Edward Robert Robson | |
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| Born | 2 March 1836  |
| Died | 19 January 1917 (aged 80) |
Edward Robert RobsonFRIBAFSAFSI (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 inDurham,[1] he was the elder son of Robert Robson, a DurhamJustice of the Peace.[2] He apprenticed inNewcastle upon Tyne withJohn Dobson, who worked in a classicising,Italianate manner; he then worked underSir George Gilbert Scott (1854–59) during the restoration ofDurham Cathedral's tower, taking a break in 1858 for "extensive Continental travel",[3] and went on to serve as architect in charge of the Cathedral for six years.[2] He was also in partnership for a time prior to 20 August 1862 with John Wilson Walton (c. 1822–1910).[4] His first church, St. Cuthbert's, North Road, Durham (1863), was inspired in part by the plain 13th-century church atFormigny, Normandy.[5] During (1865-71) he served as architect and surveyor to the city ofLiverpool, which served to give him sufficient experience when he was the surprising choice[6] as chief architect for the newly erectedSchool Board of London, in 1871. He became a fellow of theRoyal Institute of British Architects. Under the terms of the reformingElementary Education Act 1870, a great number of new state-funded schools had to be built as quickly as possible, especially in theEast End.
Robson's experience, for which he travelled in the Continent for the most up-to-date school-planning ideas, was encapsulated in hisSchool Architecture (1874).[7] For the workload, he formed a partnership withJ. J. Stevenson from 1871 until 1876. The schools themselves were of brick andarchitectural 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 thanGothic Revival and in which Stevenson had already shown himself proficient.
During his years with the School Board, Robson designed several hundred schools in London,[2] and after leaving the Board in 1884 he remained as consulting architect to the Education Department.
His early connections with thePre-Raphaelite Brotherhood[8] may have made him an obvious choice in 1888 for remodelling some market buildings with great dispatch for theNew Gallery, Regent Street, a venue for art of the Brotherhood and other progressive arts.
Robson also built thePeople's Palace, Mile End in 1886/7[9] as well as working on new school structures, notably Primrose Hill Infants' School and theCheltenham Ladies' College (1896) and theJews' Free School inSpitalfields (1904).
He is also credited with design of some residential houses. For example, Glenwood (99 Mycenae Road inWestcombe Park, London SE3) is described as "an impressive late-Victorian red brick mansion with half-timbered gable ends, and fine joinery detailing."[10]
He married Marian, daughter of Henry Longden, ofSheffield, andWho's Who notes his recreations as "golf, bicycling, billiards". At the time of his death, he was aFellow of theRoyal Institute of British Architects, theSociety of Antiquaries of London, and theChartered Surveyors' Institution.[2]
In his later years he worked with his son, Philip Appleby Robson. He was twice offered aknighthood, which he refused. He died inLondon.
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