Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the greatest of British architects; his influence on architectural style was strongest in the 1880s and 1890s.

Early life and education

Shaw was born 7 May 1831 in Edinburgh, the sixth and last child of William Shaw (1780–1833), an Irish Protestant and army officer, and Elizabeth née Brown (1785–1883), from a family of successful Edinburgh lawyers. William Shaw died 2 years after his son's birth, leaving debts. Two of Shaw's siblings died young and a third in early adulthood. The family lived first in Annandale Street and then Haddington Place. Richard was educated at an academy for languages, located at 3 and 5 Hill Street Edinburgh until c.1842, then had one year of formal schooling in Newcastle, followed by being taught by his sister Janet. The eldest surviving child Robert had moved to London to work; the rest of the family followed about 1846, living in Middleton Road,

Dalston Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas includ ...

. Richard began his apprenticeship almost immediately at an unknown architect's practice. By 1849, he had transferred to the London office of sixty-year-old

William Burn William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival,often referred ...

, at whose practice Shaw remained for five years. He attended the evening lectures on architecture given at the Royal Academy of Arts by Charles Robert Cockerell. He met

William Eden Nesfield William Eden Nesfield (2 April 1835 – 25 March 1888) was an English architect. Like his some-time partner, Richard Norman Shaw, he designed several houses in Britain in the revived 'Old English' and 'Queen Anne' styles during the 1860s and 1 ...

at the Royal Academy, with whom he briefly partnered in some architectural designs. During 1854–1856, Shaw travelled with a Royal Academy scholarship, collecting sketches that were published as ''Architectural Sketches from the Continent'', 1858. On his return to London he moved to George Edmund Street's practice.

Practice

In 1863, after sixteen years of training, Shaw opened a practice for a short time with Nesfield. In 1872, he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy. Shaw worked for, among others, the artists John Callcott Horsley and

George Henry Boughton George Henry Boughton (4 December 1833 – 19 January 1905) was an Anglo-American landscape and genre painter, illustrator and writer. Life and work Boughton was born in Norwich in Norfolk, England, the son of farmer William Boughton. The fam ...

, and the industrialist Lord Armstrong. He designed large houses such as Cragside,

Grim's Dyke Grim's Dyke (sometimes called Graeme's Dyke until late 1891)How, Harry ''The Strand Magazine'', Vol. 2, October 1891, pp. 330–41, reprinted at ''The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive'', 20 November 2011 is a house and estate in Harrow Weald, in nort ...

, and Chigwell Hall, as well as a series of commercial buildings using a wide range of styles. Shaw was elected to the Royal Academy in 1877, and co-edited (with

Sir Thomas Jackson Sir Thomas Graham Jackson, 1st Baronet (21 December 1835 – 7 November 1924) was one of the most distinguished British architects of his generation. He is best remembered for his work at Oxford, including the Oxford Military College at Cowl ...

RA) the 1892 collection of essays, ''Architecture, a profession or an Art?''. He firmly believed it was an art. In later years, Shaw moved to a heavier classical style which influenced the emerging

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

Classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthet ...

of the early 20th century. Shaw died in London, where he had designed residential buildings in areas such as

Pont Street Pont Street is a fashionable street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, traversing the areas of Knightsbridge and Belgravia. The street is not far from the Knightsbridge department store Harrods to its north-west. The street ...

, and public buildings such as

New Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London' ...

. Shaw's early country houses avoided

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

and the academic styles, reviving vernacular materials like half timber and hanging tiles, with projecting

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s and tall massive chimneys with "

inglenook An inglenook or chimney corner is a recess that adjoins a fireplace. The word comes from "ingle", an old Scots word for a domestic fire (derived from the Gaelic ''aingeal''), and "nook". The inglenook originated as a partially enclosed heart ...

s" for warm seating. Shaw's houses soon attracted the misnomer the " Queen Anne style". As his skills developed, he dropped some of the mannered detailing, his buildings gained in dignity, and acquired an air of serenity and a quiet homely charm which were less conspicuous in his earlier works; half timber construction was more sparingly used, and finally disappeared entirely.

