William Wilkinson (architect) explained

William Wilkinson
Nationality:British
Birth Date:1819
Death Date:1901
Practice:Wilkinson and Moore (from 1881)
Significant Buildings:Randolph Hotel, Oxford
Shelswell Park, Shelswell, Oxfordshire
Significant Projects:St Edward's School, Oxford
Norham Manor Estate, Oxford

William Wilkinson (1819–1901) was a British Gothic Revival architect who practised in Oxford, England.

Family

Wilkinson's father was a builder in Witney in Oxfordshire. William's elder brother George Wilkinson (1814–1890) was also an architect, as were William's nephews C.C. Rolfe (died 1907) and H.W. Moore (1850–1915).

Career

Most of Wilkinson's buildings are in Oxfordshire. His major works include the Randolph Hotel in Oxford, completed in 1864. He was in partnership with his nephew H.W. Moore from 1881. In his long career Wilkinson had a number of pupils, including H.J. Tollit (1835–1904).

Works

Churches

In 1841, at the age of only 22, Wilkinson designed a new Church of England parish church, Holy Trinity at Lew, Oxfordshire. His other work on churches included:

Police buildings

Wilkinson moved to Oxford in 1856 and succeeded J.C. Buckler as architect to the local police committee. Oxfordshire County Constabulary was formed in 1857, and Wilkinson designed several buildings for the new force.

Houses

Wilkinson designed Home Farm on the Shirburn Castle estate, built in 1856–57. From 1860 he laid out the Norham Manor estate in north Oxford. The estate was slowly developed with large villas, a number of which Wilkinson designed himself. Wilkinson also designed town houses and small country houses elsewhere in Oxfordshire:

Clergy houses

A number of the houses that Wilkinson designed were for clergy. Most were for the Church of England, but he also designed a presbytery that was built for the Roman Catholic Church.

Educational establishments

Wilkinson designed the library for the Oxford Union, built in 1863. He designed a number of schools, of which the largest was St Edward's School, Oxford, whose buildings he completed in phases from 1873 until 1886. His other schools include:

Industrial buildings

Late in his career Wilkinson undertook one industrial commission: a new smith shop and foundry for William Lucy's Eagle Ironworks in Jericho, Oxford. This single-storey building was completed in 1879. It was demolished after Lucy ceased production in England in 2005.

Publications

See also

Sources

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "William Wilkinson (architect)".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.