George Wightwick

George Wightwick (August 26,1802 - July 9,1872) was an architect and possibly the first architectural journalist [ODNB article by Rosamund Reid "Wightwick, George (1802-1872)" "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Accessed 19 June 2006] [The surname "Wightwick" is pronounced "Whitick".] .

In addition to his architectural practice, he developed his skills and the market for architectural journalism. His views of church design disagreed with those of churchmen with power to commission new churches and this work dropped off after he published his ideas in "Weale's Quarterly papers on Architecture" in 1844/1845.

Beginnings

He was born in Wales and trained in London, with a year of travel and study in Italy, after which,in 1828, he published "Select Views of Roman Antiquities".

Plymouth Practice

In the late 1820s, he moved to Plymouth [ [http://www.plymouthdata.info/PP-WightwickG.htm The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History: George Wightwick article. (accessed 16 Oct 2007)] ] , and worked with John Foulston [ [http://www.plymouthdata.info/PP-Foulston.htm The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History: John Foulston article (accessed 16 Oct 2007)] ] , succeeding to his practice after six months. From then until 1852, when he retired to Bristol, he completed many public and domestic buildings, mostly in Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall.

He was well-known in Plymouth, not just as an architect but as an amateur actor and comedian [ [http://www.plymouthdata.info/PP-WightwickG.htm The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History: George Wightwick article (accessed 16 Oct 2007)] and [http://www.applausesw.org.uk/database/human.asp?id=331 Applause South West article and texts on G. Wightwick (includes portrait)- (accessed 16 Oct 2007] ] .

He completed designs by Foulston for Bodmin County Lunatic Asylum [ [http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/Bodmin/Bodmin.shtml Bodmin workhouse, later St Lawrence's Hospital (Illustration) (Peter Higginbotham's Workhouse website - accessed 16 Oct 2007)] , and [http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/4_13_TA.htm#South%20West%20England Middlesex University index of County Asylums (accessed 16 Oct 2007)] and [http://www.art.deaco.btinternet.co.uk/index.html History of St Lawrence's Hospital, after its closure (accessed 29 November 2007). ] and designed the Plymouth Mechanics' Institute [ [http://www.plymouthdata.info/Mechanics%20Institutes.htm The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History: Mechanics Institute article] ] , Athenaeum Terrace, the Esplanade, the Devon and Cornwall Female Orphan Asylum [ [http://www.plymouthdata.info/PP-WightwickG.htm The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History: George Wightwick article. (accessed 16 Oct 2007)] and [http://www.plymouthdata.info/Orphanages.htm The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History: Orphanages - Picture - building destroyed in the Blitz (accessed 16 Oct 2007)] ] and the Post Office at Devonport.

In Devon, he designed Calverleigh Court, and Watermouth Castle, near Ilfracombe [The Courtney Library in the Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro has an index card referring to "Architectural work of George Wightwick in Plymouth and the County of Devon" in "Transactions of the Devonshire Society" (1996) Volume 128, pp 121-138.] .

Work in Cornwall

Among the buildings that he designed in Cornwall were country houses at Luxtowe in Liskeard and Trevarno [ [http://www.trevarno.co.uk/ Trevarno House website] and [http://www.trevarno.co.uk/about-trevarno/snippets.htm Trevarno House website - historical snippets page (accessed 16 Oct 2007)] ] , near Helston, Penquite [ [http://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/england/cornwall/4958 Perquite House Hostelbookers website - Pictures of Perquite House (accessed 16 Oct 2007)] ] at Golant and alterations to Tregrehan House at St. Blazey.

In "Buildings of England: Cornwall", Pevsner [ "Buildings of England: Cornwall" by Nikolaus Pevsner, 2nd edition revised by Enid Radcliffe; Yale 1970 ISBN 0-300-09589-9 (cited as "Pevsner:Cornwall") ] describes St. Michael and All Angels, Bude (1835) [Pevsner:Cornwall Page 47 see [http://www.bude.co.uk/church-trails/Bude/Bude.htm Bude.co.uk webpage on St. Michael's church (accessed 16 Oct 2007)] ] ,St. Marys at Portreath(1841) - "rather depressing", Pevsner [Pevsner:Cornwall Page 145 (demolished) see [http://www.saint-illogan.org.uk/st_mary.html Webpage on St Mary, Portreath - includes picture of building, now demolished (accessed 16 Oct 2007)] ] ,Probus Vicarage (1839) [Pevsner:Cornwall Page 147] St. Luke's, Tideford (1845), [Pevsner:Cornwall Page 219: see [http://www.stgermansparishes.com/index-page6.html St. Germans webpage on St Lukes Parish church (accessed 16 Oct 2007)] ] ,Tregrehan House near St. Blazey. [Pevsner:Cornwall Page 224 see [http://www.tregrehan.org/tregrehan_002.htm Tregrehan House garden webpage (accessed 16 Oct 2007)] ] ,St. John's, Treslothan [Pevsner:Cornwall Page 228 see [http://www.caerkief.co.uk/Churches/Treslothan.html Caercrief webpage on St. Johns, Trelothan (accessed 16 Oct 2007)] ] Professor Brett ["Barclay Fox's journal" ; edited by Raymond L. Brett; London : Bell and Hyman, 1979 ISBN 0-7135-1865-0 and Totowa, N.J. : Rowman & Littlefield ISBN 0-8476-6187-3 . Note to Page 105.] has identified Wightwick as the architect of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society building in Falmouth ["see also": "Architectural work of George Wightwick in the County of Cornwall" by Rosamund Reid in "Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall,(ISSN 0968-5396) Series II, Volume 3, Part 2, pp 74-91 (1999)] .

Networking

The ODNB articles relates how Wightwick's social networking skills were used to develop his practice. An example of this is his relationship with the Fox family of Falmouth, as described by the brother and sister Barclay and Caroline, who both kept journals, which were published in the 1970s [Barclays's journal cited above, "The journals of Caroline Fox, 1835–1871: a selection", ed. Wendy Monk ; London, Paul Elek, (1972) ISBN 0-236-15447-8 ] .

Barclay Fox notes the brilliant lecture the Wightwick gave at the Polytechnic "The Romance of Architecture" (entry: 3 October 1838). Their companionship at the meeting of the British Association in Plymouth (entry: 29 July 1841) and his visit to the new Bodmin Lunatic Asylum with Wightwick (the architect)(entry: 23 August 1841). Caroline Fox, in her journal, describes his witty tabletalk, when he ate at Penjerrick, the home of Barclay and Caroline's family (entries: 6 April 1839 and 25 October 1839), her attendance at a lecture he gave (entry: 18 January 1849) and news that he would move to Clifton (entry: 27 June 1851). Though this long period, Wightwick kept contact with this family of "opinion-formers" and powerful social networkers.

Writings

After his retirement from architectural practice, he continued his writing about architecture, both in the Bristol papers and the national professional press.

Books by "George Wightwick, Architect" held by the British Library

* "Nettleton’s Guide to Plymouth ... and to the neighbouring country, etc". 1836

* "Hints to young architects: comprising advice to those who are destined to follow the profession", 1846 , with new editions in 1847, 1860, 1875 and 1880.
* "The Palace of Architecture: a romance of art and history". [With plates.] 1840 .

* "Richard the First, a romantik play in five acts" [and in verse, with occasional scenes in prose] . 1848.

* "Henry the Second: a tragedy in five acts" [and in verse] . 1851

(British Library Integrated catalogue search June 11, 2006)

Personal life . . . and death

He married twice but had no children. He died in Portishead on July 9,1872)

References