Institute of Carpenters

As the nineteenth century drew to a close Gothic was largely seen as ‘old hat’. Many influences from abroad had altered the styles in use, even Ruskin became (whether intentionally or not) an influence on the ending of native Gothic, this was caused by his fascination with Venetian Gothic as exemplified in The Stones of Venice first published in three volumes in the early 1850s with a compact edition following in 1877. Here I feel Ruskin loses the plot with English architecture – he suggested a new style was needed, but the only possible candidate was Italian Gothic, especially that found in Venice – a style not really suited to the British climate and British natural light.

As Michael Portillo points out in his Continental Railway Journeys the early twentieth century British tourists went on a trip to Venice with a copy of Continental Bradshaw in one hand and Ruskin’s The Stones of Venice in the other (one hopes the single volume edition for balance).

What Ruskin failed to grasp was that it was not so much a new style that was needed but a new technology. So much had happened in the technological sphere in the latter half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Portland Cement-based concrete had arrived as a new material in the late 1820s; Bessemer had produced a new technology, resulting in quality-controlled steel in the 1850s; and with this, reinforced (ferrous) concrete. The initial use of mass concrete had been very limited because of its poor tensile strength; which was overcome with steel reinforcing. Later still pre-stressed concrete brought even more liberty to the designer.

Two other inventions brought about more changes: lifts and air conditioning. These together with the new, framed, as opposed to unit construction (i.e. brick and stone) meant that buildings could cover greater floor areas because they did not need to be all within the reach of the windows for ventilation. And, the buildings could be taller with more floor levels, because these could all be reached easily by fairly fast lifts.

This is jumping a little ahead, but the new technologies made unit construction only useful as a curtain wall, the mass of the building being supported on steel or ferrous concrete frames. With Gothic and Romanesque buildings the arches required weight imposed on them to make the arches work effectively. In framed construction the weight is on the frame, so the arches are not in compression to the same degree.

Viollet-le-Duc the French Gothicist realised this and in some of his designs he uses steel arches and flying buttresses; these require a different rationale and he incorporated this into some of his designs. In all due respect, this type of thinking was beyond Ruskin’s ability.

 

Alfred Waterhouse’s Manchester Town Hall 1868-77

 

 

Alfred Waterhouse (1830-1905), was a master of building street-facing Gothic buildings still in the Gothic way; mass stonework. Most Gothic architecture is not really built with street elevations in mind; most of them are contained within their curtilage with surrounding grassed or paved areas. Waterhouse really understood this in respect of Manchester Town Hall. See photographs 6.1 and 6.2 below. The interior demonstrates a great skill in the decoration. See photographs 6.3 and 6.4 above.

 

 

 

Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.

Giles Gilbert Scott (later Sir) 1880-1960 was believed to be too young and inexperienced when he won the competition for his design for Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, one of the largest Gothic churches in the world.

“… The design selected by the assessor, the ageing Goth, George Frederick Bodley, was done by a twenty-two year old grandson of Sir Gilbert Scott, Giles Gilbert Scott who was still doing his training with Temple Moore. The organisers were embarrassed when the extreme inexperience of the winner became known.” (1)

Bodley was appointed as consultant architect to give Scott more experience, but he only lived a short time after this and in effect Scott ran the whole commission. This cathedral has several Records such as the greatest Gothic arch, the largest ‘great space’ and the latest true Gothic cathedral to be built. It was completed, more or less, in the mid 20th century. Both Manchester Town Hall and Liverpool’s Anglican cathedral are two examples of late true Gothic buildings, but true Gothic buildings were losing popularity in the British Isles.

The Arts and Crafts Movement.

Some of the principles that made Gothic; its honesty, its tectonic nature, its debt to nature, and its sturdy rigidness were all incorporated into Arts and Crafts buildings. The foundation for these were laid earlier on in the nineteenth century by the houses built by AWN Pugin, who we have mentioned in previous chapters. The dominant features of Arts and Crafts houses are the incorporation of a range of materials demonstrating the craft skills of the mason, carpenter, glazier etc. These can be seen in the Red House built for William Morris, designed by Phillip Webb; another good example is Blackwell, in Bowness near Windermere in the Lake District, built by Baillie-Scott.

But more pronounced was a range of furniture designed and built by a new generation of craftsmen who reacted against the growing mechanization and mass production brought about by the Industrial Revolution.

There is a relationship between the Gothic ideal and the craftsmanship ideal, and also the Aesthetic Movement, the Arts and Crafts Movement, Art Nouveau, and these all relate to the tension between historic styles and the need for a new style for a new age, as well as between the nostalgia for individual hand-made furniture in a growing machine age.

Charles Locke Eastlake was a chronicler of the Gothic Revival and a popularizer of taste. In his Hints on Household Taste he stated:

“The best furniture of all ages has been simple in general form, never running to extravagant contour or unnecessary curves.” He especially disdained the “shaped” forms of Rococo revival, which he thought “ensured the greatest amount of ugliness with the least possible comfort.” (2)

He continues by saying that the curves are not natural to the wood and produce areas of weakness; here he is not writing about bentwood but referring to curves cut out of the solid. Eastlake expressed in Hints how tasteful furniture should be:

“…functional, simple and rectilinear in form, honestly constructed without ‘sham or pretence,’ and ornamented with respect for the intrinsic qualities of the wood as well as the intended function of the furniture.” (4)

Charles Robert Ashbee

Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1942) became a follower of Ruskin while at Wellington and King’s College, Cambridge, and in 1886 began his architectural training under G F Bodley. He moved to Toynbee Hall in the poor area of London’s East End, Cambridge University’s settlement house, an attempt to bring undergraduates into contact with the poor. Ashbee became ‘Architect-in-Residence’ and spent the first fifteen years or so of his working life in the East End. He used his time at Toynbee Hall to teach Ruskin’s principles of design, drawing and decoration. He managed to get the students to carry out practical craft work and eventually founded the Guild and School of Handicraft. Meghan Edwards writes:

“He sought to restore lost traditions associated with pre-industrial production and the bonds of comradeship that he thought humanized the workshop, and urged that silversmiths, craftsmen and designers should work together.” (5)

Ashbee’s understanding of craftsmanship found expression in ‘mastering a craft through development of an individualistic style, which he believed should emerge from team work and shared experience.’ (6)

Edward William Godwin.

