George Edmund Street and the Restoration of Christ Church Cathedral Dublin

George Edmund Street, RA,
FRIBA (1824-1881)

George Edmund Street
and the
Restoration
of
Christ Church Cathedral
Dublin

Quick Reference Guide to Street's Life

1824 Born in Woodford, Essex, son of a London solicitor

1841 Articled to Winchester architect, Owen Browne Carter,
less than a year after his father’s death.

1844 Assistant to George Gilbert Scott

1849 Set up own practice

1850 Moved to Wantage, Berkshire

1852 Moved to Oxford

1856 Established firm in London

1866 Associate of the Royal Academy

1871 Member of the Royal Academy

1874 Awarded Gold Medal, Royal Institute of British Architects

1879 Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy

1881 President of the Royal Institute of British Architects

1881 Died in London

Works engaged in by Street while undertaking work at Christ Church

1852-78 Theological college, Cuddesdon, Oxford

1853-80 St Peter’s church, Bournemouth, Hampshire

18??-62 St John the Evangelist, Ardamine, Wexford

18??-63 Piltown church, Kilkenny

1862-85 St John Torquay, Devon

1863-72 All Saints church, Clifton, Bristol

1864-90 St Margaret’s convent, East Grinstead, West Sussex

1865-72 St Saviour’s church, Eastbourne, East Sussex

1866-82 Royal Courts of Justice (Law Courts), London (3000 drawings, and unfinished at time of death)

1866-77 St Mary’s Magdalene’s church, Paddington, London

1867-88 Holy Trinity cathedral, Bristol (nave and west façade)

1868-78 Christ Church cathedral, Dublin (reconstruction and adjoining synod hall)

1871-96 Kildare cathedral

1871-89 St John the Divine church, Kensington, London

1872-76 St Paul’s American Episcopal church, Rome

1873-76 The Hall (Wigan Rectory), Greater Manchester

1873-76 Holmdale (G.E. Street House), Holmbury St. Mary, Surrey

1873-77 St Andrew’s church, East Heslerton, North Yorkshire

1873-80 St James’ church, Kingston, Dorset

1876-79 Royal Military Guards’ chapel, Westminster, London

1877-79 St Mary’s church, Holmbury St Mary, Surrey

1878 English church, Müren, Switzerland

Suggested Reading

G.E. STREET

G.E. Street 1852 ‘On the proper characteristics of a town church’ in Ecclesiologist, 11 (1852), pp 247-262.

G.E. Street 1853 ‘On the revival of the ancient style of domestic architecture’ in Ecclesiologist, 14 (1853), pp 70-80.

G.E. Street 1853 An urgent plea for the revival of the true principles of architecture in the public buildings of the University of Oxford (Oxford and London, 1853)

G.E. Street 1855 Brick and marble architecture in the middle ages: notes on the tours in the north of Italy (London, 1855)

G.E. Street 1865 Some account of Gothic architecture in Spain (London, 1865)

G.E. Street 1866 ‘The study of Gothic foreign architecture and its influence on English art’ in Orby Shipman (ed.), The church and the world, i (London, 1866-68).

G.E. Street 1867 ‘Architecture in the thirteenth century’ in [R.H. Martley and R.D. Urbin (eds),] The afternoon lectures on literature and art delivered in the theatre of the musem of industry, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin in April and May, 1866 [iv] (Dublin and London, 1867).

G.E. Street 1867 Explanation and illustrations of his designs for the proposed new Courts of Justice (London, 1867)

G.E. Street 1871 ‘A lecture delivered at the Royal Academy last session’ in Architect, vi (1871), pp 299-301, 310-12, 323 and 325.

G.E. Street 1872 ‘A second lecture delivered at the Royal Academy last session’ in Architect, vii (1872), pp 78-80, 88-90 and 103-4.

G.E. Street 1868 Report to the dean and chapter of Christ Church cathedral, Dublin on the restoration of the cathedral church (Dublin, 1868)

G.E. Street 1871 Report on the proposed rebuilding of the choir of Christ Church cathedral, Dublin and on the erection of a synod hall in connection with the cathedral (Dublin, 1871)

G.E. Street & Edward Seymour 1882 The cathedral of the Holy Trinity commonly called Christ Church cathedral, Dublin: an account of the restoration of the fabric ... with an historical sketch of the cathedral by Edward Seymour (London, 1882)

[G.E. Street] 1916 George Edmund Street: unpublished notes and reprinted papers, edited by G.G. King (New York, 1916)

OTHER AUTHORS

William Butler 1874 Measured drawings of Christ Church prior to the restoration (Dublin, 1874)

Robert McVittie 1878 Details of the restoration of Christ Church cathedral, Dublin with a brief history of its receding condition from the date of its supposed foundation (AD 1038) to the present time (Dublin, 1878)

Thomas Drew 1886 ‘Street as a restorer: the discoveries at Christ Church cathedral’ in Dublin University Review (1 June 1886)

A.E. Street 1888 Memoir of George Edmund Street, R.A., 1824-1881 (London, 1888)

William Butler 1901 The cathedral church of Holy Trinity Dublin (Christ Church): a description of its fabric, and a brief history of its foundation, and subsequent changes (London, 1901)

B.F.L. Clarke 1938 Church builders of the nineteenth century (London, 1938)

Henry-Russell Hitchcock 1960 ‘G.E. Street in the 1850s’ in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, xix, 4 (1960), pp 145-171.

