Architects
The NER was the first railway company in the world to appoint a full-time salaried architect to work with its chief engineer in constructing railway facilities. Some of the men appointed were based in, or active in, Darlington.
- The first architect associated with the North Eastern Railway was George Townsend Andrews who designed the first permanent station at York, along with others on the NER route and the Assembly Rooms in York.
- Thomas Prosser held the position from 1854 to 1874. He worked in Newcastle
- his successor, Benjamin Burleigh, died after only two years in post.
- William Peachey, who followed Burleigh for an equally brief period of office, was based in Darlington and his work had more impact in the town. Peachey had been architect to the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and when this merged into the NER in 1863 was made Darlington section architect. Most of his work was to extend and improve railway buildings, though elsewhere he built the Zetland Hotel at Saltburn (1861-3), and the Royal Station Hotel at York (1877-82). He also practised privately and designed a few nonconformist chapels including Grange Road Baptist Chapel in Darlington, 1870-1.
- William Bell worked for the NER for fifty years and was chief architect between 1877 and 1914. He designed a few buildings in Darlington as a private practitioner, especially for the Methodists, but his major contribution was as NER architect. Bank Top (1884-7) is one of the best examples of his station designs, for which he developed a standard system of roof building, and he added various elements to the North Road Engineering works between 1884 and 1910. He also designed the offices of the Mechanical Engineer's Department in Brinkburn Road in 1912. While not quite as splendid as the Headquarters Offices in York, which he designed with Horace Field in 1904, it shows that Bell could adapt his usual style to accommodate the new influences of the Queen Anne revival.
- Arthur Pollard and Stephen Wilkinson then each filled the position of chief architect briefly, before the merger of 1923 into the LNER led to the abolition of the department.
Professional design was carried through to small fixtures and fittings, such as platform seating, for which the NER adopted distinctive 'coiled snake' bench-ends. Cast-iron footbridges were also produced to a distinctive design. The NER's legacy continued to influence the systematic approach to design adopted by the grouped LNER.
Read more about this topic: North Eastern Railway (UK)
Famous quotes containing the word architects:
““Where do architects and designers get their ideas?” The answer, of course, is mainly from other architects and designers, so is it mere casuistry to distinguish between tradition and plagiarism?”
—Stephen Bayley (b. 1951)
“Perchance the time will come when every house even will have not only its sleeping-rooms, and dining-room, and talking-room or parlor, but its thinking-room also, and the architects will put it into their plans. Let it be furnished and ornamented with whatever conduces to serious and creative thought. I should not object to the holy water, or any other simple symbol, if it were consecrated by the imagination of the worshipers.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“All architects want to live beyond their deaths.”
—Philip Johnson (b. 1906)