Basic Biographical Details Name: | Charles Sydney Spooner | Designation: | | Born: | 1862 | Died: | 1938 | Bio Notes: | Charles Sydney Spooner was born in 1862, the second of the five children of Charles Spooner, land agent, and his wife Sarah Frances Trinder of 1 Girdlers Road, Brook Green, Hammersmith. The Spooner family were influential academics and clergymen. At the age of nineteen in 1881 he was articled to the church architect Arthur Blomfield remaining with him as assistant from 1885. The following year he became an assistant to John Dixon Butler, architect to the Metropolitan Police.
In 1887 Spooner was elected to the Art Workers Guild. In 1890 he was elected to the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society; won the Royal Academy Travelling Studentship; and set up in independent practice at 50 Queen Anne’s Gate.
In July 1900 he married Minnie Dibdin Davison, a painter, sculptor and designer, setting up house together in Chiswick Mall. They worked together on many projects as co-designers. Their close friends included C F A Voysey, Christopher Whall and Louis Davis. Spooner had professional connections with W D Caröe, Walter Tapper, Henry Wilson, Fred Rowntree and Arthur Penty.
Spooner designed churches at Hadleigh, Suffolk; Ipswich; Little Ilford (demolished 1990); Haslemere; Maldon (RC) (entirely replaced); Letchworth (RC); Wanstead; and East Ham. He added the chancel at Rye Harbour, and doubled the size of Upton Park (demolished 1968). He carried out repairs at a number of other churches, including Cheddington (Herts); St Mary, Hadleigh; and St George’s, Queen Square. He decorated and designed furnishings notably glass, furniture and wall paintings at Exton (Hants); the rood screen, reredos and baptistery screen at St Anselm, Hatch End; the south aisle altar piece at St Leonard’s, Bridgnorth; a screen and font cover at St John, Pinner; and a screen at Holy Innocents, Hammersmith. He worked with C C Winmill on the refurbishment of the roof at Barking Parish Church. He designed war memorials at Hadleigh (Suffolk) and Ranby (Notts). He worked on the cottages, houses and the church in the village of Westmill (Herts) off and on for 40 years.
He designed houses at Bury, Sussex (destroyed by fire); the vicarage, Aldershot; Rushmere, Ipswich (demolished); Hindhead; and country cottages at Kilve, Somerset; Worbarrow, Dorset; Burwash, Sussex; Tilford, Surrey; and Leighton Buzzard. He also designed estate cottages at Bawdsey, Suffolk; a suburban ‘ideal home’ at Gidea Park; and a farm at Steeple Claydon, Buckinghamshire.
Spooner taught furniture design at the LCC Central School of Arts and Crafts c1898-1930. He was a member of the Consulting Architects panel of the Incorporated Church Building Society 1909-38, and advised on plans for hundreds of new churches. He was also on the SPAB committee. In 1911 ''Recent English and Ecclesiastical Architecture'' was published, under the names of Spooner and another church architect, Sir Charles Nicholson.
Spooner died in 1938.
| Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | London, England | Business | | | |
RIBARIBA ProposersRIBA Proposals
Buildings and DesignsThis was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details): | | Date started | Building name | Town, district or village | Island | City or county | Country | Notes | | 1908 | Forgan Parish Churchyard | Forgan | | Fife | Scotland | Rebuilding of enclosure and Berry burial ground |
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Graves, Algernon | 1905 | The Royal Academy of Arts: a complete dictionary of exhibitors and their works… | 1905-6 | London: Graves and Bell | | | Gray, A Stuart | 1985 | Edwardian Architecture: A Biographical Dictionary | | | |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | Architect and Building News | 6 January 1939 | | | p6 (Obituary) | | Builder | 6 January 1939 | | | p21 (Obituary) | | RIBA Journal | 28 January 1939 | | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | p311 |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | Biography courtesy and copyright of Alec Hamilton | Information sent via DSA website | | Sent August 2009 |
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