John Foulston

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An 1820's print of Foulston's town hall, column and library in Devonport.
An 1820's print of Foulston's town hall, column and library in Devonport.
The same view in 2008.
The same view in 2008.

John Foulston (1772 – 30 December 1841) was an English architect. He was a pupil of Thomas Hardwick and set up a practice in London in 1796.[1] In 1810 he won a competition to design the Royal Hotel and Theatre group of buildings in Plymouth, Devon,[2] and he moved there where he remained the leading architect for twenty-five years.[1]

At the time, Plymouth was no more than a town, along the shore of Plymouth Sound from the towns of East Stonehouse and Devonport; they were collectively known as the Three Towns. Foulston was responsible for the creation of Union Street which was built across marshland to unite the three towns.[1]

Most of Foulston's work was in the Greek Revival style, but his best known project was the creation of a group of buildings in Ker Street, Devonport in 1821-24.[1] This eclectic group consisted of a Greek Doric town hall and commemorative column;[3] a terrace of houses in Roman Corinthian style and two houses in Greek Ionic; a "Hindoo" nonconformist chapel and an "Egyptian" library. Of these, all but the chapel and the houses survive.[4]

Foulston's Royal Hotel, Theatre and Assembly Rooms were built between 1811 and 1818.[1] The theatre was notable for being one of the first buildings in Britain to use cast and wrought iron for parts of its main structure; it was demolished just before World War II to make way for a cinema.[2] Among his other works in Plymouth were The Athenaeum (1818-19, bombed in World War II and demolished afterwards),[5] Belmont House (c.1825),[6] The Proprietary Library (1812, destroyed by bombing, 1941),[7] The Royal Union Baths (1828, demolished 1849 to make way for Millbay railway station),[7] and St. Catherine's Church (1823, demolished 1958).[5] He also designed many stucco-faced terraces and suburban villas, some of which survive as listed buildings.[8] In Torquay he built the ballroom (1830, demolished), and in Tavistock he restored the medieval abbey gatehouse in Gothic style.[1]

Not long before he retired he took into his partnership the architect George Wightwick who succeeded to his practice. After his retirement, Foulston created a set of watercolour drawings of some of his buildings, which are now in the City Art Gallery. He became a fellow of the Institute of British Architects in 1838,[1] and in the same year published "The Public Buildings of the West of England",[2] a book that included plans and drawings of many of his buildings.[9]

In his later years he created an elaborate water garden at his home (Athenian Cottage in the suburb of Mutley[2]), and he was wont to drive round the streets of the town in a gig disguised as a Roman war chariot. He died at his home and is buried in St Andrew's new cemetery in Plymouth.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Peter Leach, Foulston, John (1772–1841), rev., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Online at http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37425 (subscription required). Accessed 17 May 2008.
  2. ^ a b c d Plymouth, John Foulston. www.plymouthdata.info. Retrieved on 2008-05-16.
  3. ^ Devonport Column. English Heritage, National Monuments Record. Retrieved on 2008-05-17.
  4. ^ Bridget Cherry & Nikolaus Pevsner (1989). The Buildings of England — Devon. Harmondsworth [Eng.]: Penguin, 675-6. ISBN 0 14 071050 7. 
  5. ^ a b Cherry & Pevsner 1989, p.664.
  6. ^ Cherry & Pevsner 1989, p.673.
  7. ^ a b Hoskins, W. G. (1954). A New Survey of England: Devon. London: Collins, 459. 
  8. ^ See, for instance St Michael's Lodge. English Heritage, National Monuments Record. Retrieved on 2008-05-17.
  9. ^ A contemporary advert for the book is in The Architect, Engineer, and Operative Builder's Constructive Manual 188. Google Book Search. Retrieved on 2008-05-17.