Richard Cromwell Carpenter - Influence

Influence

Today, perhaps, Carpenter's chief claim to fame is having been the teacher and mentor of the eminent New Zealand architect Benjamin Mountfort, who was one of his pupils. Heavily influenced by Carpenter's form of Gothic revival, Mountfort took many of Carpenter's ideals to New Zealand where he became the country's leading church architect, with over forty churches and other buildings in the Gothic style attributed to him. Many of Mountfort's New Zealand designs, especially those in the province of Canterbury, were openly borrowed from Carpenter.

One of Carpenter's designs, based on his All Saints Church, Brighton (since demolished) was executed in modified form in the United States, where it survives as St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His plans for a "town-church" approved by the Cambridge Camden Society were provided to the Saint Mark's vestry and given to architect John Notman, who altered them to better suit the North American climate and site. The finished church is said to resemble Carpenter's Saint Stephen's, Rochester Row, Vincent Square, Westminster church. A photo essay of the Saint Stephen's, Rochester Row church is viewable at an offsite link.