William Wallen (architect and surveyor)

During the ninetieth century, the Wallen family was linked to British architecture. William Wallen (1790-1863) and his son, William Wallen Junior (1817-1891) were both architects and surveyors in London.

Biographies

William Wallen Senior (1790-1863), was born in Southwark, Surrey, the son of William Wallen and probably Frances Wallen nee Smith. William married Amy Elizabeth Willcocks (1795-c1865) at Guildhall, Blackfriars in 1814.[1] They lived in Hoxton, London, producing four sons and five daughters.[2] William died at Hackney in 1873, aged 83.[3]

William Wallen Junior (1817-1891) also became an architect and surveyor. Professionally, he remained William Wallen ( Junior), no doubt to distinguish himself from his father and his cousin, William Wallen (1807-1888) , a fellow architect in Huddersfield. William Jnr. was born in Hoxton and married Mary Ann Sydney (1828- 1899) at Guildhall in 1848.[4] They produced four sons and one daughter.[5] William died in Greenwich aged 74 Years.[6]

Career of William Wallen (Senior)

William Wallen Senior practiced as an architect and surveyor, however; he appears to have favoured surveying commissions. His career was somewhat overshadowed by his older brother, John Wallen (1783-1865) who was an architect and the principal surveyor to London during the 1830s.[7] Nevertheless, William is credited with at least two architectural projects between 1822 and 1823.[8] They were non-conformist chapels in Newbury, Berkshire and Newark, Nottinghamshire. It is also suggested that he was the “Mr Wallen” who received a substantial fee for the survey and probably the design of Claremont Chapel in New Road, Pentonville.[9]

During the 1830s, William’s professional office was at 1 Circus Place, Finsbury. Here he designed the British School in Wood Street, Spitalfields,[10] and the Abbey Street British School in Bethnal Green.[11] He briefly employed Owen Jones, a pupil of architect, Lewis Vulliamy. This was probably an arrangement between Vulliamy and Wallen to equip Jones with essential surveying skills before he undertook a Grand Tour of Europe and the Middle East in 1832.[12]

Wallen family correspondence, dating from the 1800s, indicates that one, or both, the Wallen brothers were involved in the surveying of the London to Birmingham railway. Apparently, a ‘mistake’ caused the Wallens major financial hardship.[13] Notably, William was declared bankrupt in February 1839.[14] Undaunted, William returned to the Court in the same year. In Wallen v. Smith he successfully appealed costs exceeding £40 previously awarded against him. His case became legal precedent referred to during the 1800s.[15] By 1848, William had opened an office at 17 King St, London City and through the 1850s, he and his son, William (Jnr), operated from 25 Bassinghall Street, London.[16]

Career of William Wallen (Junior)

William (jnr) designed the first school in the Isle of Dogs. Millwall British School was built by James and Jonathan Coleman of Bermondsey in 1846-7.[17] He also designed a Lecture Hall for the Deptford Literary Institution. It was built by Joseph Lester in 1852.[18] William won an allegedly corrupt competition to design the Vestry Hall at the Greenwich Public Offices. The hall was built in 1876-7 by W. W. Allen.[19]

William Wallen the younger of Lawrence Pountney Lane, in the City of London, Architect, Surveyor, Builder, Dealer and Chapman was declared bankrupt on 25 March 1854.[20] William (jnr) was again declared bankrupt on 29 September 1869, but an Order of Discharge was granted on 10 December 1869.[21] Francis Hodgson Nixon (1832-1883) became a pupil of William (jnr) in 1846. By mutual consent, Nixon and Wallen annulled the indenture agreement in 1849.[22] Nixon moved to Australia to pursue a career in architecture before turning to journalism.


References

  1. ↑ Parish record,Guildhall, St Ann Blackfriars.
  2. ↑ England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JQBQ-YQ3 : accessed 21 March 2015).
  3. ↑ London Volume: 1b Page: 381
  4. ↑ Guildhall, St Andrew by the Wardrobe, Register of marriages, 1837 - 1852,
  5. ↑ England Censuses 1851 & 1861
  6. ↑ Greenwich, London Volume: 1d Page: 760
  7. ↑ Colvin H.M. 1954. A Biographical Dictionary of English Architects, 1660-1840. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780719502545
  8. ↑ Colvin 1954.
  9. ↑ 'Pentonville Road', in Survey of London: Volume 47, Northern Clerkenwell and Pentonville, ed. Philip Temple (London, 2008), pp. 339-372 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol47/pp339-372 [accessed 22 April 2015].
  10. ↑ Metropolitan Archives, Y/SP/093/02/A ; Y/SP/093/02/B
  11. ↑ Cherry B., O'Brien C. & Pevsner N. 2005, the Buildings of England, London East, New Haven: Yale University Press.
  12. ↑ Flores C.A.H. 1996, Owen Jones, Architect, A Dissertation, Atlanta: Georgia Institute of Technology.
  13. ↑ Munro D. 2015, Holds Wallen family correspondence.
  14. ↑ Eliwick G. 1843, The Bankruptcy Directory,London: Simpkin, 428
  15. ↑ Meeson R. & Weslby W.N. 1838, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Courts of Exchequer, Vol. 3, London:Sweet,136.
  16. ↑ Post Office Directories, 1843 to 1856
  17. ↑ 'Southern Millwall: The Mellish Estate in Southern Millwall', in Survey of London: Volumes 43 and 44, Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs, ed. Hermione Hobhouse (London, 1994), pp. 480-489 https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vols43-4/pp480-489 [accessed 25 April 2015].
  18. ↑ MBO/PLANS/452
  19. ↑ Edith Streets London, http://edithsstreets.blogspot.com.au/2010/03/thames-tributary-ravensbourne_16.html
  20. ↑ London Gazette 28/03/1854 , 993.
  21. ↑ The London Gazette, 1 Oct 1869 & 14 July 1871, 3222.
  22. ↑ Rockhampton Bulletin 1881; Nixon’s Indenture Papers, available ancestry.com.