Architects

Name:

William Eden Nesfield

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

04/02/1835

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Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

25/03/1888

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Bio Notes :

William Eden Nesfield was born in Bath on 2 April 1835, the eldest son of the garden designer Major William Andrews Newfield and his wife Emma Mills. He was educated at Eton and after a few months with the architect-author James Kellaway Colling learning to draw, he was articled in 1851 to William Burn with whom his father had collaborated on a number of projects. There he worked with Richard Norman Shaw who was a few years older. In 1853 he transferred his articles to Anthony Salvin, his uncle by marriage and remained with him until 1856. In 1857-58 he undertook a major study tour, mainly of France but extending as far afield as Athens, with James Smollet Donaldson, the son of Professor Thomas Levington Donaldson, and at some point spent time with Violet-le-Duc. On his return he set up practice at Bedford Row in 1859. His earliest commissions were mainly garden and estate buildings for his father's clients which enabled him to take time off to revisit France and Italy to complete his great folio 'Specimens of Medieval Architecture' published in 1862 and complementing Shaw's 'Architectural Sketches from the Continent' published four years earlier.

In 1861 Nesfield was commissioned to build a new wing at Combe Abbey Warwickshire for Lord Craven. This reflected his continental studies as did Cloverly, begun 1865, but after he began sharing an office with Shaw at 30 Argyle Street in 1863 his work took on an 'Old English' character of Kent-Sussex origin, related in some degree to the work of George Devey who was fifteen years older, but with a bolder use of half-timbered features and the introduction of Anglo-Japanese elements derived from his important collection of Japanese, Chinese and Persian objets d'art. From 1866 onwards he began to experiment with late Stuart or 'Queen Anne' architecture, generally purer in form then the work of John James Stevenson, a development which reached spectacular maturity in his reconstruction of Kinmel in 1871-74.

From 1866 Shaw and Nesfield were in formal partnership but as they consulted rather than collaborated on projects, the partnership was allowed to lapse in 1869. They reverted to sharing an office, an arrangement which lasted until they were required to vacate Argyle Street in 1876. Nesfield then moved office to Margaret Street.

After the move to Margaret Street and his separation from Shaw, Nesfield's health declined from a combination of overwork and heavy smoking. He became prone to depression, particularly after the deaths of his brother Markham in 1874 and his father and Salvin uncle, both in 1881. He retired to Brighton where he made a late marriage to a daughter of the architect John Sebastian Gwilt.

Nesfield spent his last years as a painter, dying in Brighton on 25 March 1888.

Nesfield had little business in Scotland but through George Washington Browne, one of his ablest assistants, his work had a considerable impact on Rowand Anderson's and John More Dick Peddie's practices and his influence spread widely through their pupils.

Bio Notes continued...

Additional Notes

The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:

Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From
Bedford Row London England	Business	1859
30 Argyle Street London England	Business	1863
Margaret Street London England	Business	After 1876

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The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this person (click on an item to view details):

Employers2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position
William Burn	200136	In year 1851		Apprentice
Anthony Salvin	202043	In year 1853	In year 1856	Apprentice
Nesfield & Shaw	202028	In year 1866	In year 1869	Partner

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The following individuals were employed or trained by this person (click on an item to view details):

Employees or Pupils2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position	Notes
George Washington Browne	200049	After 1877	In year 1879	Assistant
Robert Morham	200385	c. 1862	c. 1866	Assistant

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This person was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):

Buildings and Designs2 classic

Building Name	Date Started	Town, District or Village	Island	City or County	Country	Notes
Lochluichart Lodge	c. 1875			Ross and Cromarty	Scotland	Scheme for adding top floor to centre block and baronialising tower
Newbattle Abbey	In year 1878	Newbattle		Midlothian	Scotland	Library interiors - not executed

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part	Notes
Girouard, Mark	Sweetness and Light: The Queen Anne Movement	1977
Newfield, W E	Letters of W E Nesfield	1989	J F W Bullock (ed) Facsimile edition
Cresswell, H B	William Eden Nesfield 1835-88: an impression and a contrast	1897	Architectural Review, p23-32	v2
Hebb, J	William Eden Nesfield	1903	RIBA Jounral, pp396-400
Aslet, Clive	The country houses of W E Nesfield	1978	Articles from Country Life
Service, Alastair	Edwardian Architecture and its Origins	1975			Article by John McKena Brydon in Architectural Review, reprinted here
Saint, A	Richard Norman Shaw	1976

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Builder	1888/03/31	*	Obituary
Builder	1888/04/07	*	Obituary
Builder	1888/04/14	*	Obituary
Building News	1888/03/30	*	Obituary

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

Employees or Pupils

Employees or Pupils2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

Bibliographic References

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Periodical References

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