E W Godwin’s (1835-1886) career grew out of his dissatisfaction in two spheres; the first was with his position in the office of William Armstrong, Bristol City Surveyor, Architect and Engineer. There was very little real architecture for Godwin to do, and what there was he had won for the practice. Godwin eventually set up his own practice, but during periods when he had little work, he began studying and analyzing Ruskin’s Stones of Venice.

The second dissatisfaction arose in the furniture then available both for a project at Dromore Castle and for his own personal needs. As Elizabeth Aslin expresses it:

“…as Godwin’s own domestic needs led to a career as a designer of furniture and interior decoration which can be said to have had a significant influence on domestic design in the latter part of the nineteenth century.” (8)

Having studied The Stones of Venice, it is not surprising that some Gothic influence found expression in Godwin’s furniture design, but there was a degree of sparseness about Godwin’s furniture that suggested some Japanese influence. His early designs were rather lightweight, as he himself admitted:

“The scantling or substance of the framing and other parts of the furniture was reduced to as low a denomination as was compatible with the soundness of construction. This was to make possible both cleanliness and movement in the event of a change being required.” (9)

His earliest furniture was made of European redwood, the most common softwood, and his use of the word scantling is interesting here because the word refers to the cheaper small section timber of European redwood (and whitewood) such as 2”x 1”, 2“x 11/2” etc., which explains what he was using for his furniture framework. This was the most economical material he could find.

 

 

This proved unsatisfactory, presumably being too weak, and he later remade this furniture in mahogany. This could still be of slim section because of the finer grained and stronger timber.

 

 

The defining features of Gothic in Arts and Crafts Furniture and the Modern Revival

We have already discussed those aspects that most commonly reveal themselves in “Gothic” inspired furniture:

1. Solidity of construction;
2. Solid timber, not usually veneered work;
3. No need to hide jointing details;
4. Inspired by the natural world; Another feature not yet mentioned is blacksmith-made ironmongery.

 

 

The inspiration of the natural world can be demonstrated in two ways; some natural animal or plant motif reflected in the piece’s construction or ornamentation; or, a display of the natural beauty of the timber itself. These, of course, are not mutually exclusive.

 

Both, to some degree, Gothic and Arts and Crafts pieces lay claim to some if not all of these features. Where Gothic differs from Arts and Crafts is that in Gothic some motif such as the pointed arch, quatrefoil and trefoil features and/or other tracery are important. But just to confuse matters some Arts and Crafts pieces show modified forms of these motifs.

It is possible to have a piece of furniture that shows both Gothic and Arts and Crafts features. It all depends on the maker and his alliance to these schools. What confuses the issue even more is that Art Nouveau pieces also show a reference to the natural world, but this reference is more in the shape than in the ornament itself. The sweeping curves in Art Nouveau work are usually inspired by plants such as honeysuckle, sweet peas, bind-weed etc. The other set of curves that influence Art Nouveau is that of the female body or hair.

In conclusion, We can see from these photographs that the heaviness of the Iona pieces makes them heirs to both Gothic and Arts and Crafts Revival, which latter they claim. This is perhaps the best example of honest Gothic-inspired modern work. I hope these six short articles have opened up new discoveries for our members and other readers. In my next series, I will look at several aspects of Design and the Carpenter and Joiner and that series will not be so tightly bound to one field of study but range far and wide.

Conclusion to Part 6

 

 

There are many Arts and Crafts furniture available to view in any Arts and Crafts house, also an excellent collection in Cheltenham Museum in Gloucestershire. There is such a thing as Modern Gothic, but it has become a very loose term denoting any furniture of a heavy design or that containing motifs like Gothic arches. An understanding of Gothic comes into its own in conservation and restoration work which will find mention in my next series on Design and the Carpenter and Joiner. I hope this series, now coming to an end, has tickled members’ fancy and will start them on a voyage of discovery that will provide them with years of joy as it has me.

The late Dr. Brian Hodgson, Ph.D, LCGI, FIOC, FFB, MIMWoodT, AIMMM (MIWSc) | North West

1 Alastair Service, Edwardian Architecture, London, Thames and Hudson, 1977, p. 84

2 Madigan, Mary Jean, ‘Eastlake-Influenced Furniture’, Nineteenth Century Furniture: Innovation, Revival and Reform, ed. Marsha Melnick and Susan E Meyer, New York, Billboard Publications, 1982, p. 55.

3 Ibid,

4 Ibid, p55.

5 www.victorianweb.org/art/design/ashbee/edwards10.
html accessed 11/01/2014,

6 Ibid

7 www.victorianweb.org/victorian/design/godwinbio.html
accessed 17/01/2014

8 Elizabeth Aslin, E W Godwin Furniture and Interior Design, London, John Murray, 1986, p. 7.6 Ibid

9. E W Godwin, Architect, Ist July 1876. Aslin,(1986), p. 50.

10 Aslin,(1986), p. 50.

This article first appeared in the September 2015 issue of Cutting Edge. As part of the IOC membership, IOC members receive quarterly editions of Cutting Edge magazine and access to all back issues online.

For more information and to join the Institute of Carpenters Click here