Architectural Interests
Prior to Frederick Jobson's travels to America and Australia, he had become a recognised author, and an authority on Nonconformist, and in particular Wesleyan, chapel design. This recognition had been secured following publication of his best-known book, Chapel and School Architecture as Appropriate to the Buildings of Nonconformists Particularly to Those of the Wesleyan Methodists: With Practical Directions for the Erection of Chapels and School-Houses (1850).
In this book he maintained that chapels are not meant to be designed to look like concert halls. He regarded Neo-Gothic with a degree of praise, and adapted its medieval designs to the traditions and needs of nineteenth-century Independent or Nonconformist chapels. Externally, a greater use of brick and design elements not generally acceptable in Anglican Neo-Gothic, could be promoted in the Neo-Gothic of Nonconformist chapels. In this, the Dissenting Gothic style, the central isle (a key feature of Anglican churches) was ruled out; as was the choir and apse. These and other modifications contributed to simplicity of interior design and internally, the most important focal point was the pulpit as required by dissenting congregations. Due to the presence of women preachers in some Nonconformist chapels (entirely absent from Anglican churches), panels called 'modesty boards' were sometimes introduced into Dissenting Gothic pulpit designs. Seating arrangements took several forms, including sometimes being raised.
F. J. Jobson's knowledge of architecture proved particularly useful to him in his relations with the Wesleyans' commissioning around 1850 of a Normal Training College at Westminster (which later became Southlands College); their opening in 1851 of new premises for Wesley's Kingswood School in Bath, Somerset, originally founded in 1748; and also the Wesleyan Theological Institution, Richmond that opened in 1843 when students transferred from Abney House. All of these constructions, he took an active interest.
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