Family and later life

On 16 July 1867, Shaw married Agnes Haswell Wood at the parish church in Hampstead. She was the daughter of James Wood and was born in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, and most of the Wood siblings were sent to England for part of their education. All the children but Agnes returned to New South Wales and from there, most of the family moved to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

in New Zealand. Agnes lived with an aunt in England and in 1866, she became engaged to Shaw. Her nephew, Cecil Wood (1878–1947), was gifted at drawing and Shaw's career is assumed to have been an influence in Cecil Wood becoming an architect. In later life he lived at 6 Ellerdale Road, Hampstead, London. He died in London and is buried in St John-at-Hampstead Churchyard, Hampstead, London.

Bedford Park, London

One of Shaw's major commissions was the planning and designing of buildings for Bedford Park, London. Shaw was commissioned in 1877 by Jonathan T. Carr though his involvement only lasted until 1879.page 2, Bedford Park the first Garden Suburb, 1975, T. Affleck Greeves He designed

St Michael and All Angels, Bedford Park St Michael and All Angels is a Grade II* listed Church of England parish church in Bedford Park, Chiswick. It was designed by the architect Norman Shaw, who built some of the houses in that area. The church was consecrated in 1880. It is constr ...

, as the Anglican parish church for the development.

Built work

Gallery

File:Cragside1.jpg, Cragside, Northumberland, 1869 File:St Michael and All Angels.jpg, St. Michael and All Angels, Bedford Park, 1879 File:New-Scotland-Yard-Victorian-building-Big-Ben-1890.jpg,

Norman Shaw Buildings The Norman Shaw Buildings (formerly known as New Scotland Yard) are a pair of buildings in Westminster, London, overlooking the River Thames. The buildings were designed by the architects Richard Norman Shaw and John Dixon Butler, between 1887 a ...

, London. 1887 File:Richard Norman Shaw (1873) Design for New Zealand Chambers.png, Design for New Zealand Chambers, London. 1873 File:The Royal Geographical Society, Kensington.jpg, Lowther Lodge, headquarters of the Royal Geographical Society, 1873 File:Adcote Front.JPG, Adcote, Shropshire, 1876 File:Grims Dyke.JPG,

, Harrow, London, 1870 File:HillsideAerialPhoto1980s.jpg, Hillside, Groombridge 1871 File:Chigwell Hall.jpg, Chigwell Hall, Essex, 1876 File:Richard Norman Shaw 20130408 134.jpg, 1–2 St. James Street, London, 1882–83 File:39 Frognal.jpg, House for Kate Greenaway in

Frognal Frognal is a small area of Hampstead, North West London in the London Borough of Camden. Frognal is reinforced as the name of a minor road, which goes uphill from Finchley Road and at its upper end is in the west of Hampstead village. History ...

, 1885 File:Southwest View of the Church of Saint Swithun, Bournemouth.jpg, St Swithun's Church, Bournemouth, 1877

References

;Attribution *

Sources

* T. Affleck Greeves, "Bedford Park the first garden suburb". Anne Bingley, 1975. . * Andrew Saint, ''Richard Norman Shaw, revised edition'', 2010.. * Hitchcock, Henry-Russell. ''Architecture: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries''. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1963. * Jones, Edward, & Christopher Woodward. ''A Guide to the Architecture of London''. 2nd ed. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1992 * Norman Shaw's Letters: A Selection,
Architectural History, Vol. 18 (1975)
pp. 60–85, Published by: SAHGB Publications Limited, DOI: 10.2307/1568382

External links

Richard Norman Shaw

Flickr photoset

Archiseek:
Richard Norman Shaw {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Richard Norman 19th-century British architects 1831 births 1912 deaths Architects from Edinburgh Royal Academicians British ecclesiastical architects