List of works by Charles Holden

Charles Holden (12 May 1875 – 1 May 1960) was an English architect best known for designing many London Underground stations during the 1920s and 1930s. Other notable designs were Bristol Central Library, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's headquarters at 55 Broadway and the University of London's Senate House. Many of his buildings have been granted listed building status, indicating that they are considered to be of architectural or historical interest and protecting them from unapproved alteration.^{[note 1]} He also designed over 60 war cemeteries and two memorials in Belgium and northern France for the Imperial War Graves Commission from 1920 to 1928.^[1]

Charles Holden by Benjamin Nelson, 1910

Holden's early architectural training was in Bolton and Manchester where he worked for architects Everard W. Leeson and Jonathan Simpson before moving to London.^[2] After a short period with Arts and Crafts designer Charles Robert Ashbee, he went to work for Henry Percy Adams in 1899. He became Adams' partner in the firm in 1907 and remained with it for the rest of his career.^[3]

Buildings

Holden's early buildings were influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement, but for most of his career he championed an unadorned style based on simplified forms and massing that was free of what he considered to be unnecessary decorative detailing. He believed strongly that architectural designs should be dictated by the intended functions of buildings.[4][5] After the First World War he increasingly simplified his style and his designs became pared-down and modernist, influenced by continental European architecture.[6][7] This list includes all buildings for which Holden was commissioned to produce designs. Building[8] Location[note 2] Year completed[8] Listed Note 14–15 Old Bond Street Westminster 1911 – 55 Broadway Westminster 1929 Grade I[9] First cruciform plan office building in Britain; includes St James's Park tube station. Sculptures commissioned by Holden for the building include Jacob Epstein's Day and Night and Henry Moore's first public commission. 87 Harmer Green Lane Welwyn, Hertfordshire 1906 – Holden's own home 127 & 129 High Holborn Holborn 1904 Grade II[10] Acton Town Underground station Acton 1932 Grade II[11] Almshouses Woburn, Bedfordshire 1906 – Alperton Underground station Alperton 1931 – Archway Underground station Archway 1931 – Replacement Portland stone and glazed screen entrance façade, since demolished Arnos Grove Underground station Arnos Grove 1932 Grade II*[12] Balham Underground station Balham 1926 Grade II[13] Bedfordshire Cottages, Workhouse site Woburn, Bedfordshire 1901 – Belgrave Hospital for Children Kennington 1903 Grade II*[14] Birchmoor Lodge Woburn, Bedfordshire 1901 – Bond Street Underground station West End 1927 – Replacement Portland stone and glazed screen entrance façade, since demolished Boston Manor Underground station Boston Manor 1934 Grade II[15] With Stanley Heaps Bounds Green Underground station Bounds Green 1932 Grade II[16] With Charles Holloway James Bristol Central Library Bristol 1906 Grade I[17] A Tudor revival exterior with classical interior. Furnishings also by Holden. Bristol Royal Infirmary King Edward VII memorial extension Bristol 1912 – British Medical Association Strand 1908 Grade II*[18] Now Zimbabwe House. Jacob Epstein's series of sculptures caused great controversy when unveiled. They were defaced in the 1930s to prevent pieces falling off. British Seamen's Hospital Istanbul, Turkey 1903 – Bushey Heath Underground station Bushey, Hertfordshire – – Unbuilt Cavendish Laboratory, Austin Wing, University of Cambridge Cambridge, Cambridgeshire 1940 – Chiswick Park Underground station Chiswick 1932 Grade II[19] Clapham Common Underground station Clapham 1924 Grade II[20] Clapham South Underground station Clapham 1926 Grade II[21] Clifton College Memorial Arch Bristol 1922 Grade II[22] Colliers Wood Underground station Colliers Wood 1926 Grade II[23] Cockfosters Underground station Cockfosters 1933 Grade II[24] Cottages Port Sunlight, Merseyside 1898 – Cottage Hospital Woburn, Bedfordshire 1903 Grade II[25] Listed as Henry P. Adams design Crowholt Lodge Woburn, Bedfordshire 1914 – Danvers Tower, Cheyne Walk Chelsea – – Unbuilt design for artists' studios Ealing Common Underground station Ealing 1931 Grade II[26] With Stanley Heaps Eastcote Underground station Eastcote 1939 Grade II[27] East Finchley Underground station East Finchley 1939 Grade II[28] With Leonard Holcombe Bucknell Elstree South Underground station Elstree, Hertfordshire – – Unbuilt Evelyn House, Oxford Street West End 1909 Grade II[29] Farm Cottages Mayland, Essex 1906 – Finchley Central Underground station Finchley – – With Reginald Uren. Unbuilt. Gants Hill Underground station Gants Hill 1947 – The platform level concourse was modelled after stations on the Moscow Metro General Hospital Tunbridge Wells, Kent 1902 – Green Park Underground station Piccadilly 1932 – New Portland stone entrance shelter adjacent to Green Park, since demolished Grey Gables Bolton, Greater Manchester 1898 – Hall of Remembrance (War Museum) London – – Unbuilt Hammersmith tube station Hammersmith 1931 – New Portland stone and glazed screen secondary entrance façade, since demolished Haresfoot Berkhamsted, Buckinghamshire 1920 – Additions to existing house Highgate Underground station Highgate 1939 – Partly built and partly disused Holborn Underground station Holborn 1933 – Replacement