Joseph Kinnard 1963 ‘G.E. Street, the Law Courts, and the Seventies’ in Peter Ferriday (ed.), Victorian architecture (London, 1963)

M.H. Port 1968 ‘The new Law Courts competition, 1866-67’ in Architectural History, xi (1968), pp 75-93.

John Summerson 1970 ‘Two London churches’ in Victorian architecture: four studies in evaluation (New York, 1970)

John Summerson 1970 ‘The Law Courts competition of 1866-77 (sic?)’ in Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, lxxvii, 1 (1970), pp. 11-18.

Stefan Muthesius 1972 The High Victorian movement in architecture 1850-1870 (London and Boston, 1972)

Alastair Service 1979 The architects of London (London, 1979)

Neil Jackson 1980 ‘The un-Englishness of G.E. Street’s church of St James-the-Less’ in Architectural History, xxiii (1980), pp 86-94.

Paul Joyce & John Hutchinson 1981 The architecture of George Edmund Street, R.A. (Hull, 1981)

David Brownlee 1982 ‘Street, George Edmund’ in Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects, ed. A.K. Placzek (New York and London, [1982]).

David Brownlee 1984 The Law Courts: the architecture of George Edmund Street (New York, Cambridge, Mass. And London, 1984)

RIBA Dictionary 1993 R.I.B.A. Dictionary of British architects 1834-1900 (London, 1993), pp 884-5

Peter Howell 1997 ‘Street, G (eorge) E (dmund)’ in The Macmillan dictionary of art (London, 1997)

Seán O’Reilly 1998 'The arts of interference, presumption and invention: George Edmund Street rebuilds Christ Church' in Frank Salmon (ed.), Gothic and the Gothic revival: papers from the 26th annual symposium of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1997 (Manchester, 1998), 87-98 revised as 'A philosophy of restoration: George Edmund Street at Dublin's Christ Church', Irish Architectural and Decorative Studies: the Journal of the Irish Georgian Society, i, (1998), 200-20.

Roger Stalley 1999 ‘Confronting the past: George Edmund Street at Christ Church cathedral, Dublin’ in Frank Salmon (ed.), Gothic and the Gothic revival, papers from the 26th annual symposium of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1997 (London, 1999), pp 75-86.

Roger Stalley 2000 George Edmund Street and the restoration of Christ Church cathedral, Dublin (Dublin, 2000)

Roger Stalley 2000 ‘George Edmund Street and the restoration of the cathedral, 1868-78’ in Kenneth Milne (ed.), Christ Church cathedral, Dublin: a history (Dublin, 2000), pp 353-373

Material assembled as a handout for the
M.A. course in the History of Design and the Applied Arts, Faculty of Art and Design,
National College of Art and Design, Dublin 2001-2
as part of a guided tour by Stuart Kinsella on 13 December 2001.

For further details of Street, see:

Bob Speel's website

The Victorian web website

and of course the cathedral page on the recent publication:
Roger Stalley (ed.), George Edmund Street and the restoration of Christ Church cathedral Dublin (Dublin, 2000)


