Philip Webb
Encyclopedia
Another Philip Webb — Philip Edward Webb was the architect son of leading architect Sir Aston Webb
. Along with his brother, Maurice, he assisted his father towards the end of his career.
Philip Speakman Webb (12 January 1831 – 17 April 1915) was an English
architect
— sometimes called the 'Father of Arts and Crafts
Architecture'.
Born in Oxford
, Webb studied at Aynho
in Northamptonshire
and was then articled to firms of builder-architects in Wolverhampton
and Reading
, Berkshire
. He then moved to London
where he eventually became a junior assistant for G. E. Street. While there he met William Morris
in 1856 and then started his own practice in 1858.
He is particularly noted as the designer of Red House
at Bexleyheath
, southeast London
in 1859 for William Morris, and — towards the end of his career — the house Standen
(near East Grinstead
in West Sussex
). These were among several works in his favoured niche: country houses.
William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones
and Dante Gabriel Rossetti
were three of his fellow partners in the interior decorating and furnishing business, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., later to become Morris & Co.
Webb and Morris formed an important part of the Arts and Crafts movement
, and founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings
in 1877. Webb also joined Morris's revolutionary Socialist League
, becoming its treasurer.
George Howard
of Naworth Castle
near Brampton
in Cumbria
was an able artist and friend of the Pre-Raphaelites, and a keen patron of Philip Webb. Webb had built two houses for his Naworth Castle Estate: Four Gables and Green Lane House, as well as his London house at 1, Palace Green. Much financial help was offered towards building a new church in Brampton by Charles Howard MP (George Howard's father) on condition that he chose the architect.
Webb's plan for St Martin's Church
is quite unlike most other Victorian churches, with the body of the church being almost square. It is the only church designed by Webb, and contains an exquisite set of stained glass windows designed by Burne-Jones, and executed in the William Morris studio.
His friendship with the family of Sir Thomas Hugh Bell, leading ironfounder of Middlesbrough, led to three commissions - of Rounton Grange (demolished in 1953), Red Barns House and the Dorman Long
office building (originally Bell Brothers Ltd) in Middlesbrough (his only commercial development).
In 1901 Philip Webb retired to the country and ceased practising. He continued to be an influence on the "school of rational builders" surrounding William Lethaby
, and Ernest Gimson
and his community of architect-craftsmen based at Sapperton in Gloucestershire
.
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Aston Webb
Sir Aston Webb, RA, FRIBA was an English architect, active in the late 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century...
. Along with his brother, Maurice, he assisted his father towards the end of his career.
Philip Speakman Webb (12 January 1831 – 17 April 1915) was an 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...
— sometimes called the 'Father of Arts and Crafts
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...
Architecture'.
Born in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, Webb studied at Aynho
Aynho
Aynho is a village and civil parish in South Northamptonshire, England, on the edge of the Cherwell valley about southeast of the north Oxfordshire town of Banbury and southwest of Brackley...
in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
and was then articled to firms of builder-architects in Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
and Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
. He then moved to 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...
where he eventually became a junior assistant for G. E. Street. While there he met William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
in 1856 and then started his own practice in 1858.
He is particularly noted as the designer of Red House
Red House (London)
Red House in Bexleyheath in southeast London, England, is a major building of the history of the Arts and Crafts style and of 19th century British architecture. It was designed during 1859 by its owner, William Morris, and the architect Philip Webb, with wall paintings and stained glass by Edward...
at Bexleyheath
Bexleyheath
Bexleyheath is a main suburban district of Southeast London, England, in the London Borough of Bexley with a small percentage of the district itself being in the London Borough of Greenwich. Bexleyheath is located on the border of Inner London and Outer London. It is east south-east of Charing Cross...
, southeast 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...
in 1859 for William Morris, and — towards the end of his career — the house Standen
Standen
Standen is an Arts and Crafts house located near East Grinstead, West Sussex, England. The house and its surrounding gardens belong to the National Trust and are open to the public.-The house:...
(near East Grinstead
East Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. It lies south of London, north northeast of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester...
in West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
). These were among several works in his favoured niche: country houses.
William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company...
and Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
were three of his fellow partners in the interior decorating and furnishing business, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., later to become Morris & Co.
Webb and Morris formed an important part 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...
, and founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings
Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings
The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings was founded by William Morris, Philip Webb and J.J.Stevenson, and other notable members of the Pre Raphaelite brotherhood, in 1877, to oppose what they saw as the insensitive renovation of ancient buildings then occurring in Victorian...
in 1877. Webb also joined Morris's revolutionary Socialist League
Socialist League (UK, 1885)
The Socialist League was an early revolutionary socialist organisation in the United Kingdom. The organisation began as a dissident offshoot of the Social Democratic Federation of Henry Hyndman at the end of 1884. Never an ideologically harmonious group, by the 1890s the group had turned from...
, becoming its treasurer.
George Howard
George Howard
George Howard may refer to:*George Howard , governor of Maryland, 1831–1833*George Howard , American smooth jazz saxophonist, known for his R&B sound...
of Naworth Castle
Naworth Castle
Naworth Castle, also known as, or recorded in historical documents as "Naward", is a castle in Cumbria, England near the town of Brampton. It is adjacent to the A69 about two miles east of Brampton. It is on the opposite side of the River Irthing to, and just within sight of, Lanercost Priory...
near Brampton
Brampton, Carlisle, Cumbria
Brampton is a small market town and civil parish within the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England about 9 miles east of Carlisle and 2 miles south of Hadrian's Wall. It is situated off the A69 road which bypasses it...
in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
was an able artist and friend of the Pre-Raphaelites, and a keen patron of Philip Webb. Webb had built two houses for his Naworth Castle Estate: Four Gables and Green Lane House, as well as his London house at 1, Palace Green. Much financial help was offered towards building a new church in Brampton by Charles Howard MP (George Howard's father) on condition that he chose the architect.
