List of new churches by John Douglas

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

John Douglas (1830–1911) was an English architect based in Chester. He designed about 40 new churches, along with restorations, church furnishings, new houses and alterations to existing ones, and a wide range of other buildings such as shops, banks, offices, schools and public monuments. His best-known work is the Eastgate Clock in Chester. His style was eclectic and influenced by the Gothic Revival, often combining English Gothic elements with ideas from France, Germany and the Netherlands. He is especially noted for incorporating vernacular features, such as half-timbering from Chester’s black-and-white revival, tile-hanging, pargetting and decorative brickwork, as well as tall chimney stacks. He was also renowned for his joinery and detailed wood carving.

Douglas was born in Sandiway, Cheshire, and trained with the Lancaster architect E. G. Paley, eventually becoming his chief assistant. He established a Chester office around 1855–1860 and worked there throughout his career. He initially ran the business solo, but in 1884 he made his assistant Daniel Porter Fordham a partner. After Fordham retired in 1897, Charles Howard Minshull took over. In 1909 the partnership ended and Douglas ran the practice alone until his death in 1911. Most of his work was in Cheshire and North Wales, though a number of projects were in Lancashire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Scotland.

Douglas attracted wealthy patrons from early on, beginning with Hugh Cholmondeley, 2nd Baron Delamere. His most important patrons were the Grosvenor family of Eaton Hall—the 2nd Marquess of Westminster, the 1st Duke of Westminster and the 2nd Duke of Westminster—and other aristocrats such as the Earls of Sefton, Rowland Egerton-Warburton of Arley Hall, George Cholmondeley and Francis Egerton, 3rd Earl Ellesmere. Later he received commissions for W. E. Gladstone and for W. H. Lever. Many of his new churches are now listed buildings, recognized for their national or local importance.

The list of Douglas’s new churches includes 40 works. The details come from Edward Hubbard’s Catalogue of Works. Some churches are attributed to Douglas by style and local connection even if not confirmed by other evidence; unexecuted schemes are not included.