Transcribed from an entry in the RIBA Journal (see bibliography for details) and formatted for the Victorian Web by Jacqueline Banerjee.
hen, in 1854, Mr. Henry Clutton, of Charles Street, St. James's, was elected a Fellow of the Institute, he sent, with a letter enclosing his "Declaration," a copy of the book he had published the previous year, entitled Remarks, with Illus- trations, on the Domestic Architecture of France, From the Accession of Charles VI. to the Demise of Lowis XII — an admirable work, containing sixteen folio plates, lithographed by F. Bedford from Clutton's own sketches, and many excellent woodcuts in the text. The opening sentences, so characteristic of the period when "true principles" was the all-prevailing cry, and when the early volumes of Viollet-Le-Duc's Dictionnaire Raisonné were to be found on most English architects' tables, reflect the spirit in which Clutton and Burges and Street began the study of a medieval building, and explain their purpose in so doing. "It is more particularly the object of the present work," said Clutton, "to draw the attention of the architectural profession to a phase of medieval art wholly distinct from anything to be found in this country, and to point out from the published examples certain principles in its construction and details, which may, perhaps, be advantageously adopted in modern practice." He added that he had availed himself of the services of his friend, William Burges, who had worked out his sketches, and to whom he rendered thanks.
Clutton was a pupil of Edward Blore, as Burges was, and one of his contemporaries in Blore's office was Mr. Penrose, who left in 1888. Messrs. Clutton and Burges justly made a reputation in 1855 by their design for a Cathedral at Lille, which was placed first in the great International Competition of that year, Street being second, and Lassus (Paris) third. Two years afterwards the same partners restored the Chapter House of Salisbury Cathedral; but they appear to have subsequently worked apart, Burges alone having sent in the design for the Memorial Church at Constantinople, which was adjudged the best, but was not executed.
Among Henry Clutton's executed works are churches at Woburn and Tavistock in Bedfordshire, and the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in Farm Street, W.; additions to Cliefden House and to Battle Abbey; schools and houses in various parts of the country. He was also, of late years, Consulting Architect for the London estate of the Duke of Bedford, the elevations of the new buildings in Covent Garden and surrounding streets having been designed by him, though the buildings were erected under the superintendence of various architects. Clutton was selected by the late Cardinal Manning as architect of the proposed Roman Catholic Cathedral of Westminster, a description of which, with an illustration, appeared in The Builder of the 9th October 1875.
Henry Clutton, who retired from practice owing to failure of eyesight, was transferred to the Class of "Retired Fellows" in 1889. He died, after a short illness, on the 27th ult., at 76 Onslow Gardens, South Kensington, at the age of 74. Not the least interesting part of his professional career is to be seen in the care with which he took up a subject requiring archeological research. - His Papers on Chapter Houses, their Form and Uses, read in 1854 before the Wilts Archological Institute at Salisbury, and on the Sainte-Chapelle at Paris, read before the Ecclesiological Society in 1856, were both published in The Ecclesiologist, the volumes of which may be consulted in the Library.
Bibliography
Obituary: Henry Clutton, Fellow (1819-1893). The Riba Journal, Vol. IX New Series, 1893 (20 July 1893): 460. Internet Archive. Web. 7 May 2024.
Created 7 May 2024