THE LIFE AND WORKS OF HENRY ISAAC STEVENS — ARCHITECT

The study of the life and work of Henry Isaac Stevens, a provincial architect, born in London in 1806, but working from Derby between 1837 until his death in 1873, has provided an excellent subject for research. Stevens, and his contemporaries of a similar age, who completed their training in the early 1830s were fortunate to embark upon a career in building design that was entering a period of unprecedented acceleration. The expanding towns and cities, throughout the country, required the services of architects, providing the potential for enough work to establish a business, and attracting architects, who had probably left their native region and trained in London, to return and set up a practice in their local town. The author’s choice to study Henry Isaac Stevens was based on several reasons: the opportunity to have worked in one of Stevens’ Derby churches (sensitively converted into office space in the early 1980s), which kindled an appreciation of the building, and a desire to know more about the architect’s work; an interest in nineteenth-century architecture, particularly the design and building of new churches; and a wish to discover information regarding details of Stevens’ personal and family life of which, irritatingly little was known. In order to determine Stevens’ architectural impact on Derby, and the surrounding area, it was necessary in the first instance to compile a detailed catalogue of works identifying the scope of his work, and the range of building styles he employed. His prolificacy, as revealed by the number of new buildings he designed (and in the case of churches those which he restored or repaired), provided an indication of his professional status in Derby. The information discovered with regard to his architectural works revealed evidence relating to his client base which, with the exception of the clergy, included the gentry and nobility. The ' professional status which Stevens appears to have held in Derby, and its locality, has been disclosed by way of an investigation into the general development of the profession in the town, and his part in its early consolidation; his training and his decision to set up practice , in Derby; the work of London-based architects in the immediate area during Stevens’ lifetime; and details which reveal how a provincial practice was managed in the mid nineteenth-century. Church design and repair provided an important part of Stevens’ architectural work. Ecclesiastical work was increasing in availability, during his early years in practice, and the establishment of a good client base brought Stevens many commissions, to the extent that during the years 1844-45 he had designed, and was supervising the building of seven new churches. Although Stevens is particularly remembered as a church architect, his public and private works (which amount to almost half his known number of buildings), reveal a diverse range of abilities in composition and planning. For all his public and private works Stevens preferred to design in the Classical, Italianate, Tudor and Jacobean styles, perhaps as a reaction to the number of Gothic buildings he was commissioned to design. The contribution to knowledge, which has been made as a consequence of this research, is a detailed biographical investigation of the life and works of a nineteenth-century provincial architect, set against the development of the profession in the East Midlands. The results of the research have revealed a vast amount of new material concerning all aspects of Stevens’ life and career. It is hoped that this study, being the first in-depth investigation of a nineteenth-century architect, living and working in the area centred around Derby, will serve as a model-work, and incite further research of the regional architects who created our Victorian heritage.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

PhD

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

De Montfort University

Year dc:date.issued

1994

Author dc:creator

• ASKEY, MARK KEVIN

Licence

• https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstreams/a9253052-d0d4-4e74-8d14-0eb0778fa8f2/download