, the local paper said it was "monstrous", and it was demolished in 1933, being replaced in 1906 by a new town hall designed by R. Frank Atkinson.

Sorby later designed a villa in Bromley for J. T. Davies, in 1872.

Congregational Church, Ringwood, Hampshire, 1861–1863 According to The Builder in 1863, Sorby originally designed this church, in 1863. However Historic England attributes the design to Thomas Hellyer, in 1866.

Pair of semi-detached villas, Peterborough, 1865 Sorby designed this pair of villas in 1865, and a description, drawing and plan were published in the Building News.

Wyggeston's Hospital and entrance lodge, Leicester, 1864–1868

Sorby won a competition for the design of this building in 1864, and it was completed in 1868. It was demolished and replaced with William House in 1966 or 1967. As of 2014 it had become a retirement home.

Former Court House, Bolton, 1866–1869

This is a listed building in Mawdsley Street, Bolton, Greater Manchester. It was designed by Sorby in 1866, possibly in collaboration with Reeves, who was surveyor of county courts at that time. The exterior is of rusticated ashlar, and it has a slate roof. There are two storeys. The frontage has entrances below, with "paired panelled and studded doors", and a row of ten round-headed and balustraded windows above. "All openings have initials VR, superimposed on foliate key-stones". There are Corinthian capitals, and a "Modillion eaves cornice". The back of the building is of brick, with windows for the court room. That business closed in 2017, and the building was reopened in 2018 as a restaurant called The Courthouse.

St Michael and All Angels Church, Neepsend, Sheffield, 1867

St Michael and All Angels, Neepsend, was consecrated in November 1867.

The nave is divided from the aisles by an arcade of three large arches, and the transept arches, supported upon short, massive piers.The chancel is by and, like the nave, is spanned by a bold, open-timber roof. The east and west windows are large and bold, and filled in with geometric tracery. The transept windows correspond, but are smaller. The principal porch is on the north side, and is an impressive feature. A tower and spire were originally contemplated, but were abandoned – at any rate, for the present. The materials are Burbage, Greenside and Matlock stone, and covered with Taylor's patent tiles ... The architect was Mr. Thomas Charles Sorby of London, and the contractor is Mr. James White, of Sheffield. It was demolished in 1955.

Former Police Station, Walthamstow, 1867 In 1867, Sorby was calling for tenders for the Metropolitan Police Station, Walthamstow,

Former Police Station, Poplar, 1867–1868 In 1867, Sorby was calling for tenders for the Metropolitan Police Station, Poplar, London.

Former Lambeth Magistrates Court, London, 1868–1869

The former Lambeth Magistrates' Court, was designed by Sorby in 1868, and completed in 1869. Around 1930, the building was extended with an extra storey on the north side. The building was closed for court business, and by 2007 it held the Jam Yang Buddhist Centre.

Former County Court House and High Court, Leeds, 1868–1869

The front elevation of the 1868 building on Albion Place, designed by Sorby,

In 1868 the build by Sorby was described as an "enlargement" due to "great increase of business", not a new build. This extension started in July 1868. The existing county court room was not altered. On the ground floor, a large public office, a private office and a strong room were added, with a basement containing lavatories, a kitchen, and cellaring. On the first floor Sorby added "a counsel and attorney's retiring room, clerk's office, and two smaller offices ... [also] a store room for papers and records, three bedrooms, and store room for office keeper, and two smaller offices". A portico with a balcony was added to the existing main entrance, and the new doorway at the west corner gave "access to a spacious staircase". To the front elevation, circular-headed and pedimented windows, and the cornice, were added at the same time.

This building has had "major additions and alterations".

Former County Court House, Brighton, 1868–1869

This is a listed building, in Church Street, Brighton, close to Brighton Pavilion. It was designed in 1868 by Sorby, It was designed with a public office, a bailiff's office, a registrar's office, a judge's room with an "open timber roof", retiring and consulting rooms, and cellars. On the first floor were "additional offices and apartments for the residence of the office-keeper". The red bricks were tile-covered, the stone dressings were of Bath stone, and the visible interior woodwork was of Stettin oak. Note the fake brick arches in Sorby's drawing (pictured), giving the impression of a more ancient building. The building was opened for court business on 1 July 1869.

