Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (9 November 1880 – 8 February 1960) was a British architect known for his work on the New Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, Battersea Power Station, Liverpool Cathedral, and designing the iconic red telephone box.
Scott came from a family of architects. His father George Gilbert Scott Jr. was a co-founder of Watts & Co., which Scott became the second chairman of. He was noted for his blending of Gothic tradition with modernism, making what might otherwise have been functionally designed buildings into popular landmarks.
Life and career Early years Born in Hampstead, London, Scott was one of six children and the third son of George Gilbert Scott Jr. and his wife, Ellen King Samson.Butler, A. S. G. "Scott, Sir Giles Gilbert", Dictionary of National Biography Archive, Oxford University Press, accessed 22 June 2012 His father was an architect who had co-founded the architecture and interior design company Watts & Co. in 1874. His paternal grandfather was Sir (George) Gilbert Scott, a more famous architect, known for designing the Albert Memorial and the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras Station.Stamp, Gavin. "Scott, Sir George Gilbert (1811–1878)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University press, accessed 21 June 2012
When Scott was three, his father was declared to be of unsound mind and was temporarily confined to the Bethlem Royal Hospital. Consequently, his sons saw little of him. Giles later said that he remembered seeing his father only twice. A bequest from an uncle in 1889 gave the young Scott ownership of Hollis Street Farm, near Ninfield, Sussex, with a life tenancy to his mother.Stamp, Gavin. "Scott, Sir Giles Gilbert (1880–1960)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, accessed 21 June 2012 During the week Ellen Scott and her three sons lived in a flat in Battersea, spending weekends and holidays at the farm.Scott, p. 3 She regularly took them on cycling trips to sketch buildings in the area, and encouraged them to take an interest in architecture.Thomas, John. "The 'Beginnings of a Noble Pile': Liverpool Cathedral's Lady Chapel (1904–10)", Architectural History, Vol. 48, (2005), pp. 257–290 Among the buildings the young Scott drew were Battle Abbey, Brede Place and Etchingham Church; Scott's son, Richard Gilbert Scott, suggests that the last, with its solid central tower, "was perhaps the germ of Liverpool Cathedral".
Scott and his brothers were brought up as Roman Catholics; their father was a Catholic convert. Giles attended Beaumont College on the recommendation of his father who admired the buildings of its preparatory school, the work of J. F. Bentley.Scott, pp. 1–2 In January 1899 Scott became an articled pupil in the office of Temple Moore, who had studied with Scott's father. From Moore, or Ellen Scott, or from his father's former assistant P. B. Freeman, Scott got to know the work of his father. In a 2005 study of Scott's work, John Thomas observes that Scott senior's "important church of St Agnes, Kennington (1874–77; 1880s–93) clearly influenced Giles's early work, including Liverpool Cathedral Lady Chapel."
In later years Scott remarked to John Betjeman, "I always think that my father was a genius. … He was a far better architect than my grandfather and yet look at the reputations of the two men!" Scott's father and his grandfather had been exponents of High Victorian Gothic; Scott, when still a young man, saw the possibility of designing in Gothic without the profusion of detail that marked their work. He had an unusually free hand in working out his ideas, as Moore generally worked at home, leaving Freeman to run the office.
Liverpool Cathedral
In 1901, while Scott was still a pupil in Moore's practice, the diocese of Liverpool announced a competition to select the architect of a new cathedral. Two well-known architects were appointed as assessors for an open competition for architects wishing to be considered.Cotton, p 3 G. F. Bodley was a leading exponent of the Gothic revival style, and a former pupil and relative by marriage of Scott's grandfather.Hall, Michael. "Bodley, George Frederick (1827–1907)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 2 October 2011 R. Norman Shaw was an eclectic architect, having begun in the Gothic style, and later favouring what his biographer Andrew Saint calls "full-blooded classical or imperial architecture".Saint, Andrew. "Shaw, Richard Norman (1831–1912)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; accessed 2 October 2011 Architects were invited by public advertisement to submit portfolios of their work for consideration by Bodley and Shaw. From these, the two assessors selected a first shortlist of architects to be invited to prepare drawings for the new building.
For architects, the competition was an important event; not only was it for one of the largest building projects of its time, but it was only the third opportunity to build an Anglican cathedral in England since the Reformation in the 16th century (St Paul's Cathedral being the first, rebuilt from scratch after the Great Fire of London in 1666, and Truro Cathedral being the second, begun in the 19th century)."Liverpool Cathedral", The Times, 25 September 1902, p. 8 The competition attracted 103 entries, from architects including Temple Moore, Charles Rennie Mackintosh"Design for Liverpool Anglican Cathedral competition: south elevation 1903" Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, accessed 21 June 2012 and Charles Reilly.Powers, p. 2 With Moore's approval, Scott submitted his own entry, on which he worked in his spare time.
