Silvanus Trevail (11 November 1851 – 7 November 1903) 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 ...
, and the most prominent
Cornish architect of the 19th century.
Early life
Trevail was born at Carne Farm,
Trethurgy, in the parish of
Luxulyan,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
on 11 November 1851.
Career
Trevail rose to become Mayor of
Truro
Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...
and, nationally, President of the architects' professional body, the
Society of Architects.
He was Cornwall's most famous
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 ...
, certainly of the 19th century. Following the
Education Act of 1870 which created
Board Schools, Trevail designed around fifty such schools throughout the county. He also designed hotels including the
Headland Hotel,
Newquay
Newquay ( ; ) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is a civil parishes in England, civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries with an airport and a spaceport, and a fishing port on t ...
,
Carbis Bay Hotel in
Carbis Bay, and restored the church at
Temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
. He was said to be a man ahead of his time, a campaigner for sanitation improvements and an entrepreneur.
Selected works
*
Atlantic Hotel, Newquay
*
Great Western Hotel (Newquay)
*
Carbis Bay Hotel, Carbis Bay
Housel Bay Hotel The Lizard
* Castle Hotel, Tintagel
*
Headland Hotel, Newquay
*
Passmore Edwards Centre, Newton Abbot
*
St Lawrence's Hospital, Bodmin (which was demolished between September 2013 and February 2014).
Death
His success however, did not bring him happiness. Trevail had a history of
depression and had been unwell for some time before killing himself. On 7 November 1903 he shot himself in the lavatory of a train
as it entered
Brownqueen Tunnel a short distance from
Bodmin Road railway station.
References
Further reading
*Perry, Ronald (2009) "Silvanus Trevail: social reformer, developer, architect", in: Ferry, Kathryn, ed. ''Powerhouses of Provincial Architecture, 1837-1914''. London: Victorian Society; pp. 15–27
External links
*
BBC Inside Out, on Silvanus Trevail and the Newquay riotsCornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for Silvanus Trevail*There are biographical references to Silvanus Trevail on the Library & Museum of Freemasonry website, www.freemasonry.london.museum under classmark BE68(Tre)Roy, which contains reference to a copy of the ''Journal'' of the
Royal Institution of Cornwall for 2001
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trevail, Silvanus
1851 births
1903 deaths
19th-century English architects
Suicides by firearm in England
People from Luxulyan
Architects from Cornwall
1903 suicides