Edward Blore

[
Buckingham Palace as completed by Blore in 1850. It was later refaced and altered by Sir Aston Webb in 1913.]

Edward Blore (1787 - 1879) was a 19th century British architect and antiquary. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Some sources claim he was originally from Derby, England. [Dictionary of National Biography] )

Blore is most notable for his completion of John Nash's design of Buckingham Palace, following Nash's dismissal. He completed the palace in a style similar but plainer than that intended by Nash. In 1847 Blore returned to the palace and designed the great facade facing The Mall thus enclosing the central quadrangle. He also worked at Lambeth Palace and St James' Palace in London, and a large number of other designs in both England and Scotland, including restoring Salisbury Tower at Windsor Castle.

Blore was personal friend of Sir Walter Scott, and like him was interested in the baronial architecture of Scottish castles. This led to Prince Vorontsov's suggestion to design his extensive Vorontsov's Palace in Alupka, Crimea ("now Ukraine"). The Alupka palace was built between 1828 and 1846, in a mixture of styles ranging from Gothic Revival to Moorish Revival. The palace's guidebook describes the building as "Blore's tribute to Muslim architecture". The structure features two facades, contrasting "the starkness of Scottish Baronial on its landward side with Arabian fantasy facing the sea" [http://www.exeterinternational.co.uk/the_crimea.html ExeterInternational] ] .

As a recognised establishment architect Blore was involved in many projects related to the British Empire, this included Government House in Sydney, Australia, which he designed circa 1870 in the form of a Gothic castle. Such designs were unusual and display a more adventurous side to Blore's work than can be seen from his work in London. His East front, the public face, of Buckingham Palace was criticised from the moment of its completion as banal street architecture, a view shared by King George V who had the facade redesigned in 1913. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1841.

Blore died in 1879, and is buried in Highgate Cemetery (West), Highgate, London, England. He was tutor to the architects Philip Charles Hardwick and Frederick Marrable.

References

Buildings

* Vorontsov's Palace
* Buckingham Palace
* Cambridge University Press Pitt Building
* St. James's Palace (alterations)
* Westminster Abbey Choir and Screen
* Bedford Modern School (1834-1974, now the Harpur Centre facade)
* Lambeth Palace

Further reading

* Sir Banister Fletcher: "Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture - Editor: Dan Cruickshank" (Architectural Press, Oxford, 1996) ISBN 0-7506-2267-9
* Charlotte Gere and Michael Whiteway: "Nineteenth-Century Design: From Pugin to Mackintosh" (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1993) ISBN 0-297-83068-6

External links

* [http://www.blacksea-crimea.com/WebAlbums/Alupka-album/index.html The Alupka Palace]

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