Home Page	History

Suggested Reading
G.E. STREET
G.E. Street	1852	‘On the proper characteristics of a town church’ in Ecclesiologist, 11 (1852), pp 247-262.
G.E. Street	1853	‘On the revival of the ancient style of domestic architecture’ in Ecclesiologist, 14 (1853), pp 70-80.
G.E. Street	1853	An urgent plea for the revival of the true principles of architecture in the public buildings of the University of Oxford (Oxford and London, 1853)
G.E. Street	1855	Brick and marble architecture in the middle ages: notes on the tours in the north of Italy (London, 1855)
G.E. Street	1865	Some account of Gothic architecture in Spain (London, 1865)
G.E. Street	1866	‘The study of Gothic foreign architecture and its influence on English art’ in Orby Shipman (ed.), The church and the world, i (London, 1866-68).
G.E. Street	1867	‘Architecture in the thirteenth century’ in [R.H. Martley and R.D. Urbin (eds),] The afternoon lectures on literature and art delivered in the theatre of the musem of industry, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin in April and May, 1866 [iv] (Dublin and London, 1867).
G.E. Street	1867	Explanation and illustrations of his designs for the proposed new Courts of Justice (London, 1867)
G.E. Street	1871	‘A lecture delivered at the Royal Academy last session’ in Architect, vi (1871), pp 299-301, 310-12, 323 and 325.
G.E. Street	1872	‘A second lecture delivered at the Royal Academy last session’ in Architect, vii (1872), pp 78-80, 88-90 and 103-4.
G.E. Street	1868	Report to the dean and chapter of Christ Church cathedral, Dublin on the restoration of the cathedral church (Dublin, 1868)
G.E. Street	1871	Report on the proposed rebuilding of the choir of Christ Church cathedral, Dublin and on the erection of a synod hall in connection with the cathedral (Dublin, 1871)
G.E. Street & Edward Seymour	1882	The cathedral of the Holy Trinity commonly called Christ Church cathedral, Dublin: an account of the restoration of the fabric ... with an historical sketch of the cathedral by Edward Seymour (London, 1882)
[G.E. Street]	1916	George Edmund Street: unpublished notes and reprinted papers, edited by G.G. King (New York, 1916)
OTHER AUTHORS
William Butler	1874	Measured drawings of Christ Church prior to the restoration (Dublin, 1874)
Robert McVittie	1878	Details of the restoration of Christ Church cathedral, Dublin with a brief history of its receding condition from the date of its supposed foundation (AD 1038) to the present time (Dublin, 1878)
Thomas Drew	1886	‘Street as a restorer: the discoveries at Christ Church cathedral’ in Dublin University Review (1 June 1886)
A.E. Street	1888	Memoir of George Edmund Street, R.A., 1824-1881 (London, 1888)
William Butler	1901	The cathedral church of Holy Trinity Dublin (Christ Church): a description of its fabric, and a brief history of its foundation, and subsequent changes (London, 1901)
B.F.L. Clarke	1938	Church builders of the nineteenth century (London, 1938)
Henry-Russell Hitchcock	1960	‘G.E. Street in the 1850s’ in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, xix, 4 (1960), pp 145-171.
Joseph Kinnard	1963	‘G.E. Street, the Law Courts, and the Seventies’ in Peter Ferriday (ed.), Victorian architecture (London, 1963)
M.H. Port	1968	‘The new Law Courts competition, 1866-67’ in Architectural History, xi (1968), pp 75-93.
John Summerson	1970	‘Two London churches’ in Victorian architecture: four studies in evaluation (New York, 1970)
John Summerson	1970	‘The Law Courts competition of 1866-77 (sic?)’ in Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, lxxvii, 1 (1970), pp. 11-18.
Stefan Muthesius	1972	The High Victorian movement in architecture 1850-1870 (London and Boston, 1972)
Alastair Service	1979	The architects of London (London, 1979)
Neil Jackson	1980	‘The un-Englishness of G.E. Street’s church of St James-the-Less’ in Architectural History, xxiii (1980), pp 86-94.
Paul Joyce & John Hutchinson	1981	The architecture of George Edmund Street, R.A. (Hull, 1981)
David Brownlee	1982	‘Street, George Edmund’ in Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects, ed. A.K. Placzek (New York and London, [1982]).
David Brownlee	1984	The Law Courts: the architecture of George Edmund Street (New York, Cambridge, Mass. And London, 1984)
RIBA Dictionary	1993	R.I.B.A. Dictionary of British architects 1834-1900 (London, 1993), pp 884-5
Peter Howell	1997	‘Street, G (eorge) E (dmund)’ in The Macmillan dictionary of art (London, 1997)
Seán O’Reilly	1998	'The arts of interference, presumption and invention: George Edmund Street rebuilds Christ Church' in Frank Salmon (ed.), Gothic and the Gothic revival: papers from the 26th annual symposium of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1997 (Manchester, 1998), 87-98 revised as 'A philosophy of restoration: George Edmund Street at Dublin's Christ Church', Irish Architectural and Decorative Studies: the Journal of the Irish Georgian Society, i, (1998), 200-20.
Roger Stalley	1999	‘Confronting the past: George Edmund Street at Christ Church cathedral, Dublin’ in Frank Salmon (ed.), Gothic and the Gothic revival, papers from the 26th annual symposium of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1997 (London, 1999), pp 75-86.
Roger Stalley	2000	George Edmund Street and the restoration of Christ Church cathedral, Dublin (Dublin, 2000)
Roger Stalley	2000	‘George Edmund Street and the restoration of the cathedral, 1868-78’ in Kenneth Milne (ed.), Christ Church cathedral, Dublin: a history (Dublin, 2000), pp 353-373