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Robert Kerr (
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In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a pop ...
would call domestic comfort, Bear Wood is indeed nearer to Blenheim Palace">Blenheim than to our poky villas"
Kerr's principal commercial building was the headquarters of the National Provident Institution (48 Gracechurch Street, City of London, 1862; destroyed) built in an Italianate style.
Illustrated examples:
Robert Kerr (Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
17 January 1823 – 21 October 1904) 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 ...
, architectural writer and co-founder of the Architectural Association
The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in the world. Its wide-ranging programme ...
.
Biography
Kerr was born inAberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, where he trained as an architect. In 1844, he moved to London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and in 1845 spent a year in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, from where he returned to London with a rebellious spirit.
Together with the only 18 year old Charles Gray, in 1847 Kerr was a founder of the Architectural Association (AA), becoming its first President, 1847–48. The aim of the AA was to offer an alternative for the education of architects through a systematic course of training provided by the students themselves, rather than having to settle with the existing highly unreliable custom where young men were articled to established architects.
Kerr had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...
(RIBA) in 1857, where he served as an examiner and as a council member. Between 1860–1902, Kerr was District Surveyor for the parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...
of St James's
St James's is a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End. In the 17th century the area developed as a residential location for the British aristocracy, and around the 19th century was the focus of the d ...
, Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
, and 1861–90 Professor of the Arts of Construction at King's College London.
Buildings
Favouring a mixture of architectural styles, which he called "latitudinarian", Kerr's main buildings were English country houses, and included Dunsdale (Westerham
Westerham is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 3.4 miles east of Oxted and 6 miles west of Sevenoaks, adjacent to the Kent border with both Greater London and Surrey.
It is recorded as early ...
, Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, for Joseph Kitchin, 1863; destroyed), Ascot Heath House (Ascot, Berkshire
Ascot () is a town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is south of Windsor, east of Bracknell and west of London. It is most notable as the location of Ascot Racecourse, home of the Royal Ascot meeting, ...
, 1868; destroyed) and Ford House (then in Lingfield, Surrey, 1862; now Greathed Manor). Great Down (for T M Kitchin, perhaps related to Joseph Kitchin of Dunsdale) on the Hog's Back
The Hog's Back is a hilly ridge, part of the North Downs in Surrey, England. It runs between Farnham in the west and Guildford in the east.
Name
Compared with the main part of the Downs to the east of it, it is a narrow elongated ridge, hen ...
in Surrey (now demolished) has also been attributed to him on stylistic grounds.
The most ambitious, and indeed one of the largest Victorian country houses, was Bearwood House near Wokingham
Wokingham is a market town in Berkshire, England, west of London, southeast of Reading, north of Camberley and west of Bracknell.
History
Wokingham means 'Wocca's people's home'. Wocca was apparently a Saxon chieftain who may ...
, Berkshire, built 1865–74 for the owner of ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' newspaper, John Walter. Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
describes it as "the climax f_country_mansions.html"_;"title="mansion.html"_;"title="f_country_mansion">f_country_mansions">mansion.html"_;"title="f_country_mansion">f_country_mansions_and_in_its_brazen_way_one_of_the_major_Victorian_monuments_of_England"Congregational Church
Forest Gate
Forest Gate is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England. It is located northeast of Charing Cross.
The area's name relates to its position adjacent to Wanstead Flats, the southernmost part of Epping Forest. The town ...
, 1856 (destroyed).
*National Provident Institution: illustration and description in The Building News24 October 1862
and
The Builder
''Building'' is one of the United Kingdom's oldest business-to-business magazines, launched as ''The Builder'' in 1843 by Joseph Aloysius Hansom – architect of Birmingham Town Hall and designer of the Hansom Cab. The journal was renamed ''Bu ...
3 January 1863
*Dunsdale
postcard photograph
of 1916
illustration and description
from The Builder, 20 June 1863. * Greathed Manor
illustrated sales brochure.
Competition design
for the Reichstag (German Parliament),
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, 1872/73, as published in The Architect, 31 May 1873.Great Down
photograph of 1906
Publications
He was a prolific writer as well as lecturer on architectural subjects. Geoffrey Tyack describes his book ''The Gentleman’s House, or, How to plan English residences, from the parsonage to the palace'' (1864) as "the most lucid and encyclopaedic account available of mid-Victorian domestic planning".Paul Waterhouse''Kerr, Robert (1823–1904)''
rev. Geoffrey Tyack,
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
, Oxford University Press 2004, accessed 22 Feb 2013. Kerr was also the editor of the third edition of James Fergusson's ''History of the modern styles of architecture'' (London 1891) which he expanded.
Books
*''The Newleafe discourses on the fine art architecture'', London 1846 *''The gentleman's house; or, How to plan English residences from the parsonage to the palace'', London 1864 (3rd expanded edition 1871) *''On Ancient Lights: And the Evidence of Surveyors Thereon : With Tables for the Measurement of Obstructions'', London 1865 *''A small country house'', London 1873 *''The consulting architect'', London 1886Articles (selection)
*''The battle of the styles'', in: The Builder 18:1860, 292-294 *''On the problem of providing dwellings for the poor in towns'', in: RIBA transactions 17:1866/67, 37-80 *''A development of the theory of the architecturesque'', in: RIBA transactions 19:1868/69, 89-103 *''The late Mr Beresford-Hope and the Gothic revival'', in: RIBA proceedings 4:1888(11)219-220 *'' Ruskin and emotional architecture'', in: RIBA journal 7:1900, 181-188References
Further reading
*Gerhard Bissell, ''Kerr, Robert'', in: ''Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon
Thieme-Becker is a German biographical dictionary of artists.
Thieme-Becker
The dictionary was begun under the editorship of Ulrich Thieme (1865–1922) (volumes one to fifteen) and Felix Becker (1864–1928) (volumes one to four). It was complet ...
'', vol. 80, 2013 (in preparation).
*Paul Waterhouse''Kerr, Robert (1823–1904)''
rev. Geoffrey Tyack,
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
, Oxford University Press 2004, accessed 22 Feb 2013.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Robert
1823 births
1904 deaths
19th-century Scottish architects
Academics of King's College London
Architects from Aberdeen