Portland stone and glazed screen entrance façade Homeopathic Cottage Hospital Southport, Lancashire 1909 – Arts and Crafts hospital building with sea view. Hounslow West Underground station Hounslow 1931 Grade II[30] With Stanley Heaps House Delamere Forest, Cheshire 1898 – Holden's first project, unknown location House Holford, Somerset 1923 – House Knight Bepton Common, Midhurst, West Sussex 1915 – House Mayor Bicknoller, Somerset 1928 – House Semon Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire 1910 Grade II[31] Now known as Rignalls House Sixsmith Adlington, Lancashire 1907 Grade II[32] Now known as Brown Low Institution of Electrical Engineers Interiors, Savoy Place Westminster 1911 – Isle of Thanet District Hospital Margate, Kent 1926 Grade II[33] Now part of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother Hospital Isolation Hospital for Infectious Diseases Ampthill, Bedfordshire 1903 – King Edward VII Sanatorium Midhurst, West Sussex 1906 Grade II*[34] Chapel separately listed Grade II*[35] Lodge Woburn, Bedfordshire 1908 – Lodge, Birchmoor Drive Woburn, Bedfordshire 1914 – Kings College for Women Kensington 1916 Grade II[36] Wren-influenced design for college for domestic science Sir James Knott Memorial Flats Tynemouth 1939 – With Tasker & Child Law Society extension Holborn 1904 Grade II*[37] Listed with main building by Lewis Vulliamy Leicester Square Underground station West End 1933 – New Portland stone entrance building including public house and sub-surface booking hall and concourse London Underground Acton Works and Offices Acton 1932 – Manor House Underground station Manor House 1932 – Mansion House Underground station City of London 1930 – Replacement Portland stone and glazed screen entrance façade, since demolished Memorial Chapel, New College, Oxford Oxford, Oxfordshire – – Unbuilt Morden Underground station Morden 1926 – Mortuary Chapel, Richmond Hospital Richmond 1914 – National Library of Wales Aberystwyth, Wales 1937 Grade II*[38] Front range (modified version of earlier design by Sidney Greenslade). Also the Central Hall (completed 1955). Northfields Underground station Northfields 1932 Grade II[39] Oakwood Underground station Oakwood 1932 Grade II*[40] With Charles Holloway James. The free-standing station sign is separately listed Grade II[41] Orchestral Association London 1912 – Osterley Underground station Osterley 1934 Grade II[42] With Stanley Heaps Piccadilly Circus Underground station Piccadilly 1928 Grade II[43] Sub-surface booking hall and concourse beneath the roadway of Piccadilly Circus Rayners Lane Underground station Harrow 1938 Grade II[44] With Reginald Uren Redbridge Underground station Redbridge 1947 Grade II[45] Royal Northern Hospital Holloway 1941 – Demolished Royal Victoria Infirmary Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 1906 – With W. L. Newcombe Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital Westminster 1926 – St George's Hospital, Hyde Park Corner Westminster – – Unbuilt St Luke's Hospital Valletta, Malta 1939 – School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Bloomsbury 1946 Grade II[46] Senate House, University of London Bloomsbury 1937 Grade II*[47] Tallest office building in London from 1937 to 1957. Remnant of a much grander unrealised scheme. Shire Hall extension Bedford, Bedfordshire 1910 Grade II[48] Listed with main building by Alfred Waterhouse Southgate Underground station Southgate 1932 Grade II*[49] Station parade and lamp standards also by Holden separately listed Grade II and Grade II*[50][51] South Harrow Underground station South Harrow 1935 – South Wimbledon Underground station South Wimbledon 1926 Grade II[52] SS Caldedonia, Interiors – 1922 – Interior design of principal rooms for Anchor Line ocean liner SS Cameronia, Interiors – 1922 – Interior design of principal rooms for Anchor Line ocean liner SS Tuscania, Interiors – 1922 – Interior design of principal rooms for Anchor Line ocean liner Sudbury Hill Underground station Sudbury 1931 Grade II[53] Sudbury Town Underground station Sudbury 1931 Grade II*[54] Sutton Valence School Sutton Valence, Kent 1914 Grade II[55] Sutton Valence School, Chapel Sutton Valence, Kent 1928 – Tomb of Oscar Wilde, Père Lachaise Cemetery Paris, France 1912 – With Jacob Epstein Tooting Bec Underground station Tooting 1926 Grade II[56] Tooting Broadway Underground station Tooting 1926 Grade II[57] Torbay Hospital Torbay, Devon 1927 – Torbay Hospital Chapel Torbay, Devon 1929 Grade II[58] Trent Park House Enfield 1926 Grade II[59] New façades to existing mansion Turnpike Lane Underground station Harringay 1932 Grade II[60] Two Cottages Oakley, Bedfordshire 1905 – Two Cottages Woburn, Bedfordshire 1907 – Uxbridge Underground station Uxbridge 1938 Grade II[61] With Leonard Holcombe Bucknell Victoria Hospital Folkestone, Kent 1910 – Ward extensions Wanstead Underground station Wanstead 1947 – Warren Street Underground station Euston 1933 – Replacement station building West Ham Hospital West Ham 1907 – West Kensington Underground station West Kensington 1928 – New façade and ticket hall Westminster Female Refuge Westminster 1902 – Westminster Hospital, Clapham Common Clapham – – Unbuilt Westminster Underground station Westminster 1924 – Replacement side entrance and ticket hall, since demolished Women's Hospital, Soho Square Soho 1908 Grade II[62] New façades and internal redesign of two existing houses Woodcote Aspley Guise, Bedfordshire 1914 – Wood Green Underground station Wood Green 1932 Grade II[63]

