Temple Lodges Abney Park
Encyclopedia
The Abney Park Temple Lodges are entrance lodges to Abney Park
in the London Borough of Hackney
.
as entrance lodges to the historic eighteenth century parkland associated with Isaac Watts
and Lady Mary Abney. The buildings were added to the parkland estate on its becoming laid out as the Congregationalists' novel non-denominational garden cemetery, arboretum and educational institution.
Rather than the usual forbidding high walls of contemporary cemetery design, William Hosking
was briefed
to work up a visually prominent design that would occupy a considerable frontage expanse. This provided open, inviting, views into the park, for appreciation of its botanical richness and landscape beauty since the Abney Park Cemetery project was, moresonthan any other of the ring of cemeteries at the time, designed as an early semi-public London park as well as a London burial ground.
cemetery of the period, an unusual choice of architectural style was made at Abney Park: Egyptian Revival style. It had not previously been used on a large scale for a park or cemetery frontage; and for a prominent entrance onto one of the main roads into London, it was clearly designed to catch the eye and be symbolic of the novelty of a wholly non-denominational approach to cemetery layout and design, and the remarkable intention of also establishing a semi-public park.
William Hosking was already familiar with Egyptian temple architecture, as evidenced by his contributions to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, but he took expert advice from fellow antiquarian scholar Joseph Bonomi junior
to achieve higher standards of detailing for the hieroglyphics and other Egyptian facets of the final design.
Hosking's carefully scaled 'Egyptian-Revival' entrance ensemble comprised a carefully studied Temple Lodge or Lodges (with twin North and South components), with dramatic pylons, gates and railings in between. It is the earliest example in European architecture of a cemetery building (as opposed to monuments or gates) being designed and built in 'Egyptian Revival' style.
The presence of George Loddiges
, nuseryman and scientist, on the garden cemetery's design team, may account for Hosking's final choice of the Sacred Lotus
flower for the decorative motifs at the tops of the Abney Park entrance pylons; a plant closely associated with the Nile and Egyptian religious symbolism. Botanical iconography was evidently preferred to 'sphinxes' and other populist or polychromatic Egyptian revival designs; and from Bonomi's accurate studies and drawings in Egypt, both the 'flower heads' / 'seed heads' and petals/sepals of the Sacred Lotus
could be perfectly carved as pylon decorations that survive to this day (see photo).
Public fascination with Egyptology
was then in vogue, and with Bonomi's help, and the Cemetery Company's close control over the brief, Hosking is said to have produced 'Egyptial Revival' entrance features more perfectly, and on a more complete scale, than at Mount Auburn Cemetery
where the concept had originated. Importantly, Mount Auburn Cemetery, from which Abney Park's client representative, George Collison
took much of his inspiration, still at that time had only a temporary Egyptial Revival structure (made of dusted wood and sand). Its permanent 'Egyptian Revival' structure was not built until two years after the Temple Lodges at Abney Park were completed, more optimistically, in stone. In England only a small-scale 'Egyptian Revival' gateway had yet been built at a cemetery for Nonconformists near Sheffield in 1836, William Hosking becoming the first to employ the style for English park or cemetery buildings.
]
Pugin's caricature of the gates includes a 'Shillibeer's Funeral Omnibus'. George Shillibeer
's invention was arousing some debate in 1843, as had the Newington Academy for Girls
in its day (for which he had designed the world's first school bus), and now the new nondenominational park cemetery. All were seen by parts of London society as iconoclastic.
The appropriate 'architectural style' for a place of burial was then a hotly debated issue. Not long before Hosking's commission at Abney Park, the neoclassical style (favoured in Georgian times) had been commissioned at Kensal Green Cemetery
. Its use implied a greater preponderance towards Whig sympathies amongst its board of directors, rather than the emerging fashion amongst high church or Tory designers - the Gothic revival style. The latter had been favoured by board members such as Augustus Pugin senior (1769–1832) and George Carden, and at Kensal Green Cemetery the board's decision to reject a Gothic revivalist approach was a key reason behind George Carden's departure. Soon afterwards, in 1836, the South Metropolitan Cemetery
was founded in Norwood, South London; on its board of directors was Sir William Tite
, an architect who chose the Gothic style for all the cemetery buildings, and thus Norwood became the first Gothic cemetery to wide public acclaim.
In this heady climate, introducing a non-European style of design from Africa was a bold step. Advocates of Gothic revival architecture, notably the polemicist and Gothic architect Augustus Pugin junior (1812–52), proved particularly critical of Abney Park's Cemetery's novel approach which was implicitly sympathetic to a 'New World' outlook.