Once built, The two-storey building received favourable reviews. It was in Gothic Revival style in red brick with stone dressings, but had "almost the uniformity of a classic building". The front windows were "mullioned and traced", and it had two grand entrances, for judge and public. The judge's entrance had a solid oak door and Gothic stone arch, carved with acorns and oak leaves, with Queen Victoria's monogram, V.R. The public entrance had the royal arms carved above it, carved by one Mr Bayly of Brighton. Inside were two courts and many other rooms. The judge's court was well-lit and ventilated, was heated by hot air and water pipes, and had "an open Gothic roof of stained wood, the timbers resting on carved stone corbels". The judge had a canopied seat, carved with olive and oak leaves. The building also had a strong room for valuable documents. In the judge's and registrar's rooms were serpentine chimney pieces, carved with the V.R. monogram. The building still exists, but by 1992 the lower floor was occupied by a library, and the top floor was vacant. built to a budget of £4,500 , by Sorby. The extended building was reopened on 13 April 1869. The extension was in classical style, including Ionic and Doric orders. Its court room was "fitted up ... to enhance ... comfort" and had five "handsome", mahogany-framed windows, and a "large sunlight". There was also a public hall, rooms for judges, counsels and jury, a vestibule, a waiting room for women, a housekeeper's room, lavatories, and "other offices". As of 2011 it had been converted into a pub.

Former County Court House, Gravesend, 1869–1870

This is a Grade II listed building. The former County Court House, King Street, Gravesend, Kent, was designed by Corby in 1869, as surveyor to the Crown for County Courts. It is a stone building, built to include Dennett's fire-proof system. As of 2022 it was temporarily inhabited by a community centre called The Gr@nd. English Heritage describes it as follows: which had been overtaken by railway development. Sorby, who also designed Kennington and Rochester Row police stations,

The building is five storeys high, and has accommodation for 96 constables, two inspectors, one superintendent and one district superintendent. There are eight cells, and they have been fitted up with all the latest improvements. Each of the floors are on an average high, and are well lighted and ventilated. The station is built with picked stock bricks, and the front windows and doorways have Portland and Tisbury stone dressings. It has a commanding appearance and is one of the largest and best-arranged police-stations in the metropolis". and as of 2022 was set for development.

Former County Court House, Cheltenham, 1868–1870

This is a listed building on County Court Road (formerly Regent Street), Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, designed by Sorby in 1868 and completed in 1870. Historic England describes the materials of the building as follows: and completed in 1870 at a cost of £3,500 . It is a listed building.

"Whitehill" is built of "plum coloured Luton grey bricks with ashlar dressings", and has a "two-gabled front", "various other gables", and "much cornicing". It has several bay windows, and a "recessed porch above which [the] wall is carried up to form a parapet at eaves level". When listed in 1975, it still had its mullioned windows.

Former County Court House, Gainsborough, 1871

This is a grade II* listed building, and the subject of a conversion by Sorby. The Building News described the new works:

The architect has relieved this [Georgian style] by insterting two handsome stone dorrways with pediments and severe Grecian mouldings, the one in Beast-market front especially noticeable for the clever manner in which a transome head, with small columns, has been introduced to take off the appearance of excessive height in the doorway. The ground floor is conveniently planned, and contains a large entrance hall for the public, with an open timber roof, and paved with encaustic tiles ... and a large court-room with all conveniences. Females' waiting room, judges' room, jury room, separate W.C.'s for females, judges, clerks and the public, a large public office, bailiff's office, registrar's room, &c. The first floor is let to the registrars for private offices and contains three offices. The second floor contains kitchen, parlour, scullery and two bedrooms for the office-keeper, larder, coal house, &c.