The Arts and Crafts design for the Belgrave Hospital for Children, Kennington, was inspired by Philip Webb and Henry Wilson.[64] Holden's competition-winning Tudor Revival design for Bristol Central Library was described by Andor Gomme as "one of the great masterpieces of the early Modern Movement".[17] A typical Edwardian façade for the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, carried out with W. L. Newcombe.[8] The series of sculptures commissioned from Jacob Epstein for the British Medical Association Building, Strand, Westminster were highly controversial and calls were made in the newspapers to have them removed.[6] For the Bristol Royal Infirmary, King Edward VII Memorial wing, Holden designed simplified abstract façades of white Portland stone.[65] Clifton College Memorial Arch, Bristol was constructed in a Gothic style using limestone and gritstone to match the college buildings.[22] South Wimbledon station, Merton, demonstrates the modernist glazed "folded screen" design that Holden developed for the seven new stations of the City and South London Railway's extension to Morden.[6] The cruciform plan of the Underground Group's headquarters at 55 Broadway, Westminster, maximised the daylight entering the building without using light wells. It was the first British office building to be planned in this way.[66] European architecture inspired a new style for the Piccadilly line described by Holden as "brick boxes with concrete lids".[67] Sudbury Town station, Sudbury, was the first of these. The single-storey Southgate station, Enfield, features a canopied roof supported on a single central column above a band of clerestory windows that is topped by an illuminated glass and bronze feature.[68] The designs for new buildings for the University of London, Bloomsbury, were gradually revised and cut back due to a shortage of funds.[69] The 19-storey, 210-foot (64 m) tall Senate House is the only part that was completed and was the tallest office building in London for 20 years.[70]

