Bodley Architect Centenary
2007 is the 100th anniversary of the death of the famous Victorian architect George Frederick Bodley. He was born in Hull in March 1827, the youngest son of an Edinburgh physician and a clergyman's daughter. He first worked as a pupil under Sir George Gilbert Scott to whom he was related by marriage, and he became a devotee of the new Gothic revival, specialising in ecclesiastical architecture. His own handling of the Gothic style became known as High Victorian, favouring the more decorative nature of 14th century architecture.
One of Bodley's most famous works is The Holy Angels Church at Hoar Cross in East Staffordshire, which was built in the grounds of Hoar Cross Hall under the patronage of Emily Meynall-Ingram as a memorial to her late husband Hugo. The work was undertaken between 1872 and 1876, with his colleague Thomas Garner. Pevsner states that Bodley's aim in this building was "to show what perfection was obtainable within the rubrics of English late medieval decoration and architecture". Bodley died in Oxfordshire on 21 October 1907.
The document shown is a coloured sketch design for the organ pipes and casing, showing the high decoration typical of his design for Hoar Cross (reference D861/E/9/3).
-
-
-
-