Holloway Sanatorium - Holloway Initiates The Design

Holloway Initiates The Design

It was not until 1872 that Holloway had a meeting with the Commissioners in Lunacy, who entered warmly into his plans and promised every assistance to produce a model building. Whilst he seemed to have had some quite fixed feelings about architectural style he was no expert, and he was assisted by Professor Donaldson and T. H. Wyatt (who were architects for the Commissioners in Lunacy). Thomas Leverton Donaldson (1795–1885) was one of the foremost members of the architectural profession, the first Professor of Architecture at University College London, co-founder of the R.I.B.A., and its President in 1863-4. Thomas Henry Wyatt (1807–1880) was another distinguished architect, who had been President of the R.I.B.A. in 1870. Both Donaldson and Wyatt received some recompense for their services, the former 100 guineas and the latter 25 guineas. Holloway had a third advisor, George Godwin, the editor of The Builder. Holloway's initial idea was that the design of the building should be purely Italian, modelled on the river frontage of Somerset House. However, by October 1871 he had had a change of heart and wrote to Donaldson: “You will see that I have gone into the grand old Flemish style. I know that your taste is classical and which I greatly admire, but perhaps all things considered the Gothic would be most appropriate, as we can get red brick in the neighbourhood and a large building in the Italian style ought, I believe, to have stone facings”.