Webb's plan for St Martin's Church
St Martin's Church, Brampton
St Martin's Church, Brampton, is in Front Street, Brampton, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Brampton, the archdeaconry of Carlisle and the diocese of Carlisle. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building and is the only...
is quite unlike most other Victorian churches, with the body of the church being almost square. It is the only church designed by Webb, and contains an exquisite set of stained glass windows designed by Burne-Jones, and executed in the William Morris studio.
His friendship with the family of Sir Thomas Hugh Bell, leading ironfounder of Middlesbrough, led to three commissions - of Rounton Grange (demolished in 1953), Red Barns House and the Dorman Long
Dorman Long
Dorman Long, based in Middlesbrough, North East England, was a major steel producer, which diversified into bridge building, and is now a manufacturer of steel components and construction equipment for bridges and other structures...
office building (originally Bell Brothers Ltd) in Middlesbrough (his only commercial development).
In 1901 Philip Webb retired to the country and ceased practising. He continued to be an influence on the "school of rational builders" surrounding William Lethaby
William Lethaby
William Richard Lethaby was an English architect and architectural historian whose ideas were highly influential on the late Arts and Crafts and early Modern movements in architecture, and in the fields of conservation and art education.-Early life:Lethaby was born in Barnstaple, Devon, the son of...
, and Ernest Gimson
Ernest Gimson
Ernest William Gimson was an English furniture designer and architect. Gimson was described by the art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest of the English architect-designers"...
and his community of architect-craftsmen based at Sapperton in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
.
Projects
- Red House (London)Red House (London)Red House in Bexleyheath in southeast London, England, is a major building of the history of the Arts and Crafts style and of 19th century British architecture. It was designed during 1859 by its owner, William Morris, and the architect Philip Webb, with wall paintings and stained glass by Edward...
, Bexleyheath (1859) - Sandroyd, now Benfleet Hall, Cobham, SurreyCobham, SurreyCobham is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, about south-west of central London and north of Leatherhead. Elmbridge has been acclaimed by the Daily Mail as the best place to live in the UK, and Cobham is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt...
(1860) - Cranmer Hall wing, Fakenham (c 1860) and Coach House (1860)
- Arisaig House, Highland (1863, rebuilt)
- 1 Palace Green, London (1868)
- 19 Lincoln's InnLincoln's InnThe Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
Fields, London (1868) - The West House, 35 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London (1868-9) for George Price BoyceGeorge Price BoyceGeorge Price Boyce was a British watercolour painter of landscapes and vernacular architecture in the Pre-Raphaelite style. He was a patron and friend of Dante Gabriel Rossetti....
- Joldwyns, SurreySurreySurrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
(1873) - Smeaton Manor, YorkshireYorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
(1878) - Four Gables, Green Lane House, BramptonBrampton, Carlisle, CumbriaBrampton is a small market town and civil parish within the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England about 9 miles east of Carlisle and 2 miles south of Hadrian's Wall. It is situated off the A69 road which bypasses it...
, CumbriaCumbriaCumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in... - St Martin's Church, Brampton (1878)
- Conyhurst, Surrey (1885)
- Clouds HouseClouds HouseClouds House is a Grade II listed building located near the village of East Knoyle in rural Wiltshire. Designed in the 19th century by Philip Webb for Percy and Madeline Wyndham, Clouds was Webb’s grandest design following on from Red House in Bexleyheath for the artist and close friend William...
, WiltshireWiltshireWiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
(1886) - Naworth CastleNaworth CastleNaworth Castle, also known as, or recorded in historical documents as "Naward", is a castle in Cumbria, England near the town of Brampton. It is adjacent to the A69 about two miles east of Brampton. It is on the opposite side of the River Irthing to, and just within sight of, Lanercost Priory...
, Cumbria - StandenStandenStanden is an Arts and Crafts house located near East Grinstead, West Sussex, England. The house and its surrounding gardens belong to the National Trust and are open to the public.-The house:...
, West Sussex (1892–1894) - Bell & Co Ltd (offices), Zetland Rd, MiddlesbroughMiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
(1891) - Rounton Grange, near Middlesbrough (for Sir Isaac Lowthian BellIsaac Lowthian BellSir Lowthian Bell, 1st Baronet FRS was a Victorian ironmaster and Liberal Party politician from Washington, County Durham, in the north of England.He was the son of Thomas Bell and his wife Katherine Lowthian....
) - subsequently destroyed - Forthampton Court, TewkesburyTewkesburyTewkesbury is a town in Gloucestershire, England. It stands at the confluence of the River Severn and the River Avon, and also minor tributaries the Swilgate and Carrant Brook...
, GloucestershireGloucestershireGloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
(1889–92) - Berkeley CastleBerkeley CastleBerkeley Castle is a castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, UK . The castle's origins date back to the 11th century and it has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building.The castle has remained within the Berkeley family since they reconstructed it in the...
, Gloucestershire (1874-7)
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