Charles Lanyon

All you want to know about Charles Lanyon

Portrait of Charles Lanyon

Sir Charles Lanyon (1813 to 1889) was an English architect of the 19th century. His work is most closely associated with Belfast, Northern Ireland.^[1]

Biography

Lanyon was born in the seaside town of Eastbourne, Sussex (now East Sussex} in 1813. His father was John Jenkinson Lanyon, a purser in the Royal Navy, and his mother was Catherine Anne Mortimer.

Following his education, he took up an apprentice civil engineer with Jacob Owen in Portsmouth. During this time, Owen was made senior Engineer and Architect of the Irish Board of Works, and when Owen moved to Dublin, Lanyon followed. Whilst here he married Owens' daughter, Helen Elizabeth, in 1835. He followed this with a short time as County Surveyor in Kildare, before moving on to Antrim in 1836. He remained County Surveyor of Antrim until 1860 when he resigned from being County Surveyor to concentrate on private jobs and his other interests.

Lanyon was elected Mayor of Belfast in 1862, and Conversative MP for the city between 1865 and 1868.^[2] In 1868 he was also knighted and served on the Select Committee on Scientific Instruction, which in 1871 lead to the Education Act for Universal Education.

He lost his seat in Westminster, but became a councillor in Belfast Town Council from 1861 to 1871. From 1862 to 1886 he was Belfast Harbour Commissioner. He was also Deputy Lieutenant for County Antrim and High Sheriff during 1876. He was also a JP (Justice of the Peace) for many years ^[3]

His other business interests include being director of the Blackstaff Flax Spinning Company. He even became the Grand Master of Freemasons in Ireland.

Lanyon was chairman of several railway companies. He was made director of the Northern Counties Railway in 1870, but resigned in 1887 because of ill-health.

Lanyon died in his Whiteabbey home on 31st May 1889 and buried in Newtownbreda graveyard. His will is recorded in the Public Records Office for Northern Ireland:

8th August 1889, LANYON, Sir Charles, Effects £53,785 1s 3d. The will (with 5 codiciles) of Sir Charles Lanyon, late of the Abbey, Whiteabbey, Co. Antrim, Knight, to died 31st May 1889 at the same place, was proved at Belfast by John Lanyon of Lisbreen, Fortwilliam Park Belfast, CE Herbert Owen Lanyon or Castletown Terrace, Belfast, Merchant, and Elizabeth Helen Lanyon of the Abbey, Whiteabbey, Spinster.

Famous works

The Lanyon Building is Queen's main building.

Union Theological College, then Assembly's College, was Lanyon's work

Antrim Coast Road (1836)

The north Antrim coast was difficult to reach for many years. Lanyon (with instruction from Owen) designed a route from Larne up through Ballygalley, Glenarm, Carnlough, Glenarriff to Ballycastle. It involved removal of thousands of tonnes of rock using explosives, and building sea walls. Part of this route included the Glendun Viaduct

Ballymoney Court House (1838)

This building one of Charles Lanyon’s earlier buildings was completed in 1838. It cost £1,125, plus £40 for the bench and fitting up. It is made mostly of basalt blocks with brick dressings. The main doorway is surrounded by a thick stone frame. A lot of the window frames and sills are made of brown basalt. Strangely enough it is not currently a listed building.

Frosses Road (1839)

When a road was needed from Ballymena to Ballymoney, the straightest route was over the large Frosses Bog. Lanyon planted 1500 large Douglas Fir trees in two lines so that the roots would intermingle, and would create a surface for a road to be built.

Glendun Viaduct, Glendun (1839)

This huge arch-shaped viaduct was finally completely built in 1839.

Palm House, Botanic Gardens, Belfast (1840)

The palm house was probably Lanyon's only building of this type. It is a Curvilinear Iron and Glass Structure, and is one of the oldest surviving examples in the world.

St. John’s Church, Whitehouse (1840)

This Church of Ireland Church was opened in 1840, by licence. It cost £716.16.0 to build. This was and still is one of the most successful churches in the Carnmoney Parish. It was designed for free by Lanyon who was a member of Carnmoney Parish. At the side of the church Lanyon built a small school hall for £300, which was used as a school until 1930. Then it was used as a NAAFI mess for the troops in the second world war, but it was demolished in 1965 to make way for a new church hall.

St John’s, Glynn (1841)

This was built in 1841 for a cost of £800.

Raloo Parish Church, Glenoe (1842)

This church was built in 1842 for the cost of £436.0.0. and was designed to hold the entire population of the village (less than 200).

Gills Almshouses, Carrickfergus (1842)

This was designed to replace the old charity houses in 1842 which were in very bad repair. The front is symmetrical on either sides with black bricks on the edge it is made of normal sandstone, painted white. The Almshouse was not always white. The original sandstone was crumbling away, so it was rendered. This explains why the white walls stand out from the cornerstones instead of the other way around.

Gill's Almshouses: A : 1842; Charles Lanyon, architect. The charitable endowment of Henry Gill who, dying in 1761, bequeathed "to fourteen aged men, decayed in their circumstances, £10 each per annum and also houses and gardens", in Ellis Street (see No. 23a). Later this further block was built facing the harbour. The pretty Tudor revival style is reminiscent of contemporary churches and schools designed by the same architect, then County Surveyor of Antrim. The middle and wing bays of the symmetrical five-bay front project slightly and have tall double-shouldered gables with curious finials like inverted gate posts. Beneath the datestone the central front doorway has a four-centred arch, recessed surround, and a hood moulding with big cabbage-like bosses all dulled by dark paint. The intermediate bays have square windows with plain chamfered frames. Each wing bay has a triple window, the centre light taller than its neighbours, embraced by a label moulding which echoes the stepping of the gables. Single pointed lancets with mouldings akin to that on the front door light the gables. Above the steep tiled roof rise two chimneys with a pair of diagon¬ally set stacks apiece. Nowadays it appears that the almshouses rival the inmates in their decayed circumstances, for, while the black and white paint-work is tidy, the facade shows an alarming inclination to land at the feet of those who stand in front to admire it. This is a good little build¬ing, adding much to the town's seafront, and worthy of careful renovation. Happily the James Butcher Housing Association is now undertaking this work.

^[4]

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.^[5]

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.^[6]

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. ^[7]

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.^[8]

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.

Other works

The Belfast Botanic Gardens Palm House

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, the Masonic Hall in Arthur Square^[9] 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 travellers en route to the north Antrim coast. For safety reasons the majority of the original trees have been cut down, with just 104 remaining.^[10] The campanile of the University of Dublin, Trinity College, was designed by Lanyon and completed in 1852.

Lanyon also designed Drenagh Estate, bridges, viaducts and mausoleums and over 50 churches in Belfast and throughout Ireland.

Legacy

Alongside William J. Barre, Lanyon is considered Belfast's most important architect of the Victorian era.^[11] 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 final-year BSc Architecture student from the School of Architecture at Queen's University each year.^[12]

References

^ Ulster History Circle
^ BBC
^ Country of Antrim, Grand Antrim Presentments, 1875
^ Ulster Architectural Heritage, Social Historic Buildings, Groups of Buildings and Areas of Imporatance in the Town of Carrickfergus (undated)
^ Queen's University Belfast
^ NI Court Service
^ University Scholars Programme, National University of Singapore
^ Fodors
^ Freemason's Hall, Arthur Square
^ Irish News (pdf)
^ BBC
^ "Medals and prizes". Queen's University Belfast. Retrieved on 2008-08-11.

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lanyon"

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