So Who Is our Letter T?

An A-Z of Architects of Loughborough

For a complete list of the A-Z posts please head over to the bloglist.

 

Letter T in the A-Z blogging challenge throws up many choices! I will struggle to provide relevant posts for some of the final letters of the alphabet, so in case I do fall short, let’s have a look into a couple of architects for letter T!

Short biography of Frank Tranmer

Frank was born in 1887 to Henry, a grocer, and Martha Kate, née Luck, in Scarborough. He grew up on Candler Street, where his father was a grocer, and upon his father’s early death, when Frankl was only 10, the business was continued by his mother. [Check out Candler Street on a street view map: No. 41, where the Tranmers are said to have lived, looks like an ordinary house, whereas No. 43 has distinct signs of once being a corner shop – a ghost sign and a hanging sign frame on the side wall, and a new brick wall.]

In 1913, Frank married Ida Dorothy Emerson in Harrogate. The couple went on to have children, Dorothy in 1915, and Eric in 1920. Eric sadly died at the age of 24 in a flying accident during the Second World War.

Shortly after the end of the First World War, Frank joined the architectural practice of Samuel Stead, who had founded the company just before the start of the war, when he retired from the position of borough engineer for Harrogate. Samuel then retired from his newly formed company in 1922.

In 1925, Frank designed a new school for Loughborough, which was in what was once part of the grounds of Limehurst House. In 1930, The Yorkshire Post described one of Frank’s new buildings:

“Parochial halls are usually more utilitarian than beautiful, and it is pleasing to find in Harrogate, on a prominent site on the busy Leeds Road, a building which combines both qualities. In place of the corrugated iron room which stood in the grounds of St Mark’s church, and spoiled one of its characteristic aspects, the new parochial hall, designed by Mr Frank Tranmer of Harrogate, is a notable addition to the smaller architectural treasures of the town.”

Frank, who resided at 34 Park Parade, Harrogate, died on 17 March 1938, and his personal effects were £5,269 13s. 8d.

Until Franks’ death, the architectural practice was based in Westminster Chambers, Station Parade, Harrogate. Following his death, the practice moved to Victoria Avenue, Harrogate, and was run by architects Eric Brown and Harry Bailey, who joined in 1937 and 1938 respectively.

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What follows is a selection of buildings designed by Frank Tranmer

Note: this is a selective, not a comprehensive listing.

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*Limehurst School (1925, opened 1931)

*Norton Church House, attached to St Peter’s church, Norton on Derwent, Malton, Yorks.

* Parochial Hall for St Mark’s church, Harrogate (1930)

*Rest homes (almshouses) for Mr Kirby, Driffield (1933)

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Basic facts

Name: Frank Tranmer

Parents: Henry (1860-1897) and Martha Kate Luck (1859-1948), m.1883

Date and place of Birth: 1887, Scarborough

Spouse: Ida Dorothy Emerson (1887-1984), m.1913, Harrogate

Children: Dorothy Phyllis (1915); Eric William (an architect) (1920-1944)

Places lived: 41 Candler Street, Scarborough; Park Parade, Harrogate

Place of work/Offices: Station Parade, Harrogate

Qualifications

Associate of RIBA 1920

Fellow of RIBA 1933

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Short biography of Walter John Tapper

Walter John Tapper, born in 1861 in Bovey Tracey, is one of those nationally well-known architects who played an important role in designing one of Loughborough’s buildings. Others, whom I could have written about in earlier blogposts include Thomas Rickman (Emmanuel Church); William Slater (the Corn Exchange/Town Hall, and the Baxter Gate Dispensary); William Railton (the Bavarian Gates, and several of the lodge houses at Garendon Park); Arthur William Blomfield (Holy Trinity church) – and more!

Walter Tapper’s work was predominantly but not exclusively on church buildings, including St Mary’s in Harrogate, St Erkenwald’s in Southend, and St Stephen’s in Grimsby. Other work included Bicton Hall, Devon; Eartham Grange, Worcestershire, and Shipley Hall, Derbyshire, which, I think, was once home to the American Adventure theme park.

In Loughborough, Walter Tapper was the architect chosen to design the iconic Carillon Tower and War Memorial, in 1921, although his first design was rejected as being rather too expensive. Building work started in November 1921, the foundation stone was laid in January 1922, and the building was officially opened in July 1923. What is amazing about this building is that it was a truly local affair, the idea for such a war memorial being supported by citizens and officials of the town, and the structure being created with local trades and local materials. This is what I wrote in ‘Loughborough in 50 Buildings’:

“Queen’s Park is the perfect setting for Loughborough’s unusual war memorial. The Grade II Listed Carillon Tower, built following public consultation, provides a lasting memorial to local people who perished in the First World War. Heanor chose a memorial hospital, Quorn a memorial garden, other towns a stained-glass church window, or other monument: Loughborough chose to honour its dead by building a towering structure housing a carillon. The bells would be reminiscent of those more commonly found in Belgium: many of those to whom the Carillon is dedicated, fell at Ypres.

Walter Tapper, the architect appointed to design the edifice, was a contemporary of Sir George Gilbert Scott, and most noted for his churches. In the latter part of his career Tapper was a President of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

The construction of the tower was a most local affair: built by Moss, of bricks by Tuckers; steelwork by Herbert Morris, and the bells of the carillon made by Taylors Bellfounders.

A Portland stone base and window dressing, with pointing of Portland cement complement the local materials. At 151 feet tall, the Tower weighs a total of 1,300 tons. The main gallery projecting from the body of the tower, is surrounded by sixteen columns which support the roof, and an octagonal gallery with a turret, topped by a cupola roof, rise from this gallery. Access is through the large wooden doors at ground level, and then via the spiral stone stairs.

The foundation stones were laid in 1922 by General Lord Horne and Mrs J. T. Godber, and the memorial unveiled by Field Marshal Sir William Robertson on Sunday 22nd July, 1923. In 1928 a stone balustrade around the base of the tower was added, and in 1981 floodlighting was presented by descendants of the Tucker family.”

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What follows is a selection of buildings designed by Walter John Tapper

Note: this is a selective, not a comprehensive listing.

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*Alterations to York Minster

*Alterations to Westminster Abbey

*St Mary’s church, Harrogate

*St Stephen’s, Grimsby.

*Bicton Hall, Devon

*Eartham Grange, Worcestershire

*Shipley Hall, Derbyshire

*Carillon Tower and War Memorial, Loughborough (1921/3)

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Basic facts

Name: Walter John Tapper

Parents: George (1816-1877) and Elizabeth, née Medland (1818-1881)

Date and place of Birth: 21 April 1861, Bovey Tracey, Devon

Spouse: Catherine Jotcham, m.1886, St Mary’s Islington

Children: Michael John (became an architect) (1886-1963); Kathleen (1890-1977)

Death: 21 September 1935, Westminster; buried in the west cloister of Westminster Abbey

Places lived: Bovey Tracey; Clerkenwell; Gray’s Inn Square, London’ Hornsey Middlesex; St John’s Wood; Dean’s Yard, Westminster

Qualifications

Associate of RIBA 1889

Fellow of RIBA 1912

Associate of the Royal Academy 1926

President of RIBA 1927-1929

Royal Academician 1935

Knighted 1935

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I’m taking part in the April A-Z Blogging Challenge!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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