Henry Roberts (architect)

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Henry Roberts (born April 16, 1803 in Philadelphia , USA ; † March 9, 1876 in Florence ) was a British architect , known for his development of model houses for industrial workers in the emerging industrialization in England.

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Henry Roberts was born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania in 1803 to an Anglo-American merchant. Shortly after his birth, his family returned to the UK . In 1818 Roberts began a seven-year apprenticeship with Charles Fowler . He then attended the Royal Academy and worked for Robert Smirke . He also took part in various competitions.

In 1828 he went on a trip to Italy. He was particularly impressed by the Ospedale L'Albergo Reale dei Poveri , a poor house in Naples , which was run as a philanthropic project by Charles III. 1751 was commissioned. In 1830 he returned to London and opened his own office. In 1832 he won the Fishmongers Hall competition . At this time he also built a number of country houses for the English aristocracy and took on George Gilbert Scott as an apprentice, who would later describe Roberts as an independent, polite, religious, precise and calm man. In 1844 Roberts was appointed architect of the Brighton, Croydon, Dover and Greenwich Railway .

Roberts had been working on the design of residential buildings and settlements for industrial workers since 1825. In the emerging industrialization , housing for industrial workers was an urgent problem, among other things, the poor sanitary conditions in the slums led to recurring disease epidemics. At that time a number of philanthropic societies were formed in England that wanted to address this problem. From 1844 Roberts was in close contact with the Society for Improving the Condition of the Laboring Classes . For this organization and later also for the Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes , Roberts designed a number of innovative workers' housing estates , such as the model housing estate on Streatham Street in Bloomsbury . For the World Exhibition of 1851, commissioned by Prince Albert, he designed a prototype of a two-story workers' house with four apartments, which are arranged in pairs around a common staircase. This type of model had a great influence on the further planning of workers' houses for the rest of the century.

In addition to his architectural work, Roberts also published numerous writings on the reform movement that were translated into various languages.

Roberts spent the last years of his life in Italy. He died in Florence in 1876 .

Publications

  • The Dwellings of the Laboring Classes , 1850.
  • The Improvement of the Dwellings of the Laboring Classes through the Operation of Government Measures , 1859.
  • The Essentials of a Healthy Dwelling and the Extension of its Benefits to the Laboring Population , 1862.
  • The Physical Condition of the Laboring Classes, Resulting from the State of their Dwellings , 1866.
  • Efforts on the Continent for Improving the Dwellings of the Laboring Classes , 1874.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Dora Ware: A Short Dictionary of British Architects , 1967, London
  2. ↑ a b Kenneth Frampton: Die Architektur der Moderne , Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3421030757
personal data
SURNAME Roberts, Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British architect
DATE OF BIRTH April 16, 1803
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 1876
Place of death Florence