Cemeteries

Holden worked on the designs for 69 cemeteries for the dead of the First World War as part of his work for the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC, now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)) between 1918 and 1928.[1] Up until 1920, he worked as senior design architect and his designs are thought to include two of the initial cemetery designs built at Forceville and Louvencourt where Reginald Blomfield was named as the principal architect.[71][72][note 3] In 1920, he became one of the four principal architects for the cemeteries on the Western Front.[1] Cemetery Location Identified casualties[note 4] Note Aubers Ridge British Cemetery[74][75] Aubers, France 278 Avesnes-le-Comte Communal Cemetery Extension[76] Avesnes-le-Comte, France 329 Awoingt British Cemetery[77] Awoingt, France 714 Bac-Du-Sud British Cemetery[78] Bailleulval, France 737 Bapaume Post Military Cemetery[79] Albert, France 229 Bellicourt British Cemetery[80] Bellicourt, France 892 Bienvillers Military Cemetery[77] Bienvillers-au-Bois, France 1,198 Boulogne Eastern Cemetery[81] Boulogne, France 5,743 Brown's Road Military Cemetery[82] Festubert, France 664 Busigny Communal Cemetery Extension[83] Busigny, France 697 Buttes New British Cemetery[84] Zonnebeke, Belgium 432 Cambrai East Military Cemetery[85] Cambrai, France 474 Cambrin Churchyard Extension[86] Cambrin, France 1,304 Cambrin Military Cemetery[87] Cambrin, France 816 Canada Cemetery, Tilloy-les-Cambrai[88] Cambrai, France 248 Caudry British Cemetery[77] Caudry, France 654 Chapelle British Cemetery[77] Holnon, France 360 Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension[89] Corbie, France 918 Cross Roads Cemetery[77] Fontaine-au-Bois, France 638 Dadizeele New British Cemetery[90] Moorslede, Belgium 871 Doullens Communal Cemetery Extension No. 1[91] Doullens, France 1,366 Doullens Communal Cemetery Extension No. 2[92] Doullens, France 459 Dranoutre Military Cemetery[93] Heuvelland, Belgium 456 Forceville Communal Cemetery and Extension[94][95] Forceville, France 308 The principal architect was Reginald Blomfield, but aspects of the design have been attributed to Holden. Gorre British and Indian Cemetery[96] Beuvry, France 901 Gouy-en-Artois Communal Cemetery Extension[97] Gouy-en-Artois, France 47 Grand Seraucourt British Cemetery[98][99] Seraucourt-le-Grand, France 496 Guards Cemetery, Windy Corner[100] Cuinchy, France 1,246 Ham British Cemetery[77][101] Muille-Villette, France 267 Highland Cemetery, Le Cateau[102] Le Cateau, France 560 Honnechy British Cemetery[77][103] Honnechy, France 347 Kandahar Farm Cemetery[104] Heuvelland, Belgium 435 Le Cateau Military Cemetery[105] Le Cateau, France 513 Lancashire Cottage Cemetery[106] Comines-Warneton, Belgium 265 La Plus Douve Farm Cemetery[107] Comines-Warneton, Belgium 345 Lindenhoek Chalet Military Cemetery[108] Heuvelland, Belgium 248 London Rifle Brigade Cemetery[109] Comines-Warneton, Belgium 343 Louvencourt Military Cemetery[94][110] Louvencourt, France 230 The principal architect was Reginald Blomfield, but aspects of the design have been attributed to Holden. Marcoing British Cemetery[77][111] Marcoing, France 181 Messines Ridge British Cemetery[112] Messines, Belgium 577 Montay-Neuvilly Road Cemetery[113] Montay, France 418 Naves Communal Cemetery Extension[77][114] Naves, France 320 Pargny British Cemetery[77][115] Pargny, France 149 Passchendaele New British Cemetery[116] Zonnebeke, Belgium 501 Poelcapelle British Cemetery[73] Langemark-Poelkapelle, Belgium 1,248 Polygon Wood Cemetery[117] Zonnebeke, Belgium 88 Attached to Buttes New British Cemetery Pond Farm Cemetery[118] Heuvelland, Belgium 297 Post Office Rifles Cemetery[119] Festubert, France 128 Premont British Cemetery[120] Prémont, France 561 Romeries Communal Cemetery Extension[121] Romeries, France 703 Rue-des-Berceaux Military Cemetery[77][122] Richebourg-l'Avoué, France 243 St. Aubert British Cemetery[123] Avesnes-les-Aubert, France 391 St. Quentin Cabaret Military Cemetery[124] Heuvelland, Belgium 455 St. Souplet British Cemetery[77][125] Saint-Souplet, France 591 St. Vaast Post Military Cemetery[98][126] Richebourg-l'Avoué, France 850 Savy British Cemetery[77][127] Savy, France 430 Strand Military Cemetery[128] Comines-Warneton, Belgium 802 Tancrez Farm Cemetery[129] Comines-Warneton, Belgium 328 Tournai Communal Cemetery Allied Extension[77][130] Tournai, Belgium 819 Trefcon British Cemetery[77][131] Trefcon, France 277 Unicorn Cemetery[132] Vendhuile, France 599 Valenciennes (St. Roch) Communal Cemetery[77][133] Valenciennes, France 882 Villers Hill British Cemetery[134] Villers-Guislain, France 385 Wailly Orchard Cemetery[135] Wailly, France 351 Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery[136] Saulty, France 1,286 Some sources list this as a Lutyens cemetery that Holden completed Wimereux Communal Cemetery[137] Wimereux, France 3,022 Woburn Abbey Cemetery[77][138] Cuinchy, France 315 Wulverghem-Lindenhoek Road Military Cemetery[139] Heuvelland, Belgium 658 Zantvoorde British Cemetery[140] Zantvoorde, Belgium 449

