Alfred Waterhouse in the context of "Leeds"

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⭐ Core Definition: Alfred Waterhouse

Alfred Waterhouse RA PPRIBA (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known for his designs for Manchester Town Hall and the Natural History Museum in London. He designed other town halls, the Manchester Assize buildings—bombed in World War II—and the adjacent Strangeways Prison. He also designed several hospitals, the most architecturally interesting being the Royal Infirmary Liverpool and University College Hospital London. He was particularly active in designing buildings for universities, including both Oxford and Cambridge but also what became Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds universities. He designed many country houses, the most important being Eaton Hall in Cheshire. He designed several bank buildings and offices for insurance companies, most notably the Prudential Assurance Company. Although not a major church designer he produced several notable churches and chapels.

Financially speaking, Waterhouse was probably the most successful of all Victorian architects. He designed some of the most expensive buildings of the Victorian age. The three most costly were Manchester Town Hall, Eaton Hall and the Natural History Museum; they were also among the largest buildings of their type built during the period. Waterhouse had a reputation for being able to plan logically laid out buildings, often on awkward or cramped sites. He built soundly constructed buildings, having built up a well structured and organised architectural office, and used reliable sub-contractors and suppliers. His versatility in stylistic matters also attracted clients. Though expert within Neo-Gothic, Renaissance Revival and Romanesque Revival styles, Waterhouse never limited himself to a single architectural style. He often used eclecticism in his buildings. Styles that he used occasionally include Tudor revival, Jacobethan, Italianate, and some only once or twice, such as Scottish baronial architecture, Baroque Revival, Queen Anne style architecture and Neoclassical architecture.

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Alfred Waterhouse in the context of Ceilings of the Natural History Museum, London

A pair of decorated ceilings in the main Central Hall (officially Hintze Hall since 2014) and smaller North Hall of the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, were unveiled at the building's opening in 1881. They were designed by the museum's architect Alfred Waterhouse and painted by the artist Charles James Lea. The ceiling of the Central Hall consists of 162 panels, 108 of which depict plants considered significant to the history of the museum, to the British Empire or the museum's visitors and the remainder are highly stylised decorative botanical paintings. The ceiling of the smaller North Hall consists of 36 panels, 18 of which depict plants growing in the British Isles. Painted directly onto the plaster of the ceilings, they also make use of gilding for visual effect.

The natural history collections had originally shared a building with their parent institution the British Museum, but with the expansion of the British Empire there was a significant increase in both public and commercial interest in natural history, and in the number of specimens added to the museum's natural history collections. In 1860 it was agreed that a separate museum of natural history would be created in a large building, capable of displaying the largest specimens, such as whales. The superintendent of the natural history departments, Richard Owen, envisaged that visitors would enter a large central hall containing what he termed an "index collection" of representative exhibits, from which other galleries would radiate, and a smaller hall to the north would display the natural history of the British Isles. Waterhouse's Romanesque design for the museum included decorative painted ceilings. Acton Smee Ayrton, the First Commissioner of Works, refused to permit the decoration of the ceilings on grounds of cost, but Waterhouse convinced him that provided the painting took place while the scaffolding from the museum's construction was still in place it would incur no extra cost; he further managed to convince Ayrton that the ceiling would be more appealing if elements of the paintings were gilded.

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Alfred Waterhouse in the context of Porch

A porch (from Old French porche; from Latin porticus 'colonnade', from porta 'passage') is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (a small room leading into a larger space) or a projecting building that houses the entrance door of a building.

Porches exist in both religious and secular architecture. There are various styles of porches, many of which depend on the architectural tradition of its location. Porches allow for sufficient space for a person to comfortably pause before entering or after exiting a building, or to relax on. Many porches are open on the outward side with balustrade supported by balusters that usually encircles the entire porch except where stairs are found.

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Alfred Waterhouse in the context of Manchester Town Hall

Manchester Town Hall is a Victorian, neo-Gothic municipal building in Manchester, England. It is the ceremonial headquarters of Manchester City Council and houses a number of local government departments. The building faces Albert Square to the north and St Peter's Square to the south, with Manchester Cenotaph facing its southern entrance.

Designed by architect Alfred Waterhouse, the town hall was completed in 1877. The building contains offices and grand ceremonial rooms such as the Great Hall which is decorated with Ford Madox Brown's imposing Manchester Murals illustrating the history of the city. The entrance and Sculpture Hall contain busts and statues of influential figures including Dalton, Joule and Barbirolli. The exterior is dominated by the clock tower which rises to 280 feet (85 m) and houses Great Abel, the clock bell.

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Alfred Waterhouse in the context of Hilton Brighton Metropole

The DoubleTree by Hilton Brighton Metropole is a 4-star hotel and conference centre located on the seafront in Brighton, East Sussex.

The architect was Alfred Waterhouse, who also was architect of University College London and the Natural History Museum, London.

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Alfred Waterhouse in the context of Victoria Gallery & Museum

The Victoria Gallery & Museum (VG&M) is an art gallery and museum run by the University of Liverpool in Liverpool, Merseyside, England.

VG&M is located in the "redbrick" 1892 Victoria Building. It‘s marked with “THE ORIGINAL REDBRICK” on the top of official home page. The building was designed by the Victorian architect Alfred Waterhouse and is Grade II listed. After restoration of the building at a cost of £8.6 million, the museum opened on 28 May 2008. It houses the University of Liverpool's art and museum collections, donated to and created by the university.

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Alfred Waterhouse in the context of Victoria Building, University of Liverpool

The Victoria Building of the University of Liverpool, is on the corner of Brownlow Hill and Ashton Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, England (grid reference SJ358903). It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. It was designed by Alfred Waterhouse and completed in 1892. It was the first purpose-built building for what was to become the University of Liverpool, with accommodation for administration, teaching, common rooms and a library. The building was the inspiration for the term "red brick university" which was coined by Professor Edgar Allison Peers. In 2008 it was converted into the Victoria Gallery & Museum.

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Alfred Waterhouse in the context of Girton College, Cambridge

Girton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college at Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status by the university, marking the official admittance of women to the university. In 1976, it was the first Cambridge women's college to become coeducational. Its sister college is Somerville College, one of the two Oxford colleges to first admit women.

The main college site is situated on the outskirts of Girton, about 2+12 miles (4 kilometres) northwest of the university town, and comprises 33 acres (13 hectares) of land. In a typical Victorian red-brick design, most was built by architect Alfred Waterhouse between 1872 and 1887.

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