By contrast, Abney Park's approach resonated perfectly with those who had close ties with America, principally Congregationalists and other nonconformist groups whose relatives had left for the New World to pursue political and religious freedom. For them, the proposed Egyptian Revival design symbolised the adoption of an architectural tradition from part of the African continent with an association with Great Pyramids
and reflected the pioneering spirit embodied in Massachusetts' Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Though use of the style was disapproved of by Augustus Pugin junior (1812–52) and proved controversial in some quarters, others were impressed with the bold design at Abney Park and began to conclude that the 'Egyptian Revival' should be taken further, mostly for purely stylistic reasons. In 1839 it had been used more discreetly at the entrance to the catacombs at Highgate Cemetery, but by 1842, two years after Abney Park opened, it was possible for the architect Thomas Wilson, a member of the General Cemetery Company board, to publish the most futuristic cemetery design ever in the Egyptian style. He envisaged the building of a brick and granite pyramid taller than St. Paul's Cathedral containing nearly a quarter of a million catacombs, on nearly a hundred levels, surmounting Primrose Hill, complete with a public observatory at the top.
Abney Park
The historic grounds of Abney Park are situated in Stoke Newington, London, England. It is a 13ha park dating from just before 1700, named after Lady Mary Abney and associated with Dr Isaac Watts. In the early 18th century, the park was accessed via the frontages and gardens of two large mansions...
in the London Borough of Hackney
London Borough of Hackney
The London Borough of Hackney is a London borough of North/North East London, and forms part of inner London. The local authority is Hackney London Borough Council....
.
History
The Abney Park Temple Lodges (1838–40) were designed by William HoskingWilliam Hosking
William Hosking FSA was a writer, lecturer, and architect who had an important influence on the growth and development of London in Victorian times...
as entrance lodges to the historic eighteenth century parkland associated with Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns...
and Lady Mary Abney. The buildings were added to the parkland estate on its becoming laid out as the Congregationalists' novel non-denominational garden cemetery, arboretum and educational institution.
Rather than the usual forbidding high walls of contemporary cemetery design, William Hosking
William Hosking
William Hosking FSA was a writer, lecturer, and architect who had an important influence on the growth and development of London in Victorian times...
was briefed
Brief (architecture)
An architectural brief is, in its broadest sense, a requirement a client may have that an architect designs to meet, usually by creating a building to accommodate the requirement. A brief is a written document that might be anything from a single page to a multiple volume set of documents...
to work up a visually prominent design that would occupy a considerable frontage expanse. This provided open, inviting, views into the park, for appreciation of its botanical richness and landscape beauty since the Abney Park Cemetery project was, moresonthan any other of the ring of cemeteries at the time, designed as an early semi-public London park as well as a London burial ground.
Architecture
For buildings forming part of an English gardenEnglish garden
The English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...
cemetery of the period, an unusual choice of architectural style was made at Abney Park: Egyptian Revival style. It had not previously been used on a large scale for a park or cemetery frontage; and for a prominent entrance onto one of the main roads into London, it was clearly designed to catch the eye and be symbolic of the novelty of a wholly non-denominational approach to cemetery layout and design, and the remarkable intention of also establishing a semi-public park.
William Hosking was already familiar with Egyptian temple architecture, as evidenced by his contributions to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, but he took expert advice from fellow antiquarian scholar Joseph Bonomi junior
Joseph Bonomi the Younger
Joseph Bonomi the Younger was an English sculptor, artist, Egyptologist and museum curator.-Early life:Bonomi was born in London into a family of architects...
to achieve higher standards of detailing for the hieroglyphics and other Egyptian facets of the final design.
Hosking's carefully scaled 'Egyptian-Revival' entrance ensemble comprised a carefully studied Temple Lodge or Lodges (with twin North and South components), with dramatic pylons, gates and railings in between. It is the earliest example in European architecture of a cemetery building (as opposed to monuments or gates) being designed and built in 'Egyptian Revival' style.
The presence of George Loddiges
Loddiges
The Loddiges family managed one of the most notable of the eighteenth and nineteenth century plant nurseries that traded in and introduced exotic plants, trees, shrubs, ferns, palms and orchids into European gardens....
, nuseryman and scientist, on the garden cemetery's design team, may account for Hosking's final choice of the Sacred Lotus
Nelumbo nucifera
Nelumbo nucifera, known by a number of names including Indian Lotus, Sacred Lotus, Bean of India, or simply Lotus, is a plant in the monogeneric family Nelumbonaceae...
flower for the decorative motifs at the tops of the Abney Park entrance pylons; a plant closely associated with the Nile and Egyptian religious symbolism. Botanical iconography was evidently preferred to 'sphinxes' and other populist or polychromatic Egyptian revival designs; and from Bonomi's accurate studies and drawings in Egypt, both the 'flower heads' / 'seed heads' and petals/sepals of the Sacred Lotus
Nelumbo nucifera
Nelumbo nucifera, known by a number of names including Indian Lotus, Sacred Lotus, Bean of India, or simply Lotus, is a plant in the monogeneric family Nelumbonaceae...
could be perfectly carved as pylon decorations that survive to this day (see photo).