The entrance pavilion at Dadizeele New British Cemetery, Moorslede, Belgium shows the simple style Holden used for the first of his war cemeteries. The Reginald Blomfield designed Cross of Sacrifice is a feature of all IWGC cemeteries. Landscaping and horticulture, seen at Messines Ridge British Cemetery, Messines, Belgium, are key features of all IWGC cemeteries.[141] Edwin Lutyens' Stone of Remembrance features in larger cemeteries. Holden enclosed the irregularly placed graves in the battlefield Cemetery at Polygon Wood, Zonnebeke, Belgium with a low wall of local stone capped with Portland stone. The grass path links it to the adjacent Buttes New British Cemetery. The extremely simplified Portland stone buildings and memorial at Buttes New British Cemetery, Zonnebeke, Belgium are representative of Holden's later war cemeteries.

Memorials

Holden designed two memorials for the missing dead of the First World War as part of his work for the Imperial War Graves Commission between 1920 and 1928. Both are memorials to the missing from the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. They are located in Belgium and are within cemeteries also constructed to his design. Memorial Location Number of missing Note Buttes New British Cemetery (New Zealand) Memorial[142] Zonnebeke, Belgium 378 See also Buttes New British Cemetery Messines Ridge (New Zealand) Memorial[143] Messines, Belgium 827 See also Messines Ridge British Cemetery

Linked pavilions and colonnades of the New Zealand Memorial, Buttes New British Cemetery, Zonnebeke, Belgium.

Notes

1. Listed buildings are granted one of three grades (II, II* and I in order of importance) representing their status as nationally or internationally important buildings. In England, the register of listed building is administered by Historic England. A listed building may not be demolished, extended or altered without special permission from the local planning authority.
2. These buildings are located in London unless otherwise indicated.
3. The principal architects worked with assistant architects, also called architects in France, who worked from offices in St Omer, and in some cases did most of the design work, with the final design being approved or amended by the principal architect they were working with.
4. The CWGC records the number of identified casualties contained in a cemetery, although most cemeteries have additional graves containing the bodies of soldiers who could not be identified and whose grave stones carry no name. In some cases the number of unidentified burials is considerable – for example, Poelcapelle British Cemetery contains 6,231 such burials.^[73]