Aston Webb

Sir Aston Webb PRA ( May 22nd 1849 in London, † August 21, 1930 ibid ) was in the early 1900's the most successful English architect of public buildings. Best known are the London's Victoria and Albert Museum, the Law Courts and the University of Birmingham and the whole of London processional route from the facade of Buckingham Palace, The Mall along, until the Admiralty Arch from 1919 to 1924 was president of the Webb Royal Academy of Arts.

Career

Aston Webb was the son of the painter Edward Webb ( pupil of the landscape painter David Cox ). He received his first training from 1866 to 1871 in the company of Banks and Barry. He then spent a year traveling in Europe and Asia, and opened in 1874 in London his own office.

In the early 1880s he joined the Royal Institute of British Architects and worked with Ingress Bell as a partner. The first major contract, which the two received, resulted in 1886 from a design competition for the Victoria Law Courts in Birmingham. It was the first of numerous public buildings, designed the team over the next 23 years. Towards the end of his career, Webb was assisted by his sons Maurice and Philip. Ralph Knott, who was London's County Hall building later was trained by Webb and in this period were the drawings for the competition entries from.

Structures

One of Aston Webb's earliest projects was 1877, the Royal Grammar School Worcester. This nursing home he designed in contrast to his later work in the Arts-and -crafts style.

His first really big job was the restoration of the medieval church of St Bartholomew -the -Great, Smithfield. His brother Edward Alfred Webb was at the time churchwarden, and this compound has the young architect certainly helped to get the job. At Webb's best-known works in London include the Queen Victoria Memorial and The Mall and the main façade of Buckingham Palace, which he redesigned in 1912.

Already in 1891 Webb had revised the entrance façade of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Moreover, he was 1893-1895 plans for the Royal United Services Institute and Whitehall and created - as part of the Mall project - the Admiralty Arch ( 1908/ 09). During this time, the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth fell / Devon. In 1886 he enlarged the built in Perpendicular - style church of St John Baptist, Claines / Worcester, and put them sensitively repaired. He was also responsible for the new building (1895 ) of the nearby Church of St. George, Barbourne / Worcester.

Webb designed many training centers in schools and higher education, for example, King's College, Cambridge (1908 ) and the Royal College of Science for Ireland, which is now used as a government building. There were also a number of residential complexes such as the Blackheath Park, Blackheath in south-east London. 1895/96 he created a library wing of the great manor house, The Hendre in Monmouthshire.

As part of the urban development project More London recently in 1901 resulting headquarters of a brewery was rebuilt in 115 Tooley Street to Aston Webb House with 14 apartments. Also, the main building of Chancellor 's Court of the University of Birmingham, designed by Webb along with Ingress Bell, was named after him. The building carries a large dome; for complex also includes the Great Hall.

Honors

From 1902 to 1904 Aston Webb was RIBA president and in 1903 was elected a full member of the Royal Academy, of which he was acting president from 1919 to 1924. In 1904 he was knighted and received the 1905 Royal Gold Medal; besides, he was the first who in 1907 was awarded the " Gold Medal" of the American Institute of Architects.