Frank Tory and Sons were an English family firm of Sheffield based architectural sculptors whose work enhances some of the city's finest late 19th century and early 20th century buildings. [1] Apart from stone carving the family also worked in wood, marble, bronze and fibrous plaster. The firm operated from the early 1880s until the 1950s and consisted of Frank Tory and his twin sons Alfred Herbert and William Frank.
Frank Tory (1848–1939) originated from London and trained at the Lambeth School of Art, he came to Sheffield in 1880 to accept the carving contract on the Corn Exchange, a building commissioned by the 15th Duke of Norfolk as part of a comprehensive plan to improve Sheffield's markets. [2] Tory's work on the Corn Exchange was to such a high standard that it was suggested that if he stayed in Sheffield there would be plenty of work for him. He set up a studio and workshop in Sans Pavis, a lane amongst the cluttered terraced houses of central Sheffield. [1]
Frank Tory's twin sons Alfred Herbert (1881–1971) and William Frank (1881–1968) were born in Winter Street, Crookesmoor and attended Broomhill Council School and the Weston Academy for Sons of Gentlemen. They trained under their father who also taught at the Sheffield School of Art and had a strong will to follow in their father's footsteps and they eventually entered the family firm, ultimately taking it over. Alfred and William were identical twins, on the only surviving photograph of the two, nobody knows which one is which. During the 1920s the firm moved premises to Ecclesall Road, at a site which is now the Porter Brook pub at Sharrow. The ageing Frank had a house adjoining the workshop while the sons lived nearby in Banner Cross. When Alfred and William retired in the 1950s the firm was wound up, with the change in architectural styles meaning that sculpture was out of fashion on modern buildings. [3]
Frank Tory's first commission in Sheffield, the Corn Exchange (1881) is no longer standing, it was gutted by fire in 1947 and demolished in 1964. It was an imposing building near the site of the present day Park Square roundabout, it had much stone dressing including 20 carved stone heraldic shields around the walls bearing the arms of the Howards, Talbots and Abney-Hastings. [2] Tory's work on the Corn Exchange brought him into contact with the architect Matthew Ellison Hadfield and his son Charles who encouraged him to set up business in Sheffield saying he would have a plentiful supply of work. [2] Hadfield employed Tory again during construction of Parade Chamber (1883–85) on High Street with Tory providing garlanded portraits of Geoffrey Chaucer and William Caxton and an array of grimacing gargoyles. [4] In 1888 he worked on St John's Church, Ranmoor sculpturing stone and marble reredos and The Last Supper carved in alabaster flanked by Saint Peter and Saint Paul. [1]
Other works include:
The Tory twins were well known for accepting a large range of commissions both big and small. [3] They are probably best known for the sculpture work on Sheffield City Hall which opened in 1932 and included an understated dentil corniche and narrow frieze on the central block as well as decorative carving to the tops of the Corinthian capitals. Their work on Sheffield Central Library (1934) includes medallions carved around the main entrance representing Literature, Music, Drama, Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Mathematics, Chemistry and Astronomy. High up on the south-west corner of the library is an Egyptian type figure representing Knowledge and holding the ankh and asp to represent the choice between good and evil. The brothers contributed two friezes for the Mappin Art Gallery (1937), one above the main entrance depicts the Shrine of Knowledge with various creatures while the other on the east side portrays men working in the Sheffield metal trades. [1]
Other works include:
Alfred Waterhouse was an English architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known for his designs for Manchester Town Hall and the Natural History Museum in London, although he also built a wide variety of other buildings throughout the country. Besides his most famous public buildings he designed other town halls, the Manchester Assize buildings—bombed in World War II—and the adjacent Strangeways Prison. He also designed several hospitals, the most architecturally interesting being the Royal Infirmary Liverpool and University College Hospital London. He was particularly active in designing buildings for universities, including both Oxford and Cambridge but also what became Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds universities. He designed many country houses, the most important being Eaton Hall in Cheshire, largely demolished in 1961-63. He designed several bank buildings and offices for insurance companies, most notably the Prudential Assurance Company. Although not a major church designer he produced several notable churches and chapels. He was both a member of The Royal Institute of British Architects, of which he served a term as President, and a Royal Academician, acting as Treasurer for the Royal Academy.
High Street is one of the main thoroughfares and shopping areas in the city centre of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England, located at the approximate grid reference of SK356874. High Street starts at the Commercial Street, Fitzalan Square and Haymarket junction and runs for approximately 400 metres west to conclude near the Sheffield Cathedral where it forms a Y-junction with Fargate and Church Street. High Street has the traditional wide variety of shops, financial institutions and eating places which are associated with any British town centre.
Church Street is situated in the centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, at the grid reference of SK353874. It runs for approximately 490 yards (450 m) in a westerly direction from its junction with Fargate and High Street to its termination at the crossroads formed by the junction with West Street, Leopold Street and Townhead Street. Church Street has its own Sheffield Supertram stop directly in front of the Sheffield Cathedral and it carries that name.
O'Shea and Whelan was an Irish family practice of stonemasons and sculptors from Ballyhooly in County Cork. They were notable for their involvement in Ruskinian gothic architecture in the mid-19th century.
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Frederick William Pomeroy was a prolific British sculptor of architectural and monumental works. He became a leading sculptor in the New Sculpture movement, a group distinguished by a stylistic turn towards naturalism and for their works of architectural sculpture. Pomeroy had several significant public works in London and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, notably in Belfast. His work in London includes the figure of Lady Justice (1905–1906) on the dome of the Old Bailey.
Sacred Heart Church is located in Forbes Road in the Hillsborough district of the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England at grid reference SK333894. It is a Roman Catholic church in the Diocese of Hallam and is a Grade II listed building. The church is situated in an elevated position and its tower is a prominent landmark in the area.
