View source for Aston Webb

{{Short description|English architect (1849–1930)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox architect
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| name = Aston Webb
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|GCVO|CB|RA|FRIBA|size=100%}}
| image = Sir Aston Webb by Solomon Joseph Solomon.jpg
| caption = Sir Aston Webb, portrait by [[Solomon Joseph Solomon]], {{circa|1906}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1849|05|22|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Clapham]], London, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1930|08|21|1849|05|22|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Kensington]], London, England
| children = [[Maurice Webb (architect)|Maurice]] and Philip Edward Webb
| practice = 
| significant_buildings = [[University of Birmingham]]
| significant_projects = 
| significant_design = 
| awards = {{plainlist|
* [[Royal Institute of British Architects|RIBA]] [[Royal Gold Medal]] {{small|(1905)}}
* [[AIA Gold Medal]] {{small|(1907)}}
* [[Royal Society of Arts|RSA]] [[Albert Medal (Royal Society of Arts)|Albert Medal]] {{small|(1927)}} }}
}}

'''Sir Aston Webb''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|GCVO|CB|RA|FRIBA|sep=,|size=100}} (22 May 1849 – 21 August 1930) was a British [[architect]] who designed the principal facade of [[Buckingham Palace]] and the main building of the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], among other major works around England, many of them in partnership with [[Ingress Bell]]. He was president of the [[Royal Academy]] from 1919 to 1924. He was also the founding chairman of the [[London Society (organisation)|London Society]].

==Life==
The son of a watercolourist (and former pupil of the landscape artist [[David Cox (artist)|David Cox]]), Edward Webb, Aston Webb was born in [[Clapham]], south London, on 22 May 1849<ref>{{cite web |url= http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=uki1881&rank=1&new=1&so=3&MSAV=0&msT=1&gss=ms_db-7572&gsfn=aston+&gsln=webb&_81004010=1849&msbpn__ftp=clapham&msrpn__ftp=kensington&dbOnly=_F00027B9%7C_F00027B9_x&dbOnly=_83004006%7C_83004006_x |title= Ancestry.com. 1881 England census |access-date=11 May 2009 |author= The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO) |year= 1881 |work= 1881 England census |pages= Class: RG11 Piece: 30; Folio: 72; Page: 29, 13 Lansdowne Crescent Kensington }}</ref> and received his initial architectural training articled in the firm of [[Robert Richardson Banks|Banks]] and [[Charles Barry (junior)|Barry]] from 1866 to 1871, after which he spent a year travelling in Europe and Asia. He returned to London in 1874 to set up his own practice.

From the early 1880s, he joined the [[Royal Institute of British Architects]] (1883) and began working in partnership with [[Ingress Bell]] (1836–1914). Their first major commission was a winning design for the [[Victoria Law Courts]] in Birmingham (1886), the first of numerous public building schemes the pair designed over the next 23 years. Towards the end of his career, Webb was assisted by his sons, [[Maurice Webb (architect)|Maurice]] and [[Philip Edward Webb|Philip]]. [[Ralph Knott]], who designed London's [[County Hall, London|County Hall]], began his work as an apprentice to Webb executing the drawings for his competition entries.

He died, aged 81, in [[Kensington]], London, on 21 August 1930.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/information.pl?r=160234354&d=bmd_1240397075|title= Index of Death of Aston Webb |access-date=11 May 2009 |work= [[FreeBMD]] |publisher= [[General Register Office of England and Wales]] |quote= Deaths Sep 1914, Webb, Aston, 81, Kensington, 1a 173}}</ref>

===Honours and awards===
[[File:Sir Aston Webb Achievement.png|thumb|Webb's coat of arms.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ncl.ac.uk/events/public-lectures/archive/item/2014thedevelopmentofenglishheraldry.html |title=The Development of English Heraldry |date=September 2014 |accessdate=4 February 2021 |publisher=Newcastle University}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://precision-guesswork.com/St-Bartholomew-Great/aston-webb.html |title=Sir Aston Webb (22 May 1849 – 21 Aug 1930) |publisher=Precision Guesswork |accessdate=4 February 2021}}</ref>]]
He served as RIBA president (1902–1904) and, having been elected as a full member of the Royal Academy in 1903, served as acting president from 1919 to 1924. He received the [[Royal Gold Medal]] for Architecture in 1905 and was the first recipient of the [[American Institute of Architects]] [[AIA Gold Medal|Gold Medal]] in 1907. He was the first chairman of the [[London Society (organisation)|London Society]] in 1912.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.londonsociety.org.uk/post/the-society-of-the-future|title=The Society of the future|date=15 April 2014|publisher=The London Society|access-date=23 January 2023}}</ref>

