Skilbeck's Warehouse

Skillbeck's Warehouse, formerly 46 Upper Thames Street, London, was a drysalter's warehouse constructed in 1866 by William Burges. Burges was commissioned by the Skilbeck Brothers to re-model an existing warehouse; the result was "hugely influential"^[1] representing "probably the most successful attempt ever made to unite the requirements of art and mercantile convenience."^[2]

Skilbeck's Warehouse
Skilbeck's Warehouse
General information
Architectural style	warehouse
Town or city	London
Country	United Kingdom
Completed	1866
Demolished	C.1970
Cost	£1,413
Design and construction
Architect(s)	William Burges

The Skilbeck Brothers company had been drysalters in the City of London since the mid-seventeenth century.^[3] Burges's re-modelling used "twin pointed bays under a single Gothic relieving arch and gable".^[4] The use of exposed cast iron was revolutionary with "..good use of ironwork in the window frames (and) the iron girder which stretch(ed)across the front of the building (was) painted, the bolt heads being gilt".^[2] The use of modern materials and technologies was combined with Gothic iconography, "the great crane supported by a corbel carved into a bust of a fair Oriental maid, symbolising the clime from which so much of the drysalter's materials are brought, and over a circular window in the gable (a) ship bringing in its precious freight."^[5] The total cost of the work was £1,413.^[2]

The Victorian critic Charles Locke Eastlake described the warehouse in his A History of the Gothic Revival as; "one of the very few instances of the successful adaptation of Gothic for commercial purposes."^[6] The warehouse was demolished after 1970.^[7]

Notes

1. Crook 1981, p. 238.
2. Crook 1981, p. 239.
3. "SKILBECK BROTHERS LIMITED". London Metropolitan Archives. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
4. Bradley & Pevsner 2002, p. 116.
5. The Ecclesiologist, 1866
6. Eastlake 2012, p. 417.
7. Bradley & Pevsner 2002, p. 614.

References

• Bradley, Simon; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2002). The Buildings Of England: London 1: The City of London. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-09624-8.
• Crook, J. Mordaunt (1981). William Burges and the High Victorian Dream. John Murray. ISBN 978-0-7195-3822-3.
• Eastlake, Charles Locke (2012). A History Of The Gothic Revival. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-05191-0.

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