Matthew Ellison Hadfield was an English architect of the Victorian Gothic revival. He is chiefly known for his work on Roman Catholic churches, including the cathedral churches of Salford and Sheffield.
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John RhindARSA (1828–1892) was a Scottish sculptor, based in Edinburgh. He was born in Banff the son of a master mason. He was trained under Alexander Handyside Ritchie (1804–1870). He served this apprenticeship in a yard at 4 East Broughton Place.
William John Hale was an architect based in Sheffield, England, who produced the city's most striking early 20th-century architecture. He practised between 1896 and 1929 and designed several schools and churches in Sheffield, using the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau styles as a basis.
Richard Lockwood Boulton was an English sculptor who founded the firm Messrs R. L. Boulton & Sons. It was centred in Cheltenham, England, and built monuments made of iron and stone in the United Kingdom.
Edward Maene was a Belgian-American architectural sculptor, woodcarver and cabinetmaker.
Robert Mawer was an architectural sculptor, based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. He specialised in the Gothic Revival and Neoclassical styles. He created the Neoclassical keystone heads on St George's Hall, Bradford and on Moorland's House, Leeds, and was working on the keystone heads at Leeds Town Hall when he died. He was a founding member of the Mawer Group of Leeds architectural sculptors, which included his wife, Catherine Mawer, his son Charles Mawer, and his apprentices William Ingle, Matthew Taylor and Benjamin Payler, who all became sculptors with their own careers. Many of the buildings enhanced with sculpture by Robert Mawer are now listed by Historic England.
Catherine Mawer was an architectural sculptor who worked alongside her husband Robert Mawer, then following his death in 1854 she ran the family stone yard as a master sculptor at Great George Street, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, until 1859. The other master sculptor in her 1854–1859 company, which was known as Mrs Mawer, was her nephew William Ingle who supervised the stone yard and onsite works from 1854. Her apprentices were Matthew Taylor, Benjamin Payler, and her son Charles Mawer. All the apprentices later had independent careers as sculptors. After her son came of age in 1870, she continued working alongside Charles and her nephew William in the partnership Mawer and Ingle at the same address. Catherine was a founder member of the Mawer Group, which comprised all of the above Leeds architectural sculptors. During her lifetime, the Mawer group produced some strongly lifelike and often unflattering portraits, full of movement, including portraits of men with overhanging moustaches and cavernous mouths. These portraits continued after the deaths of Robert Mawer and William Ingle, but stopped appearing at her death in 1877. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that this style of work was her own.
Charles Mawer (1839–1903) was an architectural sculptor, based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. He was the son of sculptors Robert and Catherine Mawer and the cousin of William Ingle. He was apprenticed to his father, and worked within the partnership Mawer and Ingle alongside his cousin William and his own mother between 1860 and 1871, and then ran the stone yard himself until he formed a partnership with his fellow-apprentice Benjamin Payler in 1881. Following that date, his whereabouts and death are unknown. His last major work for Mawer and Ingle was Trent Bridge, where he carved alone, following the death of William Ingle. He is noted for his work on the rebuilding of the mediaeval Church of St Michael and All Angels, Barton-le-Street, completed in 1871, where he repaired and recreated damaged and missing Romanesque carvings, and for his carving on William Swinden Barber's 1875 Church of St Matthew, Lightcliffe. Charles' last known work ornaments another Barber church: the 1880 Church of St Thomas the Apostle, Killinghall. Charles was a member of the Mawer Group of Leeds architectural sculptors, which included those mentioned above, plus Matthew Taylor.
Mawer and Ingle was a company of architectural sculptors, based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, between 1860 and 1871. It comprised cousins Charles Mawer and William Ingle (1828–1870), and Catherine Mawer (1804–1877) who was mother of Charles and aunt of William. The group produced carvings on many Gothic Revival churches and their internal furnishings. They also worked on civic buildings, warehouses and offices. Many of these are now listed by Historic England, and many of the surviving buildings are within Yorkshire. Their work outside Yorkshire included Trent Bridge.
Benjamin Payler, , was a sculptor, stone and marble mason. He was apprenticed to Catherine Mawer, alongside fellow apprentices Matthew Taylor and Catherine's son Charles Mawer. He formed a business partnership at 50 Great George Street with Charles Mawer in 1881. There is no known record of Charles after that. Payler continued to run the business there under his own name. In his day, he was noted for his 1871 bust of Henry Richardson, the first Mayor of Barnsley, his keystone heads on the 1874 Queen's Hotel in the same town, and his architectural sculpture on George Corson's 1881 School Board offices, Leeds. Payler was a member of the Mawer Group, which included the above-mentioned sculptors, plus William Ingle.
William Ingle was an architectural sculptor in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. He specialised in delicately undercut bas relief and small stand-alone stone sculptures of natural and imaginary flora and fauna on churches and on civic, commercial and domestic buildings. He was apprenticed to his uncle Robert Mawer. After Mawer's death in 1854 he worked in partnership with his aunt Catherine Mawer and his cousin Charles Mawer in the company Mawer and Ingle. Notable works by Ingle exist on Leeds Town Hall, Endcliffe Hall, Sheffield and Moorlands House, Leeds. He sometimes exhibited gentle humour in his ecclesiastical work, such as faces peering through greenery, and mischievous humour on secular buildings, such as comic rabbits and frogs among foliage. He died of tuberculosis at age 41 years, having suffered the disease for two years.
William Henry Feldon was a sculptor, architectural sculptor, and monumental mason from Oxford, England who migrated to New Zealand in 1910. He is best known for his series of First World War memorials—where annual Anzac Day services are held—and his contributions to iconic public buildings in New York, New Zealand, and England.