Giles Gilbert Scott

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Red telephone booth, models K6 (left) and K2 (right)

Sir Giles Gilbert Scott , OM (born November 9, 1880 in Hampstead , † February 8, 1960 in London ) was a British architect . He is known for buildings such as Liverpool Cathedral , Battersea Power Station and the Cambridge University Library . In addition, as the winner of a design competition organized by the British postal authorities in 1924, he designed the famous red telephone booths (type K2) with a domed roof . He was known for being neo-Gothic combine with modern construction methods, turning functional buildings into popular landmarks.

family

Scott was born into a family of famous architects, the son of George Gilbert Scott Jr. , Grandson of George Gilbert Scott , nephew of John Oldrid Scott , and brother of Adrian Gilbert Scott . When he was three years old, his father was pronounced insane. Scott later stated that he had only seen his father twice. On the advice of his father, he was sent to Beaumont College . The choice was not made for educational reasons, but because his father admired the architecture of this Roman Catholic school.

Architecture studies

Scott's mother believed that her sons should keep the family tradition alive and become architects. He was taught by the architect Temple Luddington Moore for three years from 1899 . Moore, a former student of Scott's father, preferred to work at home while leaving the office to Scott. This enabled him to develop his own architectural style based on the work of his father. He considered his buildings to be far more successful than those of his grandfather (an opinion that is not shared by most architecture critics).

Liverpool Cathedral

Liverpool Cathedral

Giles Gilbert Scott is probably best known for his work on Liverpool Cathedral . In 1902, when an architectural competition was announced for "A Twentieth Century Anglican Cathedral," Scott began working on the blueprints in his spare time at home in Battersea . His surprise was great when he was selected as one of five architects for the second round (his employer's draft had failed). The surprise was even bigger when he won the competition in 1903.

Scott was only 22 years old, relatively inexperienced (he had only designed a few private houses before) and a Roman Catholic. For this reason, the Dean and the Cathedral Chapter of the Diocese of Liverpool decided that Scott should work with George Frederick Bodley . The two did not get along well, however, as Bodley was too busy with his own projects. Scott was about to return the job when Bodley died unexpectedly in 1907. This allowed Scott to go on working alone, and he promptly changed plans for the Lady Chapel.

In 1910, Scott realized he was no longer happy with the main design, which looked like a traditional 19th century Gothic cathedral. He urged the Cathedral Commission to revise the plans extensively (at this point some walls had already been erected). Scott simplified the design, which made the building more symmetrical; instead of two smaller towers, a single, large tower was built.

Scott was involved with the cathedral his entire life, revising the blueprints from time to time. He designed every single part of the cathedral down to the smallest detail. After the completion of the choir and the first transept, the cathedral was consecrated in 1924. Work on the tower was finished in 1942, but the first part of the main nave could not be handed over until 1961. The cathedral was not completed until 1980.

Other early work

While Scott worked more poorly than right with Bodley in Liverpool, he was able to complete his first church in 1906, the Roman Catholic Church of the Annunciation in Bournemouth . With other churches, including in Sheringham, Ramsay, Northfleet and Liverpool, he soon became known in architectural circles as a representative of a simple Gothic style. Scott married Louise Wallbank Hughes, who worked in reception at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool; his mother was not thrilled when she learned that her future daughter-in-law was Protestant. During the First World War Scott was a major in the Royal Marines and was responsible for building fortifications on the English Channel .

Interwar period

Battersea Power Station
Tower of the University Library in Cambridge

As Liverpool Cathedral advanced, Scott's fame increased. He increasingly secured orders for secular buildings. He rarely designed private houses. If they did, they were considered very successful, such as his own house in the London borough of Paddington (1924).

On July 19, 1924, he was raised to personal nobility as a Knight Bachelor .

Scott's most ubiquitous design was created for the UK postal service. He was one of three architects who were invited by a commission to design new telephone booths . The invitation came at a time when Scott was becoming a board member of the Soane Museum in London. He won the competition with a classic design with a domed roof, which is based on that of Sir John Soane's mausoleum . The commission had specified building costs of 40 pounds . This requirement could not be met with 50 pounds. The telephone booths made entirely of iron went into series production as model K2, but could not be set up everywhere because of their size: 90 cm × 90 cm footprint and a height of 2.40 m. Therefore only 1500 pieces were procured for London . In 1929, the postal authorities asked Scott to design a new telephone booth from the smaller and cheaper model K1 and the elegant model K2. The result was the K3, 12,000 of which were installed over the next six years. For the anniversary of King George V's throne in 1936, Scott modified the K2 and created the K6, called the Jubilee Kiosk . By the late 1930s, 20,000 K6s had been placed in almost every location in the UK.

Striking buildings

The London Electricity Company had commissioned a new power station and in 1930 hired Giles Gilbert Scott as a consultant to improve the appearance of the inevitably massive building. He covered the walls with bricks and carried out further detailed work. He designed the chimneys so that they resembled classic columns. The Battersea Power Station was inaugurated in 1933, but since 1982 is empty and is still one of the most iconic buildings in London. In Cambridge he designed the Cambridge University library . He built a six-story building around two inner courtyards, which is surmounted by a twelve-story building.

Professional recognition

Scott's work was most widely recognized in the early 1930s, and he was elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1933 . In his inaugural address, he criticized both the “extreme traditionalists” and the “extreme modernists” and advocated a middle ground in which modern building methods should be harmonized with traditional building styles.

Scott's search for that middle ground met resistance when he was selected as the architect for the new Coventry Cathedral in 1942 . While the bishop wanted a modern design, the Royal Fine Arts Commission insisted on rebuilding the old cathedral. Scott couldn't please either side and designed a building that was "neither fish nor bird". In 1947 he returned the order, and as a result, Basil Spence built a cathedral in an uncompromisingly modern style.

After the hall of the House of Commons in the Palace of Westminster was destroyed by German air raids, Scott was commissioned to rebuild in 1944. The existing building did not leave many options open to him, but he shared the opinion that the new hall had to fit seamlessly into the design of Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin . Winston Churchill said: "We shape our buildings, and these shape us". On January 25, 1945, the House of Commons approved Scott's plan by 121 votes to 21.

Late work

The first years after the Second World War were still fully marked by reconstruction. Scott built a new roof for the Guildhall in the City of London and modernist brick office buildings for the Corporation of London . Although he was actually against the construction of industrial buildings in the inner cities, he accepted the contract to build the Bankside Power Station in Southwark on the south bank of the Thames . This building was converted into the Tate Modern in the late 1990s .

Scott was working on the design for the Roman Catholic Church of Christ the King in Plymouth when he contracted lung cancer . He took the plans to University College Hospital , where he continued to work on them until his death.

Buildings

Web links

Commons : Giles Gilbert Scott  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "The Little Story" ... the English telephone booth . Arte. April 25, 2008. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 22, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arte.tv
  2. ↑ Knights and Dames: RAE-SEK at Leigh Rayment's Peerage
  3. ^ The different telephone kiosks: the changing face of public call boxes . BT British Telecom. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
  4. ^ The different telephone kiosks: the changing face of public call boxes . BT British Telecom. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
personal data
SURNAME Scott, Giles Gilbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British architect
DATE OF BIRTH November 9, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Hampstead
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 1960
Place of death London