Sydney Smirke Explained

Sydney Smirke
Nationality:	English
Birth Date:	20 December 1797^[1]
Birth Place:	London, England
Death Date:	8 December 1877 (aged 79)
Death Place:	Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Significant Buildings:	The circular reading room at the British Museum
Awards:	RIBA Royal Gold Medal

Sydney Smirke (20 December 1797 – 8 December 1877) was a British architect.

Smirke who was born in London, England as the fifth son of painter Robert Smirke and his wife, Elizabeth Russell.^[2] He was the younger brother of Sir Robert Smirke and Sir Edward Smirke, who was also an architect. Their sister Mary Smirke was a noted painter and translator.^[2]

He received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1860. He became an associate of the Royal Academy in 1847 and was elected a full Academician in 1859. He served as RA Treasurer from 1861 to 1874, and was professor of Architecture from 1860 to 1865.

Personal life

He married Isabella Dobson, daughter of Newcastle upon Tyne architect John Dobson on 8 December 1840 at Newcastle upon Tyne.^[3]

Among Smirke's numerous apprentices was the successful York architect George Fowler Jones.

Smirke's works

Sydney Smirke's works include:

• Customs House, High Street, Shoreham-by-Sea (1830)
• Customs House (refronting), Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne, (1833)
• The Custom House, Queen Square, Bristol (1835–57)^[4]
• Wellington Pit Surface Buildings (Whitehaven) (1840)
• The nave roof of York Minster (1840–44)
• Holy Trinity Church, Bickerstaffe, Lancashire (1843)
• The Carlton Club in Pall Mall, London (1845)^[5]
• The Custom House, Commercial Road, Gloucester (1845)
• The dome chapel of the Bethlem Royal Hospital, St George's Fields, Southwark (now housing the Imperial War Museum) (1846)^[6]
• The Frewen Mausoleum at St Mary's Church, Northiam, East Sussex (1846)
• St. James' Church, Westhead, Lancashire (1850)
• St Mary the Virgin's Church, Theydon Bois (1850)
• The Derby Hall, Derby Hotel and Athenaeum in Bury (1849–52; the latter two now demolished)
• The circular reading room at the British Museum (1857)^[7]
• King Edward's School, Witley, Surrey (1865)
• Exhibition galleries at Burlington House, home of the Royal Academy (1868)^[5]

• Hall of Inner Temple (1870)
• St John's Church, Loughton
• Landscaping of Brookwood Cemetery, near Woking, Surrey (with William Tite)
• Toll House, Lower Sandgate Road, Folkestone^[8]
• Barkham Street, Wainfleet All Saints

Further reading

• Fawcett, Jane (Editor), Seven Victorian Architects, Thames and Hudson, 1976.
• Gentleman's Magazine, 1841, Part 1, p91
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

External links

• Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections

Notes and References

1. England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
2. Smirke, Sydney (1798–1877), architect . 2004 . 10.1093/ref:odnb/25764.
3. Web site: The Annual Register of World Events: A Review of the Year. Burke. Edmund. 1842.
4. Web site: CUSTOM HOUSE AND ATTACHED REAR AREA WALL AND PIERS, Non Civil Parish - 1282153 Historic England.
5. Web site: Sir Robert Smirke and Sydney Smirke in Cumbria - Visit Cumbria.
6. Web site: 'Bethlem Hospital (Imperial War Museum)', in Survey of London: Volume 25, St George's Fields (The Parishes of St. George the Martyr Southwark and St. Mary Newington). Ida . Darlington . London. 1955. 76–80. British History Online . 9 July 2020.
7. Web site: British Museum - Reading Room. www.britishmuseum.org.
8. Web site: Toll House – Lower Sandgate Road – Folkestone, Kent UK . www.waymarking.com . 4 January 2012 . 22 December 2013 .