Charles Fitzroy Doll
Encyclopedia
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...
(1850–1929), was an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
of the Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
and Edwardian eras who specialised in designing hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
s. He also designed the dining room on the RMS Titanic, which was based on his design for that in the Hotel Russell
Hotel Russell
The Hotel Russell is a four star hotel, located on Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London, owned and operated by the Principal Hayley Group.The Hotel Russell was built in 1898 by the architect, Charles Fitzroy Doll. It is distinctively clad in decorative thé-au-lait terracotta, and was based on the...
in Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
.
Doll was educated in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and on his return to Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
he trained as an architect under Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt
Matthew Digby Wyatt
Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt was a British architect and art historian who became Secretary of the Great Exhibition, Surveyor of the East India Company and the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Cambridge.-Life:...
. Under Wyatt he was involved in designing the India Office
India Office
The India Office was a British government department created in 1858 to oversee the colonial administration of India, i.e. the modern-day nations of Bangladesh, Burma, India, and Pakistan, as well as territories in South-east and Central Asia, the Middle East, and parts of the east coast of Africa...
in London, a project he worked on from 1866 to 1868. In 1885 Doll was appointed Surveyor to the Bedford Estate
Bedford Estate
The Bedford Estate is a historic central London estate owned by the Russell family who possess the peerage of Duke of Bedford. The estate was originally based in Covent Garden, then stretched to include Bloomsbury in 1669...
s in Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
and Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
in London. In 1898 he designed the Hotel Russell
Hotel Russell
The Hotel Russell is a four star hotel, located on Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London, owned and operated by the Principal Hayley Group.The Hotel Russell was built in 1898 by the architect, Charles Fitzroy Doll. It is distinctively clad in decorative thé-au-lait terracotta, and was based on the...
, which is distinctively clad in decorative thé-au-lait ("tea with milk") terracotta, and which was based on the Château de Madrid
Château de Madrid
The Château de Madrid was a Renaissance building in France. It was built in Neuilly, on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, near Paris, in the early 16th century, but fell into disuse in the 17th and 18th centuries and was almost completely demolished in the 1790s.The construction of the château was...
on the Bois de Boulogne
Bois de Boulogne
The Bois de Boulogne is a park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine...
in Paris. Doll engaged the sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
Henry Charles Fehr
Henry Charles Fehr
Henry Charles Fehr FRBS was a British monumental and architectural sculptor active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries....
to model the four life-size statues of British Queens, who look down from above the main front entrance. The hotel's restaurant, now named Fitzroy Doll's, is said to be almost identical to the RMS Titanic`s dining room which he also designed.
Later, Doll designed the Imperial Hotel in Russell Square
Russell Square
Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Museum. To the north is Woburn Place and to the south-east is Southampton Row...
(which was demolished in the late 1960s and rebuilt in a contemporary style), and which was described by Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
as a ‘vicious mixture of Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
and Art Nouveau Tudor’. In 1907 Doll designed the Flemish
Flemish Region
The Flemish Region is one of the three official regions of the Kingdom of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. Colloquially, it is usually simply referred to as Flanders, of which it is the institutional iteration within the context of the Belgian political system...
French-Gothic
French Gothic architecture
French Gothic architecture is a style of architecture prevalent in France from 1140 until about 1500.-Sequence of Gothic styles: France:The designations of styles in French Gothic architecture are as follows:* Early Gothic* High Gothic...
terrace of shops with apartments over them in Torrington Place.
Doll married Emily Francis Tyler, the daughter of William George Bygrave Tyler and Elizabeth Emily Mackinnon, on 26 August 1879. Their five children included Christian Charles Tyler Doll (1880–1955), who inherited his father's architectural practice and who was involved in the reconstruction of the grand staircase of the Palace of King Minos
Minos
In Greek mythology, Minos was a king of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every year he made King Aegeus pick seven men and seven women to go to Daedalus' creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten by The Minotaur. After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in Hades. The Minoan civilization of Crete...
at Knossos
Knossos
Knossos , also known as Labyrinth, or Knossos Palace, is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace appears as a maze of workrooms, living spaces, and store rooms close to a central square...
in Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
.
Charles Fitzroy Doll lived at Hadham Towers in Much Hadham
Much Hadham
Much Hadham is a village and civil parish in the district of East Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire, England, formerly known as Great Hadham. It is situated on the B1004 road, midway between Ware and Bishop's Stortford...
in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, where he was a Justice of the Peace. He died in 1929 aged 79.