In 1903, the assessors recommended that Scott should be appointed. There was widespread comment at the nomination of a 22-year-old with no existing buildings to his credit. Scott admitted that so far his only design to be constructed had been a pipe-rack. The choice of winner was even more contentious when it emerged that Scott was a Roman Catholic, but the assessors' recommendation was accepted by the diocesan authorities.
Because of Scott's age and inexperience, the cathedral committee appointed Bodley as joint architect to work in tandem with him.Kennerley, p. 24 A historian of Liverpool Cathedral observes that it was generous of Bodley to enter into a working relationship with a young and untried student.Cotton, p. 24 Bodley had been a close friend of Scott's father, but his collaboration with the young Scott was fractious, especially after Bodley accepted commissions to design two cathedrals in the US, necessitating frequent absences from Liverpool. Scott complained that this "has made the working partnership agreement more of a farce than ever, and to tell the truth my patience with the existing state of affairs is about exhausted".Kennerley, p. 38 Scott was on the point of resigning when Bodley died suddenly in 1907, leaving him in charge.Cotton, p. 22 The cathedral committee appointed Scott sole architect, and though it reserved the right to appoint another co-architect, it never seriously considered doing so.
In 1910 Scott realised that he was not happy with the main design, which looked like a traditional Gothic cathedral in the style of the previous century. He persuaded the cathedral committee to let him start all over again (a difficult decision, as some of the stonework had already been erected) and redesigned it as a simpler and more symmetrical building with a single massive central tower instead of the original proposal for twin towers.Kennerley, p. 55 Scott's new plans provided more interior space.Cotton pp. 28, 30 and 32 At the same time Scott modified the decorative style, losing much of the Gothic detailing and introducing a more modern, monumental style.Cotton, pp. 29–30
The Lady Chapel, the first part of the building to be completed, was consecrated in 1910 by Bishop Chavasse in the presence of two archbishops and 24 other bishops.Forwood, William. "Liverpool Cathedral – Consecration of the Lady Chapel", The Times, 30 June 1910, p. 9 Work was severely limited during the First World War, with a shortage of manpower, materials and money.Cotton, p. 6 By 1920, the workforce had been brought back up to strength and the stone quarries at Woolton, source of the red sandstone for most of the building, reopened. The first section of the main body of the cathedral was complete by 1924, and on 19 July 1924, the 20th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone, the cathedral was consecrated in the presence of King George V and Queen Mary, and bishops and archbishops from around the globe.
Construction continued throughout the 1930s, but slowed drastically throughout the Second World War, as it had done during the First. Scott continued to work on the project until his death, refining the design as he went. He designed every aspect of the building down to the fine details. The cathedral was finished in 1978, nearly two decades after Scott's death.Riley, Joe. "Finished – but for the way in to the nave", The Guardian, 25 October 1978, p. 8
Other early work While Scott was feuding with Bodley in Liverpool, he managed to design and see built his first complete church. This was the Church of the Annunciation, a Roman Catholic church in Bournemouth, in which he made a high transept similar to his original plan for Liverpool. His work on another new Roman Catholic church at Sheringham, Norfolk showed his preference for simple Gothic frontages. Other churches built by Scott at this time, at Ramsey on the Isle of Man, Northfleet in Kent and Stoneycroft in Liverpool, show the development of his style. Scott and his brother Adrian worked on Grey Wings, a house in Ashtead, Surrey in 1913. While working in Liverpool, Scott met and married Louise Wallbank Hughes, a receptionist at the Adelphi Hotel; his mother was displeased to learn that she was a Protestant. The marriage was happy, and lasted until Louise Scott's death in 1949. They had three sons, one of whom died in infancy.
During the First World War Scott was a Major in the Royal Marines. He was in charge of building sea defences on the English Channel coast.
1920s
As Liverpool Cathedral rose Scott's fame grew, and he began to secure commissions for secular buildings. One of the first was for Clare College, Cambridge, Memorial Court, which was in a neo-Georgian style on the west bank of the River Cam. This style was also used for Chester House, a house he designed for himself in Clarendon Place, Paddington in 1924, which won the annual medal for London street architecture of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1928."Sir Giles Gilbert Scott", The Times, 10 February 1960, p. 13 Scott's residential buildings are few; one of the best known is the Cropthorne Court mansion block in Maida Vale, where the frontage juts out in diagonals, eliminating the need for lightwells.
Scott also acted as a judge in architectural competitions. The Welsh National Eisteddfod prize of £100 for a design for the North Wales Heroes’ Memorial, for erection in the grounds of the University College, at a cost of £15,000, has been awarded by Sir Gilbert Scott to Mr D Wynne Thomas MSA, Old St Paul’s Vicarage, Bolton. Mr Gilbert Scott says "the design is refined, scholarly, and displays architectural sense of style superior to the forty other designs sent for open competition. Its simplicity and restraint produces a dignity in keeping with the purpose of the memorial, and the contrasts between plain surface and enrichment are effective". In the 1921 competition for the North Wales Heroes' Memorial at Bangor, Gwynedd, he assessed approximately forty entries and selected the design by Welsh architect Daniel Wynne-Thomas.