Edward Robert Robson FRIBA FSA FSI (2 March 1836 – 19 January 1917) was an English architect famous for the progressive spirit of his London state-funded school buildings of the 1870s and early 1880s. Born in Durham, he was the elder son of Robert Robson, a Durham

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

.'' Who Was Who'', online edition
ROBSON, Edward Robert
(subscription required), accessed 13 December 2008 He apprenticed in Newcastle upon Tyne with John Dobson, who worked in a classicising, Italianate manner; he then worked under Sir George Gilbert Scott (1854–59) during the restoration of

Durham Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...

's tower, taking a break in 1858 for "extensive Continental travel", and went on to serve as architect in charge of the Cathedral for six years. He was also in partnership for a time prior to 20 August 1862 with John Wilson Walton (c. 1822–1910). His first church, St. Cuthbert's, Durham (1863), was inspired in part by the plain 13th-century church at

Formigny Formigny () is a former commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Formigny La Bataille. History *15 April 1450: Battle of Formigny. The battle of For ...

, Normandy. During (1865-71) he served as architect and surveyor to the city of Liverpool, which served to give him sufficient experience when he was the surprising choice as chief architect for the newly erected School Board of London, in 1871. He became a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Under the terms of the reforming Elementary Education Act 1870, a great number of new state-funded schools had to be built as quickly as possible, especially in the

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

. Robson's experience, for which he travelled in the Continent for the most up-to-date school-planning ideas, was encapsulated in his ''School Architecture'' (1874). For the workload, he formed a partnership with

J. J. Stevenson John James Stevenson FRSE FSA FRIBA (24 August 1831 – 5 May 1908), usually referred to as J. J. Stevenson, was a British architect of the late-Victorian era. Born in Glasgow, he worked in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. He is particularly asso ...

from 1871 until 1876. The schools themselves were of brick and architectural terracotta in the many-gabled free Anglo-Flemish Renaissance style known at the time as " Queen Anne style", which Robson chose as more suitably enlightened and secular than

Gothic Revival 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 in which Stevenson had already shown himself proficient. During his years with the School Board, Robson designed several hundred schools in London, and after leaving the Board in 1884 he remained as consulting architect to the Education Department. His early connections with the

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

He commissioned a design for a watch case from Dante Gabriel Rossetti as early as 1862; it passed to his son, P.A. Robson and has been lost sight of, according to Judy Rudoe, "Artists' Jewellery. London, Wartski", ''The Burlington Magazine'' 131 No. 1032 (March 1989:235). may have made him an obvious choice in 1888 for remodelling some market buildings with great dispatch for the New Gallery, Regent Street, a venue for art of the Brotherhood and other progressive arts. Robson also built the People's Palace, Stepney (1886, now a part of Queen Mary, University of London) as well as working on new school structures, notably Primrose Hill Infants' School and the

Cheltenham Ladies' College Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Consistently ranked as one of the top all-girls' schools nationally, the school was established in 1853 to pr ...

(1896) and the Jews' Free School in

Spitalfields Spitalfields is a district in the East End of London and within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area is formed around Commercial Street (on the A1202 London Inner Ring Road) and includes the locale around Brick Lane, Christ Church, ...

(1904). He is also credited with design of some residential houses. For example, Glenwood (99 Mycenae Road in

Westcombe Park Westcombe Park is a largely residential area in Blackheath in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, South East London, England. It is bounded by the main London-Dartford railway line to the north, the Blackwall Tunnel southern approach to the east, th ...

, London SE3) is described as "an impressive late-Victorian red brick mansion with half-timbered gable ends, and fine joinery detailing."
Westcombe Park Conservation Area: Character Appraisal, March 2010
', Greenwich Council, p.41. Accessed: 20 July 2015 He married Marian, daughter of Henry Longden, of Sheffield, and ''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

'' notes his recreations as "golf, bicycling, billiards". At the time of his death, he was a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Society of Antiquaries of London, and the

Chartered Surveyors' Institution The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for surveyors, founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental level, and aims to promote and enforce the highest international standards in the val ...

. In his later years he worked with his son, Philip Appleby Robson. He was twice offered a knighthood, which he refused. He died in London.

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