John Henry Chamberlain
Encyclopedia
John Henry Chamberlain (June 21, 1831 – October 22, 1883), generally known professionally as J H Chamberlain, was a nineteenth century English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 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...

.

Working predominantly in the Victorian Gothic style, he was one of the earliest and foremost practical exponents of the ideas of architectural theorist John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...

, who selected Chamberlain as one of the trustees of his Guild of St George
Guild of St George
The Guild of St George is charitable trust founded by John Ruskin in England in the 1870s as a vehicle to implement his ideas about how society should be re-organised. Its members, who are called Companions, were originally required to give a tithe of their income to the Guild...

. Chamberlain's later work was increasingly influenced by the early Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...

.

The majority of Chamberlain's buildings were located in and around Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, where he was a major figure in civic life and an influential friend of many of the liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 elite who dominated the city under Mayor Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain was an influential British politician and statesman. Unlike most major politicians of the time, he was a self-made businessman and had not attended Oxford or Cambridge University....

 (to whom he was unrelated).

Life

Chamberlain was born in Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

 on June 21, 1831, son of a Baptist minister, and received his architectural training with a local practice. After further experience in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and a period travelling in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 he moved to Birmingham in 1853. He designed two buildings for John Eld, the business partner of his uncle. The first of these to be completed, Eld's house at 12 Ampton Road, Edgbaston
Edgbaston
Edgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a formal district, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Edgbaston ward and the wards of Bartley Green, Harborne and Quinton....

 (1855) survives to this day and already shows many of the features that would characterise much of Chamberlain's later work: a gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 structure in polychromatic brick with finely crafted decoration inspired by natural and organic forms. The shop in Union Street for Eld & Chamberlain has been demolished.

Although Chamberlain continued to build in both Leicester and Birmingham (where he built the Edgbaston Waterworks
Edgbaston Waterworks
Edgbaston Waterworks lies to the east of Edgbaston Reservoir, two miles west of the centre of Birmingham, England....

 whose tower would inspire the young J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

) his career failed to take off and in 1864 he considered moving to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 after being offered a commission to design Christchurch Cathedral
Christ Church (cathedral), New Zealand
The Anglican cathedral of ChristChurch in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, was built in the second half of the 19th century. It is located in the centre of the city, surrounded by Cathedral Square...

.

Instead he went into partnership with William Martin
Martin & Chamberlain
John Henry Chamberlain, William Martin, and Frederick Martin were architects in Victorian Birmingham, England. Their names are attributed singly or pairs to many red brick and terracotta buildings, particularly 41 of the forty-odd Birmingham board schools made necessary by the Elementary Education...

 who was already established as the city's public works architect, with Chamberlain taking the lead in design matters and Martin seeing to the more practical side of running an architectural practice.

Chamberlain's belief in the value of individual craftsmanship and patterns inspired by nature (characteristic of the arts and crafts movement
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...

) together with his sense of urbanism
Urbanism
Broadly, urbanism is a focus on cities and urban areas, their geography, economies, politics, social characteristics, as well as the effects on, and caused by, the built environment.-Philosophy:...

 and the civilising potential of cities (that was much less typical of a movement which generally abhorred the industrial revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

 and viewed large cities as dehumanising) chimed perfectly with the progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...

 non-conformist ideology of Birmingham's ruling liberals, who sought to transform industrial Birmingham into a cultural centre to rival the great European capitals.

Together with Martin's contacts and business acumen this saw the partnership win a string of commissions to design civic structures throughout Birmingham, including libraries, hospitals, public utilities, major projects such as the cutting of Corporation Street
Corporation Street, Birmingham
Corporation Street is a main shopping street in Birmingham city centre, England.It runs from the law courts at its northern end to the centre of New Street at its southern.- Planning :...

 and culminating in 1871 with a commission to design no fewer than 41 board schools
Birmingham board schools
__notoc__The Birmingham board schools were set up very rapidly after the Forster Elementary Education Act 1870 was enacted, covering England and Wales...

 in response to the Elementary Education Act 1870
Elementary Education Act 1870
The Elementary Education Act 1870, commonly known as Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between ages 5 and 12 in England and Wales...

. Martin and Chamberlain
Martin & Chamberlain
John Henry Chamberlain, William Martin, and Frederick Martin were architects in Victorian Birmingham, England. Their names are attributed singly or pairs to many red brick and terracotta buildings, particularly 41 of the forty-odd Birmingham board schools made necessary by the Elementary Education...

's civic structures saw the introduction of exceptionally high standards of design and craftsmanship into even the most deprived areas of Birmingham and represented one of the most significant consistent sets of public buildings since Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...

's City of London churches two centuries earlier.

