Charles Lanyon
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Sir Charles Lanyon (1813 to 1889) was an English architect of the 19th Century. His work is most closely associated with Belfast, Northern Ireland.
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[edit] Biography
Lanyon was born in the seaside town of Eastbourne, Sussex (now East Sussex} in 1813. Following his education, he moved to Dublin in the 1830s, working as an apprentice civil engineer at the city's Irish Board of Works. Whilst here he married the daughter of his tutor Jacob Owens, whose son Thomas Ellis Owen was also a noted architect. He followed this with a short time as County Surveyor in Kildare, before moving on to Antrim in 1835. He remained County Surveyor of Antrim until 1860.
Lanyon was elected Mayor of Belfast in 1862, and Conversative MP for the city between 1865 and 1868. In 1868 he was also knighted. He died in his Whiteabbey home in 1889 and buried in Newtownbreda graveyard.
[edit] Famous works
[edit] Queen's University
Lanyon designed the main building of Queen's University of Belfast in 1849. The building is famous for its Gothic Revival facade and Great Hall. The Great Hall underwent an extensive £2.5m renovation in 2002, restoring it to Lanyon's original plans. The restoration was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the hall was reopened by The Prince of Wales. Lanyon also designed the nearby Union Theological College.
[edit] Crumlin Road Gaol and Courthouse
Lanyon designed the Crumlin Road Gaol and opposite Courthouse between 1846 and 1850. Built in an innovative style at the time and based on London's Pentonville prison, the building is currently derelict. However due to its historical and architectural significance a major restoration and redevelopment is planned. The two buildings are linked by an infamous tunnel.
[edit] Customs House
Considered by many to be Belfast's finest architectural feature, Lanyon designed the Custom House in 1857. Built in the Italian Renaissance style, the building features carved statues of Britannia, Neptune and Mercury. Until the 1950s the steps of the building served as Belfast's Speaker's Corner. It was here that trade union leader James Larkin addressed crowds of up to 20,000 people. The writer Anthony Trollope was employed here before finding fame. Today Customs House Square and the adjoining Queen's Square are Belfast City Centre's main venue for free concerts and public events. McHugh's Bar and The Albert Clock are also located here.
[edit] Sinclair Seaman's Presbyterian Church
Lanyon designed Sinclair Seaman's Presbyterian Church in 1856. Thomas Sinclair commissioned the church in memory of his father John Sinclair, who was a merchant from Belfast. Located on Corporation Square in Belfast's docks area, locally known as Sailortown, the church has a distinctive maritime theme. The lectern is made in the shape of a ship's prow. It also features a brass wheel and capstan from a World War I wreck, navigation lights from a Guinness barge, and the ship's bell from the World War II battleship HMS Hood.
[edit] Castle Leslie
Situated in Glaslough, County Monaghan Lanyon designed the castle in 1870 for John Leslie MP. Leslie was a descendant of Bishop Charles Leslie.
[edit] Other works
Other works by Lanyon in Belfast include the Linenhall Library, Belfast Castle, the Palm House at the Belfast Botanic Gardens, Stranmillis House, The Assembly Rooms in Waring Street and both the Queen's Bridge and Ormeau Bridge.
Outside of Belfast, Lanyon is famous for planting the Frosses Trees in 1839. Lanyon planted approximately 1,500 Scots Pine trees along the edge of what is now the A26 road, just north of the town of Ballymena. The overhanging trees are a well known landmark for tourists on route to the north Antrim coast. For safety reasons the majority of the original trees have been cut down, with just 104 remaining.
Lanyon also designed other bridges, viaducts and mausoleums and over 50 churches in Belfast and throughout Ireland.
[edit] Legacy
Alongside William Barre, Lanyon is considered Belfast's most important architect of the Victorian era. During this period Belfast was expanding greatly, becoming Ireland's most important industrial city, briefly becoming larger in population than Dublin.On a number of his works Lanyon was assisted by his son John and his partner, WH Lynn.
A blue plaque commemorating Lanyon is displayed at his former offices in Wellington Place. The location of Belfast's Waterfront Hall was named Lanyon Place in his honour. The Sir Charles Lanyon Memorial Prize is awarded to a student from the School of Architecture at Queen's University each year.