Public fascination with Egyptology
Egyptology
Egyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”...
was then in vogue, and with Bonomi's help, and the Cemetery Company's close control over the brief, Hosking is said to have produced 'Egyptial Revival' entrance features more perfectly, and on a more complete scale, than at Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 as "America's first garden cemetery", or the first "rural cemetery", with classical monuments set in a rolling landscaped terrain...
where the concept had originated. Importantly, Mount Auburn Cemetery, from which Abney Park's client representative, George Collison
George Collison
George Collison was an English Congregationalist and educator associated with Hackney Academy or Hackney College, which became part of New College London - itself part of the University of London.-Early life:...
took much of his inspiration, still at that time had only a temporary Egyptial Revival structure (made of dusted wood and sand). Its permanent 'Egyptian Revival' structure was not built until two years after the Temple Lodges at Abney Park were completed, more optimistically, in stone. In England only a small-scale 'Egyptian Revival' gateway had yet been built at a cemetery for Nonconformists near Sheffield in 1836, William Hosking becoming the first to employ the style for English park or cemetery buildings.
Pugin's caricature of the gates includes a 'Shillibeer's Funeral Omnibus'. George Shillibeer
George Shillibeer
George Shillibeer was an English coachbuilder.Shillibeer was born in St Marylebone, London the son of Abraham and Elizabeth Shillibeer. Christened in St Marys Church, Marylebone on 22 October 1797, Shillibeer worked for the coach company Hatchetts in Long Acre, the coach-building district of the...
's invention was arousing some debate in 1843, as had the Newington Academy for Girls
Newington Academy for Girls
The Newington Academy for Girls, also known as Newington College for Girls, was a Quaker school established in 1824 in Stoke Newington, then north of London. In a time when girls' educational opportunities were limited, it offered a wide range of subjects "on a plan in degree differing from any...
in its day (for which he had designed the world's first school bus), and now the new nondenominational park cemetery. All were seen by parts of London society as iconoclastic.
The appropriate 'architectural style' for a place of burial was then a hotly debated issue. Not long before Hosking's commission at Abney Park, the neoclassical style (favoured in Georgian times) had been commissioned at Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in Kensal Green, in the west of London, England. It was immortalised in the lines of G. K. Chesterton's poem The Rolling English Road from his book The Flying Inn: "For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen; Before we go to Paradise by way of...
. Its use implied a greater preponderance towards Whig sympathies amongst its board of directors, rather than the emerging fashion amongst high church or Tory designers - the Gothic revival style. The latter had been favoured by board members such as Augustus Pugin senior (1769–1832) and George Carden, and at Kensal Green Cemetery the board's decision to reject a Gothic revivalist approach was a key reason behind George Carden's departure. Soon afterwards, in 1836, the South Metropolitan Cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery is a cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery.One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries of London, and is a site of major historical, architectural and...
was founded in Norwood, South London; on its board of directors was Sir William Tite
William Tite
Sir William Tite, CB was an English architect who served as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was particularly associated with various London buildings, with railway stations and cemetery projects....
, an architect who chose the Gothic style for all the cemetery buildings, and thus Norwood became the first Gothic cemetery to wide public acclaim.
By contrast, Abney Park's approach resonated perfectly with those who had close ties with America, principally Congregationalists and other nonconformist groups whose relatives had left for the New World to pursue political and religious freedom. For them, the proposed Egyptian Revival design symbolised the adoption of an architectural tradition from part of the African continent with an association with Great Pyramids
Egyptian pyramids
The Egyptian pyramids are ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt.There are 138 pyramids discovered in Egypt as of 2008. Most were built as tombs for the country's Pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods.The earliest known Egyptian pyramids are found...
and reflected the pioneering spirit embodied in Massachusetts' Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Though use of the style was disapproved of by Augustus Pugin junior (1812–52) and proved controversial in some quarters, others were impressed with the bold design at Abney Park and began to conclude that the 'Egyptian Revival' should be taken further, mostly for purely stylistic reasons. In 1839 it had been used more discreetly at the entrance to the catacombs at Highgate Cemetery, but by 1842, two years after Abney Park opened, it was possible for the architect Thomas Wilson, a member of the General Cemetery Company board, to publish the most futuristic cemetery design ever in the Egyptian style. He envisaged the building of a brick and granite pyramid taller than St. Paul's Cathedral containing nearly a quarter of a million catacombs, on nearly a hundred levels, surmounting Primrose Hill, complete with a public observatory at the top.
See also
- Abney ParkAbney ParkThe historic grounds of Abney Park are situated in Stoke Newington, London, England. It is a 13ha park dating from just before 1700, named after Lady Mary Abney and associated with Dr Isaac Watts. In the early 18th century, the park was accessed via the frontages and gardens of two large mansions...
- Abney Park CemeteryAbney Park CemeteryAbney Park in Stoke Newington, in the London Borough of Hackney, is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney and Dr. Isaac Watts, and the neighbouring Hartopp family. In 1840 it became a non-denominational garden cemetery, semi-public park arboretum, and...
- Abney Park ChapelAbney Park ChapelAbney Park Chapel, is a Grade II Listed chapel, designed by William Hosking and built by John Jay that is situated in Europe's first wholly nondenominational cemetery, Abney Park Cemetery, London....