Chamberlain also became the unofficial domestic architect to Birmingham's powerful civic leaders, designing a string of prestigious houses in upmarket districts of South Birmingham including Highbury Hall
Highbury, Birmingham
Highbury, also known as Highbury Hall, now a Grade II* listed building, was commissioned as his Birmingham residence by Joseph Chamberlain in 1878, two years after he became Member of Parliament for Birmingham. It received its name from the Highbury area of London, where Chamberlain lived as a child...

 - the home of Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain was an influential British politician and statesman. Unlike most major politicians of the time, he was a self-made businessman and had not attended Oxford or Cambridge University....

 himself and now the official residence of Birmingham's Lord Mayor.

Chamberlain died suddenly in 1883 shortly after completing the designs for what is generally considered his finest building - the Birmingham School of Art
Birmingham School of Art
The Birmingham School of Art was a municipal art school based in the centre of Birmingham, England. Although the organisation was absorbed by Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971 and is now part of Birmingham City University's Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, its Grade I listed building on...

, which was completed after his death by William Martin and his son Frederick Martin.

He is buried in Key Hill Cemetery
Key Hill Cemetery
Key Hill Cemetery, , originally called Birmingham General Cemetery, a Nonconformist cemetery, is the oldest cemetery in Birmingham, England. It opened on 23 May 1836. Located in Hockley, the city's Jewellery Quarter, it is one of two cemeteries there...

 in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter
Jewellery Quarter
The Jewellery Quarter is an area of Birmingham City Centre, England, situated in the south of the Hockley area. It is covered by the Ladywood district. There is a population of around 3,000 people in a area....

.

Significant works

  • 12 Ampton Road (Shenstone House), Edgbaston
    Edgbaston
    Edgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a formal district, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Edgbaston ward and the wards of Bartley Green, Harborne and Quinton....

     - Chamberlain's first house; 'the first High Victorian house in the town'
  • Birmingham Central Library
    Birmingham Central Library
    Birmingham Central Library is the main public library in Birmingham, England, and the largest non-national library in Europe. It is managed by Birmingham City Council...

     (1882) - Demolished in 1974.
  • Chamberlain Memorial, Birmingham (1882)
  • 136–138 Edmund Street, Birmingham (1875).
  • The Grove, Harborne
    Harborne
    Harborne is an area three miles southwest from Birmingham city centre, England. It is a Birmingham City Council ward in the formal district and in the parliamentary constituency of Birmingham Edgbaston.- Geography :...

    , Birmingham (Demolished, one room preserved as "The Harborne Room" at the Victoria and Albert Museum
    Victoria and Albert Museum
    The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...

    . London
    London
    London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

    )
  • Highbury Hall, Moseley, Birmingham.
  • Oozells Street Board School
    Birmingham board schools
    __notoc__The Birmingham board schools were set up very rapidly after the Forster Elementary Education Act 1870 was enacted, covering England and Wales...

     (now the Ikon Gallery
    Ikon Gallery
    The Ikon Gallery is an English gallery of contemporary art, located in Brindleyplace, Birmingham. It is housed in the Grade II listed, neo-gothic former Oozells Street Board School, designed by John Henry Chamberlain in 1877. The gallery's current director is Jonathan Watkins.Ikon was set up to...

    ), Brindleyplace, Birmingham City Centre.
  • Shakespeare Memorial Room in Birmingham Central Library
    Birmingham Central Library
    Birmingham Central Library is the main public library in Birmingham, England, and the largest non-national library in Europe. It is managed by Birmingham City Council...

     (1882). Dismantled in 1974 and reassembled in the current Central Library in 1983. It will move to the top of the new Library of Birmingham
    Library of Birmingham
    The Library of Birmingham is a new library under construction in the city centre of Birmingham, England. It is situated on the west side of the city centre at Centenary Square beside the Birmingham Rep and Baskerville House. It replaces the old Birmingham Central Library and will provide pedestrian...

     in 2013.
  • Birmingham School of Art
    Birmingham School of Art
    The Birmingham School of Art was a municipal art school based in the centre of Birmingham, England. Although the organisation was absorbed by Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971 and is now part of Birmingham City University's Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, its Grade I listed building on...

    , Margaret Street, Birmingham. (1881) Designed by Chamberlain but completed by William Martin
    Martin & Chamberlain
    John Henry Chamberlain, William Martin, and Frederick Martin were architects in Victorian Birmingham, England. Their names are attributed singly or pairs to many red brick and terracotta buildings, particularly 41 of the forty-odd Birmingham board schools made necessary by the Elementary Education...

     on Chamberlain's death.

Sources

  • Pevsner Architectural Guides - Birmingham, Andy Foster, 2005, ISBN 0-300-10731-5
  • Birmingham's Victorian and Edwardian Architects, Holyoak, Joe, 2009, Phillada Ballard. ed. Oblong. ISBN 978-0-9556576-2-7. http://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/news/new-book-celebrates-birminghams-victorian-and-edwardian-architects/.
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