Several of Bidlake's houses in the Birmingham area were featured inHermann Muthesius's bookDas englische Haus (The English House), which was to prove influential on the earlyModern Movement in Germany.
Bidlake was born inWolverhampton, the son of local architect George Bidlake (1830–1892) from whom he received his earliest architectural training. He attendedTettenhall College andChrist's College, Cambridge.[1] In 1882 he moved to London where he studied at theRoyal Academy Schools and worked forGothic Revival architectsBodley andGarner. In 1885 he won theRIBA Pugin Travelling Fellowship for his draughtsmanship, which enabled him to spend 1886 travelling in Italy.
On returning to England in 1887 Bidlake settled in Birmingham where he set up in independent practice and, from 1893, pioneered the teaching of architecture at the Birmingham School of Art. Famouslyambidextrous, his party trick was to sketch with both hands simultaneously.
Bidlake designed manyArts and Crafts-influenced houses in upmarket Birmingham districts such asEdgbaston,Moseley, andFour Oaks (the latter then in Warwickshire and absorbed into Birmingham in 1974), along with a series of moreGothic-influenced churches such asSt Agatha's,Sparkbrook – generally considered his masterpiece.
In 1924, Bidlake married a woman over twenty years younger than himself and moved toWadhurst inEast Sussex, where he continued to practise until his death.[2]
Bidlake died in 1938 and is buried in an unmarked grave in Handsworth Cemetery, Birmingham. In 1909 he had designed thecemetery's chapel, which became a Grade Ilisted building in 1982.[3]
^ab"William Henry Bidlake MA, FRIBA".Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951. University of Glasgow. Archived fromthe original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved14 September 2013.
