British architecture enjoyed a
golden age in the late 17th and early 18th centuries when
the remarkable genius of Wren, Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh flourished. There were
other very talented figures too, like James Gibbs and one I find tantalising,
elusive Thomas Archer (1668-1743),
whose completed works are rare, who contributed to parts of several great
houses and who revelled in being “a gentleman architect”. I describe four of
his buildings which have interested me.
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| Thomas Archer |
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| Heythrop Park |
Born the son of a prosperous MP
at imposing Umberslade House in Warwickshire, Archer left Trinity College,
Oxford for a 4-year Grand Tour of Germany, Austria and Italy. He was enchanted
by the new Baroque style, particularly that of Bernini and Borromini, at a time
when England was slowly emerging from traditional Tudor and Jacobean influences.
Archer’s debt to Bernini is
exemplified by the front elevations of Heythrop
Park in Oxfordshire, a commission completed in 1720 and won from the Talbot
family, briefly Dukes of Shrewsbury. The fenestration, roof-line and massive
columns are derived from a never-completed plan by Bernini for the Louvre.
Archer’s building was a little unlucky; his huge entrance hall still exists but
the sumptuous interior by James Gibbs succumbed to a fire in 1831 and although
the Gothic Revivalist Alfred Waterhouse reworked the interior in his own style,
the building fell into disrepair becoming a Jesuit seminary. Acquired by
NatWest Bank in the 1950s, the estate was developed as a training centre and
conference venue. In my banking days, I visited and appreciated convivial
Heythrop many times. Sold in 1999, it is now the site of two up-market hotels.
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| St Philip, Birmingham (Birmingham Cathedral) |
St Philip was built in 1715 in the Baroque style, so dear to Thomas
Archer yet so rare in England. It was built as a new parish church for the
growing industrial area of Birmingham and became a cathedral (one of England’s
smallest) in 1905. It sits in an oasis of calm in elegant Colmore Row and its
churchyard is a welcoming haven. I used regularly to visit an office closely
nearby and often popped in to St Philip. The interior is splendidly imposing,
in the Italianate manner, with fluted Tuscan columns. Long after Archer’s time
the church was embellished by 4 beautiful stained-glass windows by the
pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones.
One might suppose that the stolid
people of Birmingham are not much engaged in theological speculation but one
would be wrong. In 1977 a collection of essays The Myth of God Incarnate was published and ascribed to the liberal
Birmingham school, including John Hick and Frances Young from the University
reinforced by Maurice Wiles, Dennis Nineham and other Oxbridge figures. The
book was an honest discussion of Christology and the origins of the Incarnation
Myth. It caused a sensation and a deadly backlash from the conservative
Anglican establishment, blighting the church careers of the contributors. The
book was scholarly, moderate and remains seminal.
Thomas Archer’s masterpiece is
said to be St Paul’s Deptford,
erected in 1712.
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| St Paul's Deptford |
The poet and architectural writer John Betjeman declared that St Paul’s was A Baroque Pearl in the heart of London. Its misfortune is that Deptford is now one of the most deprived and bleak areas of London, tucked away just South of the Thames in the borough of Lewisham. From the early 16th century until 1869 Deptford prospered as a Royal Navy Dockyard, repairing and refitting the fleet. Pepys and the other diarist Evelyn were often there though it declined as ships grew larger but continued as the main Victualling Centre until the Navy moved out in the 1920s. Now the civilian docks and depots have closed and Deptford is a wilderness.
St Paul’s was one of the Fifty
New Churches planned by Act of Parliament of 1710, a Tory measure to bolster
the Anglican Church, as opposed to the thriving Dissenters, lavishly financed
by the old coal tax which funded the restoration of the City after the Fire of
1666. In the event only 12 churches were built, 2 by Archer the others mainly
by Hawksmoor and Gibbs, as later the ascendant Whigs were not enthusiastic supporters
of Anglican expansion.
St Paul’s has an impressive
semi-circular portico and a noble cylindrical tower crowned by a fine steeple.
Some years ago I tried to visit the interior but it was firmly chained up and
unwelcoming. I understand that local vandalism was a problem and that a
restoration programme has now been completed – so I am sure a Baroque feast
rewards an adventurous trip to Archer’s Deptford, best combined perhaps with a
drive to the glories of Greenwich.
Archer’s final building and the
second of his contributions to the Fifty New Churches programme is St John’s, Smith Square erected between
1713 and 1728.
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| St Johns, Smith Square |
Archer’s huge church, with its 4 high towers acquired the early nick-name “Queen Anne’s Footstool”. Legend has it that the ailing Queen was pestered by Archer to approve his plans and, on being asked what shape she preferred, petulantly kicked over her footstool and said “Like this!” In truth the 4 towers were required by Archer to diffuse the weight of masonry on the marshy ground of the site.
The exterior of St John’s is
exuberantly Baroque as described by the architect and writer Sir Hugh Casson in
1981. “The outside is such a turmoil of movement that
you could almost say there are no walls or windows ... only a composition of
classical elements, columns and cornices, moulded pediments and heavily
modelled towers ... Archer handles all this with an energy, courage and
confidence which is irresistible.” The
building is a superb adornment to a now upmarket corner of Westminster.
In
1941, a German firebomb gutted the interior of St John’s and the ruined
building was open to the skies until the early 1960s. In time it was restored
as a concert hall, hosting many a chamber orchestra, choir or recital. Smith
Square was for many years synonymous with Conservative Central Office which
occupied No. 32 from 1958 to 2004 and was a political hotbed in the eras of
wily MacMillan, unlucky Heath and blessed Thatcher. But my happiest memory is
attending a concert of Baroque music by Rameau and Charpentier, given by the
matchless Caen-based ensemble Les Arts
Florissants led by the American William Christie. Such lovely music in such
an appropriate setting! All thanks to Thomas Archer!
S.M.D.
14.02.2018.
Text Copyright ©.Sidney Donald 2018.
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