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Henry Currey (1820–1900) was an English
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
surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...
.


Family life

He was born in October 1820, the third son of a solicitor, Benjamin Currey of Old Palace Yard, Westminster. He married Emily Harriet Rugge-Price in Spring Grove, London on 2 April 1845. Emily, born in 1818 and two years Henry's senior, was the daughter of Sir Charles Rugge-Price. There were four children from the marriage: Annette, Charles, Henrietta and Percival, who also became an architect.


Education and work

Educated at Dr Pinckney's School at East Sheen and at
Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...
, where he rowed in the school eight against Westminster, Currey was articled to the architect
Decimus Burton Decimus Burton (30 September 1800 – 14 December 1881) was one of the foremost English architects and landscapers of the 19th century. He was the foremost Victorian architect in the Roman revival, Greek revival, Georgian neoclassical and Reg ...
for five years. He then worked for five years at the office of William Cubitt (1791–1863) and Company of Gray's Inn Road, London. His first medical works were for the Surrey Lunatic Asylum, and soon after, in 1847, he was appointed as the architect and surveyor to the governors of
St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, together with Guy's Hospital, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospita ...
, a post he held until his death. In this post, he designed the new hospital, built in the 'pavilion style', which opened on the
Albert Embankment Albert Embankment is part of the river bank on the south side of the River Thames in Central London. It stretches approximately one mile (1.6 km) northward from Vauxhall Bridge to Westminster Bridge, and is located in the London Borough ...
by
Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge crossing over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats ...
in 1871, including a teaching hospital and a nursing school to a design approved by
Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...
. He was also the architect and surveyor to Coram's
Foundling Hospital The Foundling Hospital (formally the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children) was a children's home in London, England, founded in 1739 by the philanthropy, philanthropic Captain (nautical), sea captain ...
and to the
Magdalen Hospital Magdalene asylums, also known as Magdalene laundries (named after the Biblical figure Mary Magdalene), were initially Protestant but later mostly Roman Catholic institutions that operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries, ostensibly to ...
in London. Other notable works include the hotel at
London Bridge Station London Bridge is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Southwark, south-east London. It occupies a large area on three levels immediately south-east of London Bridge, from which it takes its name. The m ...
, 1861–62, a grand 250-room terminus hotel built at a cost of £111,000, later turned into offices for the LBSCR in 1892 and demolished after bomb damage in 1941 He was a Fellow of the
RIBA ''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130
from 1856 and served as its vice-president in 1874–77 and 1889–93. He was also a fellow of the
Surveyors' Institute The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for those working in the Built Environment, Construction, Land, Property and Real Estate. The RICS was founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental ...
(now the RICS) and an associate of the
Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...
. In 1859, he was appointed by the 7th Duke of Devonshire to replace his former architect, James Berry. Currey held the position for 40 years.


Work at Buxton

As architect for the extensive Devonshire Estate in Buxton, Currey was highly influential in the town's development as a Victorian spa resort, much in his preferred Italianate design. Between 1852 and 1853 the Thermal Baths and Natural Baths (on either side of The Crescent) were completely rebuilt to his designs. He also designed Buxton's St Ann's Well of 1852. He was the architect of Corbar Hall and Devonshire Villas in the same year. Currey's Market Hall was built in 1857 but it was destroyed by fire in 1885 (the present
Buxton Town Hall Buxton Town Hall was opened in 1889 on the Market Place in Buxton, Derbyshire, England. It lies in the town's central Conservation Area overlooking The Slopes. It is a Grade-II-listed building. History The building was designed in the style of ...
was built on the site in 1889). In 1859 he remodelled half of John Carr's Great Stables as the Devonshire Hospital (to which
Robert RIppon Duke Robert Rippon Duke (31 May 1817 16 August 1909) was an English architect and surveyor who designed various prominent Victorian era, Victorian buildings in Buxton, Derbyshire. Life Duke was born in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, the son of a Whaling, w ...
later added the dome), now known as the
Devonshire Dome The Devonshire Dome building (previously known as the Devonshire Royal Hospital) is a Grade II* listed 18th-century former stable block in Buxton, Derbyshire. It was built by John Carr of York and extended by architect Robert Rippon Duke, w ...
. In 1863 he designed the grand Palace Hotel in the style of a French
château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...
. The dining room extension to the
Old Hall Hotel The Old Hall Hotel is a hotel in Buxton, Derbyshire, England, and is one of the oldest buildings in the town. The current building dates from the Restoration period, built around and incorporating an earlier fortified tower. According to the ''D ...
was designed by Currey. During the 1860s he designed various villas on Cavendish Terrace (now the Broad Walk). He was also the architect of several churches: Holy Trinity Church (built in 1873), Christ Church at Burbage (built in 1861), Congregational Church (built in 1863, demolished in 1983), Devonshire Park Chapel (built in 1873, demolished c.1970) and the vicarage for St John's Church. In 1894 he designed Buxton's new Pump Room (at the foot of The Slopes), which was opened by the 8th Duke of Devonshire in front of a vast crowd.


Work at Eastbourne

The Duke of Devonshire owned many buildings and much land in
Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...
. In 1870, he designed the original College House for
Eastbourne College Eastbourne College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition, for boarding school, boarding and Day school, day pupils aged 13–18, in ...
, a project which was followed three years later by drawings for the chapel, and in 1879, Currey was to design the school's Cavendish Library. The gables and dormer windows of many of the large houses in the same part of Eastbourne (now known locally as 'Lower
Meads Meads is an area of the town of Eastbourne in the England, English county of East Sussex. It is at the westerly end of the town below the South Downs. Boundaries The local government ward of Meads is extensive, stretching from Birling Gap in ...
') also bear witness to his style of architecture. Between 1874 and 1875, he designed the Winter Garden and Pavilion in Devonshire Park, both of which are now Grade II
listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
. Nearby is the
Devonshire Park Theatre The Devonshire Park Theatre is a Victorian theatre located in the town of Eastbourne, in the coastal region of East Sussex. The theatre was designed by Henry Currey and was built in 1884. In 1903, it was further improved by the theatre architec ...
, in
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, a building which was influenced by his travels to Italy in the early 1860s. The Queen's Hotel on Marine Parade was his largest single project in the town. The building took a mere 11 months to erect and opened for guests in June 1880. The hotel stands in a prominent position opposite the pier and enjoys easterly views to Hastings and to
Beachy Head Beachy Head is a Chalk Group, chalk headland in East Sussex, England. It is situated close to Eastbourne, East Sussex, Eastbourne, immediately east of the Seven Sisters, Sussex, Seven Sisters. Beachy Head is located within the administrative ar ...
in the west. Between 1881 and 1883, he designed the Bedfordwell Pumping Station for the Eastbourne Waterworks Company; the yellow- and red-brick Classical-style building was listed at Grade II in March 2014. His Kentish ragstone and
Bath Stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate originally obtained from the Middle Jurassic aged Great Oolite Group of the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its h ...
St Peter's Church, again in the 'Lower Meads' area of the town, was completed in 1895 in Early English Gothic Revival style and could accommodate 800 worshippers. It was, however, made redundant and demolished in 1971.


Death and interment

He died at his home, The Chestnuts, Lawrie Park,
Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne un ...
, on 23 November 1900 and was buried in
West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of ...
.


See also

* Listed buildings in Eastbourne * List of demolished places of worship in East Sussex


References


External links

* * For more about Henry Currey (in particular his hospital buildings) se

* For more about St Thomas's Hospital see British History Online a

{{DEFAULTSORT:Currey, Henry 1820 births 1900 deaths 19th-century English architects English civil engineers Burials at West Norwood Cemetery Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects