David Alfred Mocatta (1806–1882) was a British architect and a member of the

Anglo-Jewish British Jews (often referred to collectively as British Jewry or Anglo-Jewry) are British people, British citizens who are Jews, Jewish. The number of people who identified as Jews in the United Kingdom rose by just under 4% between 2001 and 202 ...

Mocatta family.

Early career

David Alfred Mocatta was born to a

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

family in 1806, the son of the

license A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

bullion Bullion is non-ferrous metal that has been refined to a high standard of elemental purity. The term is ordinarily applied to bulk metal used in the production of coins and especially to precious metals such as gold and silver. It comes from ...

broker A broker is a person or entity that arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller. This may be done for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither ...

Moses Mocatta (1768–1857) and Abigail Lindo (1775–1824). He also was a grandson of the prominent financier Abraham Lumbroso de Matos Mocatta (1730–1800). He studied in London from 1821 to 1827 under Sir

John Soane Sir John Soane (; né Soan; 10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neoclassical architecture, Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professor ...

Brodie, 2001, page 194 and then travelled in Italy during 1829–30. By 1839 he was in practice together with W.J. Mocatta at 32

Brunswick Square Brunswick Square is a public garden and ancillary streets along two of its sides in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden. It is overlooked by the School of Pharmacy and the Foundling Museum to the north; the Brunswick Centre to the we ...

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

where he remained until 1846, before moving to 57 Old Broad Street in the City of London. His synagogue in

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

for Moses Montefiore (1833) was possibly the first in England to be designed by a Jewish architect. The West London Synagogue of British Jews commissioned Mocatta to design both their temporary premises in Burton Street (1841) and their building in Margaret Street (1851). The latter was a substantial structure, seating 400 and costing more than £4,000. He was elected a Fellow of the Institute of British Architects (later the RIBA) in 1836, and was an early member of its council.

Railway architecture

Mocatta was appointed architect of the

London and Brighton Railway The London and Brighton Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in England which was incorporated in 1837 and survived until 1846. Its railway ran from a junction with the London and Croydon Railway (L&CR) at Norwood – which gives it access fr ...

, designing the company's headquarters at

Brighton railway station Brighton railway station is the principal station serving the city of Brighton in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, operated by Govia Thameslink Railway. It is the southern terminus of the Brighton Main Line, the western terminus of the ...

, and Haywards Heath, Three Bridges and Hassocks stations, the Balcombe Viaduct and the Mocatta building at Brighton station. Brighton Station was said to have many similarities to the

Nine Elms railway station Nine Elms railway station was located in Nine Elms and opened on 21 May 1838 as the London terminus of the London and Southampton Railway, which later became the London and South Western Railway. The building in the neoclassical style was d ...

of the

London and Southampton Railway London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...

(1838) designed by Sir William Tite. The intermediate stations were notable as they were constructed according to a standard plan and layout usually in the

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

style. Mocatta also designed balustrades and a set of eight Italianate pavilions to ornament

John Urpeth Rastrick John Urpeth Rastrick (26 January 1780 – 1 November 1856) was one of the first English steam locomotive builders. In partnership with James Foster, he formed Foster, Rastrick and Company, the locomotive construction company that built the '' ...

's Ouse Valley Viaduct for the L&BR.Cole (1958), pp.151-55. Mocatta was also involved with

Charles Pearson Charles Pearson (4 October 1793 – 14 September 1862) was a British lawyer and politician. He was solicitor to the City of London, a reforming campaigner, and – briefly – Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Lambeth. He campaigned a ...

's scheme for a Central London Railway station in Farringdon Street and drew up plans circa 1845, but this scheme was never implemented.

Later career

Mocatta provided the winning entry for a competition to design the

London Fever Hospital The London Fever Hospital was a voluntary hospital financed from public donations in Liverpool Road in Islington, London. It was one of the first fever hospitals in the country. History Originally established with 15 beds in 1802 in Gray's Inn R ...

in 1848. He also drew up designs for

Stowlangtoft Stowlangtoft is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England south-east from Ixworth. Located around north-east of Bury St Edmunds, in 2005 its population was 270. Name The village, originally just Stow ...

Hall in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, c. 1846, and the present building (built 1859) was possibly built from his designs.Cole (1958), p.156. He retired from architecture early, during the 1850s having inherited the family fortunes. In later years he became Senior Trustee of the

Soane Museum Sir John Soane's Museum is a house museum, located next to Lincoln's Inn Fields in Holborn, London, which was formerly the home of neo-classical architect John Soane. It holds many drawings and architectural models of Soane's projects and a ...

. He was a founder member of the

West London Synagogue The West London Synagogue, abbreviated WLS, and fully the West London Synagogue of British Jews () is a Reform Judaism, Reform Judaism, Jewish congregation and synagogue, located near Marble Arch, at 34 Upper Berkeley Street, in the City of Wes ...

, eventually becoming chairman of its council. Mocatta House, a modern office development in Trafalgar Place, Brighton is named after him.

Works

* Montefiore Synagogue,

, Kent, 1833 * Brighton Regency Synagogue, Sussex, 1836–38 *

, Sussex, 1840 * Croydon railway station, Surrey, 1841 (rebuilt 1894–95) * Red Hill and Reigate Road railway station, Surrey, 1841 (closed 1844) * Horley railway station, Surrey (1841, enlarged 1862, demolished 1960's) *

Three Bridges railway station Three Bridges railway station is a railway station located in and named after the village of Three Bridges, West Sussex, Three Bridges, which is now a district of the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. This station is where the Arun Valley ...

, Sussex, 1841 (enlarged 1855 and 1906–09) *

Haywards Heath railway station Haywards Heath railway station is on the Brighton Main Line in England, serving the town of Haywards Heath, West Sussex. It is 37 miles 59 chains (60.7 km) down the line from via and is situated between and . It is managed by Southern. Tra ...

, Sussex, 1841, (rebuilt 1933) * Hassocks or Ditchling Gate railway station, Sussex, 1841, (demolished 1880) *Pavilions & balustrade on the Ouse Valley Viaduct, Sussex, 1841–42 *

Clayton Tunnel Clayton Tunnel is a railway tunnel located near the villages of Clayton and Pyecombe in West Sussex, between Hassocks and Preston Park railway stations on the Brighton Main Line. This tunnel is notable for its turreted and castellated north p ...

with the impressive towers of the north portal, Sussex. Completed in 1841 after 3 years. The (off-centre) cottage is a later addition.

References

Sources and further reading

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mocatta, David English people of Spanish-Jewish descent 1806 births 1882 deaths People from South Kensington Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects London, Brighton and South Coast Railway people British railway architects 19th-century British architects

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

Burials at Balls Pond Road Cemetery