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Tuesday 22 June 2021

A Liverpool Exemplar - John Foster Jnr



John Foster Sr. had married Ann Dutton on 18 September 1781 in the now demolished St George's Church, Liverpool and John Foster Junior, the second of the couple's eight sons was born in 1786 in Liverpool and lived at 82 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool 3.


 

He studied under Jeffrey Wyatt in Lower Brook Street, London,  whose uncle James Wyatt had worked with John senior on Liverpool Town Hall. John Jr. displayed three designs at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1805, a design for a Mausoleum in 1805, a design for a National Museum in 1806 and in 1807 a Public Library or National Gallery. This Library building at 105 Duke Street was originally known as the Union Newsroom and from 1852-60 it was Liverpool's first public library also housing the natural history collections given to the town by the Early of Derby. During 1810–11 he traveled extensively through Southern Europe studying classical architecture at first hand and was accompanied by the German archaeologists Haller and Linckh in their excavation of the temples at Aegina and Bassae and by Charles Cockerell who was responsible for the interior design of St Georges Hall, Liverpool. Charles described Foster as: 'A most amusing youth, but too idle to be anything more than a dinner companion.'  John returned to Liverpool in 1816 and joined the family building firm before succeeding his father as senior surveyor to the Corporation of Liverpool in 1824. He held that post until the Municipal Reform Act of 1834. With his father he designed St Luke's Church, on the corner of Berry Street and Leece Street. His own designs include The Moorish Arch at Edge Lane for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, The Oratory, the Gateway and Lodge of St James Cemetery in the grounds of Liverpool Cathedral, and St. Andrew's in Rodney Street, now derelict. The second Royal Infirmary and the Public Baths have both been demolished, as has the enormous, domed Custom House, which suffered superficial bomb damage during the Second World War. He was also the architect of the Aintree racecourse main stand, and the Liverpool Public Baths when they opened on the 8th of June 1829 were described on a prospectus as "worthy of particular commendation from the casual or critical observer...The structure viewed as a whole is chaste and unique, and forms a striking, tasteful addition to the architectural beauties of the town."

He is often attributed as the architect for numbers 2–10 Gambier Terrace, Liverpool and his buildings were generally in the Greek Revival style.

He died aged 59 at Hamilton Square, Birkenhead, on the 21st of August 1846 and as well as his gravestone in St James' Cemetery, there is a slab of polished red granite in the Oratory. It says: 'On his return from long and arduous travels in the pursuit of his art, he enriched his native town with the fruits of his genius, industry and integrity'.

see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2020/05/pool-of-sound-brasshaus.html



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