He was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in 1904,<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Webb, Sir Aston|magazine=Who's Who|year=1907|volume= 59|page=1856|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEcuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1856}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27745|pages=8718–8719|date=20 December 1904}}</ref> appointed a Companion of the [[Order of the Bath]] in 1909;<ref>{{London Gazette|city=e|issue=12156|page=714|date=2 July 1909}}</ref> and appointed to the [[Royal Victorian Order]] as Commander in 1911, promoted to Knight Commander in 1914 and Knight Grand Cross in 1925.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28496|page=3816|date=19 May 1911}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|city=e|issue=12630|pages=9–10|date=2 January 1914}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33007 |supp=y|page=5|date=30 December 1924}}</ref>

In 2011, after being selected by local residents, a new traffic relief boulevard constructed in proximity to the [[University of Birmingham]] was named after Webb.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Major boost to Birmingham as Aston Webb Boulevard opens|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-boost-to-birmingham-as-aston-webb-boulevard-opens|access-date=19 November 2020|date=13 October 2011|website=GOV.UK}}</ref>

==Works==
[[File:Aston Webb building, part of Imperial College London, spring 2013.jpg|thumb|Imperial College London]]

[[File:Buckingham palace and Victoria memorial.jpg|thumb|Buckingham Palace and the Victoria Memorial]]
[[File:1911 Britannica-Architecture-Master’s House.png|thumb|A drawing showing Plan of a Master's House, New Christ's Hospital (Webb and Bell).]]
One of his earliest works was built for the [[Six Masters]] of the [[Royal Grammar School Worcester]] in 1877. These [[almshouse]]s are in the [[Arts and Crafts]] style, different from his later work.

In 1881 he designed North Breache Manor in Surrey. A small country house in the Tudor Gothic manner, but with Arts and Crafts detailing, it was one of the largest and most extravagant of his private contracts from this earlier period.<ref>{{cite web |title=North Breache Manor |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1392276 |website=historicengland.org.uk |publisher=Historic England |access-date=27 August 2020}}</ref>

Webb's first major work was the restoration of the medieval [[St Bartholomew-the-Great]] in Smithfield, London. His brother Edward Alfred Webb was the churchwarden at the time, and his association with the church probably helped the young architect get the job.<ref>Dungavell, The architectural career of Sir Aston Webb (London: University of London, Royal Holloway and New Bedford College), 1999</ref> In London, Webb's best-known works include the Queen [[Victoria Memorial, London|Victoria Memorial]] and [[The Mall (London)|The Mall]] approach to, and the principal façade of, [[Buckingham Palace]], which he re-designed in 1913.

Webb also designed the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]]'s main building (designed 1891, opened 1909), the [[Royal United Services Institute]], [[Whitehall]] (1893–95), and – as part of The Mall scheme – [[Admiralty Arch]] (1908–09). He also designed the [[Britannia Royal Naval College]], Devon, where Royal Naval officers are still trained. He enlarged and sympathetically restored the perpendicular Church of St John Baptist, [[Claines]], Worcester, finishing in 1886. Nearby he was also responsible for the new church of St. George, consecrated in 1895, which replaced an earlier smaller building in St. George's Square, Barbourne, Worcester. With his partner [[Ingress Bell]], he extended [[St. Andrew's Church, Fulham|St Andrew's Church]], in Fulham Fields, London, remodelled the chancel, built the Lady Chapel, and designed the rood screen.

He also designed the [[Holy Trinity Cathedral (Accra)|Holy Trinity Cathedral]] in [[Accra]], Ghana.

Other educational commissions included the new buildings of [[Christ's Hospital]] in [[Horsham]], Sussex (1893–1902), the [[Royal College of Science]], [[South Kensington]] (1900–06), [[King's College, Cambridge]] (1908), the [[Royal School of Mines]], South Kensington (1909–13), [[Royal Russell School]], [[Coombe, Croydon]], Surrey, and the [[Royal College of Science for Ireland]] which now houses the Irish [[Government Buildings]].

Residential commissions included Nos 2 (''The Gables'') and 4 (''Windermere'') Blackheath Park, in [[Blackheath, London|Blackheath]], south-east London. He also designed (1895–96) a library wing, including the Cedar Library, at [[The Hendre]], a large Victorian mansion in Monmouthshire, for [[John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock]].

In March 1889 the [[Consistory (Protestantism)#Reformed usage|consistory]] of the [[French Protestant Church of London]] commissioned Webb to design a new church.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vols33-4/pp60-63|title=Soho Square Area: Portland Estate, Nos. 8 and 9 Soho Square, The French Protestant Church &#124; British History Online|website=www.british-history.ac.uk|accessdate=12 December 2021}}</ref> It was erected in 1891–93 at 8–9 Soho Square in London. The church is one of Webb's Gothic school works.

At Mumford's Mill in [[Deptford]], southeast London, with Ingress Bell, Webb designed a grain silo built in 1897 on the eastern side of [[River Ravensbourne|Deptford Creek]].<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2019-11-04 |title=Greenwich Industrial History: Mumford's Mill |url=https://greenwichindustrialhistory.blogspot.com/2019/11/mumfords-mill.html |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=Greenwich Industrial History}}</ref>

In 1901 Webb designed the headquarters for a brewery at 115 Tooley Street, London, recently converted into 14 apartments as "[[Aston Webb House]]". This was done as part of the development of [[More London]].