This is a grade II listed building, designed by Sorby, who was invited to a celebratory supper at the Royal Hotel, Barnsley, after the opening. The courthouse originally fronted both Regent Street (no.22), and Eastgate, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and was a new build at the behest of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, under whose auspices Sorby was architect. It was opened for court business on 1 December 1871. It was originally budgeted at £4,000 , The Midland Railway Company had taken Barnsley's existing 1861 county court building by Charles Reeves as its station, for waiting rooms and a post office, and paid some of the cost of Sorby's new court house on a nearby site, "two hundred yards higher up Regent Street". An article by Sorby, published in the Building News, describes it thus:

The Barnsley Chronicle commented:

Between 2010 and 2018, many H.M. Courts and Tribunals buildings were sold. Barnsley County Court House was sold for £169,864 in 2012, and by 2018 it housed a solicitor's firm and offices.

Former County Court House, Durham, 1871 Sorby designed the Gothic Revival County Court building at the junction of Baths Bridge Road and Old Elvet, Durham. It was completed in 1871. "It [was] built with Waskerley Fell natural coursed blockers, with dressings of Rainton Park stone".

Former County Court House, Halifax, 1872–1873

This court house in Prescott Street, Halifax, West Yorkshire, was opened on 23 September 1873. It was designed in Grecian style with French details by Sorby as architect for the Lords of the Treasury, and built at a cost of £8,000 . In 2016 the court was closed, and operations moved to Bradford, to save running costs.

Wardown Park Museum, Luton, 1875–1877

This is a Grade II listed building. Sorby designed this building, which was begun in 1875, and completed in 1877, as a mansion in Old Bedford Road, Bramingham, Luton, at £10,000 for the solicitor and businessman Frank Chapman Scargill (1836–1919). It was initially known as "Bramingham Shott", and later named "Wardown". In 1876, Sorby published a request for tenders for a gardener's cottage at Bramingham, which may have been in connection with the Wardown Park job. A building tender, of £569 , was accepted on that occasion.

The building was requisitioned as a military hospital in World War I. It became Luton Museum and Art Gallery in 1931, then Wardown Park Museum.

Mansion, The New Grange, Pirton, 1880

This mansion, including entrance gates and lodge, was designed by Sorby and built at Pirton, Hertfordshire, for Mr Hanscombe, and completed in 1880. it was a new build with "extensive views", on a knoll overlooking Pirton Grange – an old moated building which had been the family's ancestral home. (Pirton Grange is listed, but The New Grange is not.). In 1879, while the building was still being erected, a "raising dinner" was arranged for the workmen. At that point, the Building News described the building as follows, revealing the extent of Sorby's involvement in detail, and the domestic style of moneyed clients of that era:

Selected works in Canada After emigrating to Canada in 1883, Sorby designed numerous buildings in Vancouver, Victoria, and elsewhere in Canada until 1910. The church was for a "small and scattered congregation". Its north transept contained a lower room for the heating boilers and for tea-making, and an upper area for the small pipe organ. At the base of the tower was a small vestry. At the north-east corner of the tower was a "smole", or chimney for the boiler smoke, disguised as a turret. The height of the spire to the top of the weather vane was .

Railway Station, Winnipeg, 1882–1883

This was "one of the first major station structures to be constructed by the CPR", designed in brick on Main Street, Winnipeg, by Sorby, in 1882. It was on the track to Kicking Horse Valley, British Columbia. It was burned down in 1886, but was rebuilt on the remaining walls. That restoration was later demolished, to be replaced with the Royal Alexandra Hotel in 1906.

Fraser Canyon House, 1887

Fraser Canyon House, known as Fraser Canon House, Canyon House or North Bend Hotel, in North Bend, British Columbia, was designed in Swiss chalet style by Sorby for the CPR, and opened in 1887. It no longer exists,

Hotel Vancouver, 1886–1887

This was the first of three incarnations of the Hotel Vancouver. It was sited on Georgia Street and Granville street, Vancouver. It was designed by Sorby for the CPR and opened in 1887,

Burrard Inlet rail terminal and offices, 1886–1888

Sorby designed Burrard Inlet's rail terminal, depot and offices between 1886 and 1888, for Harry Abbott of the CPR. This was the first set of rail terminal buildings in Vancouver. The office building was on Cordova Street, near Richards Street, Vancouver. However the traffic volume was too large for that small station, which was replaced in 1898 by a far larger building by the Maxwell brothers.