[[Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray]], commissioned Webb to undertake major extensions to his property, [[Dunecht House]], Aberdeenshire, which were carried out {{circa}} 1913–20.<ref name=HS3133>{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB3133|desc=Dunecht House|cat=A|access-date=28 March 2019}}</ref>

At the [[University of Birmingham]] (1900–1912), the whole of the original scheme, in the Byzantine style, was the product of the Webb-Bell partnership. This consisted of a curved building with five radial blocks. The central building of Chancellor's Court containing the Great Hall is named after Aston Webb. The main feature is a large dome that sits atop the entrance [[loggia]]. The two radial blocks to each side were to be teaching blocks for various engineering disciplines; but the easternmost was not built until the Bramall Music Building was added roughly a century later. The scheme also included the straight run of buildings to the north completing the 'D' shape. Originally these were the physics and chemistry departments, and the Harding Memorial Library. The scheme was set off by the free standing clock tower ("[[Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower|Old Joe]]") over 100 metres high and the [[List of tallest buildings and structures in Birmingham|tallest structure in Birmingham]] until 1966.

Sir Aston Webb also designed the chapels of [[Worksop College]], Nottinghamshire (1911) and [[Ellesmere College]], Shropshire (1926), both of which are [[Woodard Schools]].

==Gallery of architectural work==
<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Admiralty Arch - 01.jpg|[[Admiralty Arch]], The Mall, London
File:Birmingham - Lawcourt 2.JPG|[[Victoria Law Courts]], Birmingham
File:Irishgovbuildings.JPG|[[Government Buildings|Government Buildings, Dublin]], Ireland
File:BRNC-Dartmouth.jpg|[[Britannia Royal Naval College]], Dartmouth, Devon
File:Entrance Victoria and Albert Museum 2011.jpg|Main entrance, [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], South Kensington, London
File:London Troops memorial, Royal Exchange.jpg|The London Troops war memorial, [[Royal Exchange, London|Royal Exchange]], sculpture by [[Alfred Drury]]
File:BirminghamUniversityChancellorsCourt.jpg|Aston Webb building, [[University of Birmingham]]
File:Quad DH.jpg|Quad, [[Christ's Hospital]] in Horsham, West Sussex
File:The Hendre 1.JPG|[[The Hendre]], Monmouthshire, Wales
File:French Protestant Church, Soho Square.JPG|[[French Protestant Church of London|French Protestant Church]], Soho Square
File:Dunecht House - geograph.org.uk - 1448192.jpg|[[Dunecht House]], Aberdeenshire
File:045SFEC LONDON-20070917.JPG|The [[Victoria Memorial, London|Victoria Memorial]], [[The Mall, London|The Mall]], London
File:Buckingham Palace from gardens, London, UK - Diliff.jpg|Buckingham Palace East Front, as redesigned in 1913 by Webb.
File:Royal School of Mines entrance.jpg|[[Royal School of Mines]], Imperial College, London
File:ImperialCollegeLondon.jpg|Detail of main entrance of the Royal School of Mines
File:Hong Kong Legislative Council Building.jpg|[[Court of Final Appeal Building]], Hong Kong
File:St George's church Barbourne Worcester.jpg|St George's church, Barbourne, Worcester
File:St Andrew, St Andrews Road, West Kensington W14 - Chancel - geograph.org.uk - 1898758.jpg|[[St. Andrew's Church, Fulham|St Andrew's Church, Fulham]], London. This is the [[rood screen]], designed by Sir Aston Webb.
</gallery>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Aston Webb}}
*[http://www.precision-guesswork.com/St-Bartholomew-Great/aston-webb.html Webb's biography], with emphasis on his work at St. Bartholomew's; includes numerous references
* [http://www.clainesfriends.org.uk Claines Church], one of Webb's restorations from 1886
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130521205501/http://stgeorgesbarbourne.org.uk/ St. George's Church, Barbourne, Worcester] by Aston Webb, 1895.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091005155413/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/periods_styles/features/history/history_buildling/section5/index.html Story of his building at the V&A]

{{s-start}}
{{s-culture}}
{{s-bef |before=[[Edward Poynter|Sir Edward Poynter, Bt]]}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[List of officers of the Royal Academy of Arts#Presidents (PRA)|President of the Royal Academy]] |years=1919–1924}}
{{s-aft |after=[[Frank Dicksee]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Royal Academy of Arts}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Aston}}
[[Category:1849 births]]
[[Category:1930 deaths]]
[[Category:Architects from London]]
[[Category:Artists' Rifles soldiers]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:People associated with Imperial College London]]
[[Category:People associated with the University of Birmingham]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Royal Institute of British Architects]]
[[Category:Recipients of the AIA Gold Medal]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal]]
[[Category:Royal Academicians]]