Street improvement plans and propositions Street improvements at Bristol, 1874 In September 1874, Sorby submitted a £102,000 plan to Bristol Town Council for a street improvement to resolve the "difficult ascent of Park Street", which had been wearing out horses and causing delays. Although his idea was never used, the following description by Building News of the plan indicates something of Sorby's ambition as an engineer, his attention to detail and his ability to spend money:

Competitions Competitions in the U.K. In London in April 1859, Sorby exhibited a design for a chapel at Hanley Cemetery, Staffordshire, described as "Gothic, with red brick". In the same exhibition was his entry of a design for "a new building in red brick" for Wakefield Church Institution (Church of England).

In 1863, Sorby's design for the Holborn Valley Improvements, London, was "premiated out of the 120 submitted". Ultimately, William Haywood, engineer and surveyor to the Commission of Sewers, cherry-picked elements from several of the shortlisted designs and took credit for the design of the works, now known as the Holborn Viaduct. In the same year, Sorby won first prize for his plan for laying out the Borrap Estate, Ripon. Again in 1863 he won first prize for his design for the Congregational Church, Ringwood.

In 1864, Sorby won a prize of £20 for his design of "a pair of semi-detached villas at Peterborough, capable of being erected for £800" . The villas were "carried into execution forthwith" by the builders Rudch and Thompson of Peterborough.

In 1865, Sorby won a competition, against nearly fifty other entries, to design a pair of semi-detached villas in Balham, Surrey. In 1866, Sorby won second prize for his design of a corn exchange in Doncaster, England. In 1867, Sorby won second prize for his design of a South Eastern Railway development, in Folkstone, for the South Eastern Railway Commissioners.

In 1871, Sorby won the first prize of 50 guineas , for a proposal to develop surplus land for the Metropolitan Railway company. This plan laid out the Praed Street Estate, London (on either side of, and behind, the present Paddington tube station of 1868) ...

In the same year of 1871, Sorby was one of the group of winners of a design competition for a number of housing estates for the Metropolitan Railway, London. The estates were: "Linden Grove Estate, Campden Hill Estate, Praed Street Estate, Edgeware Road Estate, Clerkenwell Estate, King's Cross Estate, Barbican Estate, and the Smithfield Estate". Sorby also developed Clerkenwell Housing Estate.

In 1873, Sorby contributed a design for the Leicester Municipal Buildings. Although he did not win, he received a compliment in the judges' description of him as "Mr T. C. Sorby, to whom the town owes its charming Wigginton Hospital".

Competitions in Canada

In 1885, Sorby won first prize for his design of the Trafalgar Institute for Women, Cote des Neiges Road, Montreal.

Inventions Improved skylight, 1871 This was an improved version of the skylight. It was called by Sorby a "sunlight", in whose invention he was partially involved. Sorby described it in the Building News as: "an improved sunlight, partially invented by [himself] ... similar to several to be seen in the London county and police courts ... and in all of the more recent county courts".

Exhibitions At the International Exhibition of 1871, Sorby displayed drawings alongside thirty other architects and artists, including Edward Middleton Barry, Alfred Waterhouse, Matthew Digby Wyatt, John Hungerford Pollen and Horace Jones.

Institutions Sorby was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) on 2 May 1870. While in England he used to attend the RIBA's conversaziones, contributing historical artworks from his collection, as was the custom at those meetings.

Publications

Archives Documents pertaining to Sorby are held by City of Victoria Archives. Those documents include "three scrapbooks of newspaper clippings and one architectural sketch ... of a proposed plan of the Parliament buildings of British Colombia".