Samuel Sanders Teulon (2 March 1812 – 2 May 1873) was an English
Gothic Revival architect, noted for his use of polychrome brickwork and the complex planning of his buildings.
Family
Teulon was born in 1812 in
Greenwich,
Kent, the son of a cabinet-maker from a French
Huguenot family. His younger brother
William Milford Teulon (1823–1900) also became an architect.
Career
He was articled to George Legg, and later worked as an assistant to the Bermondsey-based architect
George Porter. He also studied in the drawing schools of the Royal Academy. He set up his own independent practice in 1838, and in 1840 won the competition to design some almshouses for the
Dyers' Company at Ball's Pond, Islington. After this his practice expanded rapidly. During the next few years his works mainly consisted of parish schools, parsonages and similar buildings, mostly in the
Home Counties.[2]
He was a friend of
George Gilbert Scott and became a member of the Council of the
Royal Institute of British Architects on 6 January 1835. Between 1841 and 1842 he undertook a long study tour of continental Europe with
Ewan Christian who remained a lifelong friend and became his executor. Also in company during the tour was
Horace Jones who was later knighted and became architect to the Corporation of the City of London and Hayter Lewis, later Professor of Architecture at
University College, London.[3][4]
He built his first church, the
Early English-style St Paul, Bermondsey, in 1846. Soon after this he designed St Stephen, Southwark, a building adapted to its square site by being planned in the form of a
Greek cross, with the recessed angles filled in by the tower, vestry, chancel aisles.[2]
Teulon's religious views were
Low Church, and his patrons were predominantly members of established aristocratic families who shared his outlook.[5] In 1848 he received a commission from the
7th Duke of Bedford to design cottages for the
Thorney estate,[6][7] and the next year he built Tortworth Court, Gloucestershire, a substantial mansion in a kind of Neo-Tudor style, with a large central tower, for the
Earl of Ducie.[2] Other clients included
John Sumner, archbishop of Canterbury, who commissioned Christ Church in Croydon;[2] the
Duke of Marlborough, for whom he refitted the chapel at
Blenheim Palace in 1857-9;[8] the
10th Duke of St Albans and
Prince Albert.
His work included the remodelling of several unfashionable 18th-century churches to suit contemporary tastes.
Archibald Tait, the Bishop of London, praised his alterations at
St. Mary's, Ealing, as "the transformation of a Georgian monstrosity into the semblance of a Byzantine Basilica".[2]
As well as
Gothic Revival churches, he designed several country houses and even complete villages, as he did at
Hunstanworth in County Durham in 1863.[9]
Style
Despite his classical training, Teulon's early designs were mostly in imitation of Tudor and Elizabethan styles, and he soon became an enthusiastic follower of the latest developments of the
Gothic Revival.[2] He was an enthusiastic user of
Polychrome brickwork.[10] His planning was often elaborate:
Henry-Russell Hitchcock called his mansion at Elvetham Park in
Hampshire "so complex in its composition and so varied in its detailing that it quite defies description".[11] Some of his later work was, however, more restrained: for instance at
St Stephen's Church,
Rosslyn Hill,
Hampstead, (1869–76) the exterior is of purple-brown brick,[12] of subtly varied tones[13] with light stone trimming. The massing of the building is also simpler than in his earlier designs.[12]
Death
For the last 20 years of his life until his death on 2 May 1873,[2] Teulon lived in one of four Georgian mansions on Hampstead Green which were demolished at the start of the twentieth century to make way for Hampstead General Hospital, which was itself demolished in the 1970s and replaced by
The Royal Free Hospital. Opposite his home he designed
St Stephen's Church,
Rosslyn Hill. He is buried on the west side of
Highgate Cemetery,[14] not far from the family vault of his former neighbour on Hampstead Green,
Rowland Hill.
His great great great nephew, Alan Teulon, published a book on S.S. Teulon in
2009.[15] He was survived by four sons and four daughters.[2]
^
ab"19th Century". www.thorney-museum.org.uk. Archived from
the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
^Crossley, Alan and Elrington, ed. (1990).
"Blenheim: Blenheim Palace". A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 12: Wootton Hundred (South) including Woodstock. Institute of Historical Research. Archived from
the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
^Janet Cooper, ed. (2001).
"Birch: Churches". A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
Samuel Sanders Teulon (2 March 1812 – 2 May 1873) was an English
Gothic Revival architect, noted for his use of polychrome brickwork and the complex planning of his buildings.
Family
Teulon was born in 1812 in
Greenwich,
Kent, the son of a cabinet-maker from a French
Huguenot family. His younger brother
William Milford Teulon (1823–1900) also became an architect.
Career
He was articled to George Legg, and later worked as an assistant to the Bermondsey-based architect
George Porter. He also studied in the drawing schools of the Royal Academy. He set up his own independent practice in 1838, and in 1840 won the competition to design some almshouses for the
Dyers' Company at Ball's Pond, Islington. After this his practice expanded rapidly. During the next few years his works mainly consisted of parish schools, parsonages and similar buildings, mostly in the
Home Counties.[2]
He was a friend of
George Gilbert Scott and became a member of the Council of the
Royal Institute of British Architects on 6 January 1835. Between 1841 and 1842 he undertook a long study tour of continental Europe with
Ewan Christian who remained a lifelong friend and became his executor. Also in company during the tour was
Horace Jones who was later knighted and became architect to the Corporation of the City of London and Hayter Lewis, later Professor of Architecture at
University College, London.[3][4]
He built his first church, the
Early English-style St Paul, Bermondsey, in 1846. Soon after this he designed St Stephen, Southwark, a building adapted to its square site by being planned in the form of a
Greek cross, with the recessed angles filled in by the tower, vestry, chancel aisles.[2]
Teulon's religious views were
Low Church, and his patrons were predominantly members of established aristocratic families who shared his outlook.[5] In 1848 he received a commission from the
7th Duke of Bedford to design cottages for the
Thorney estate,[6][7] and the next year he built Tortworth Court, Gloucestershire, a substantial mansion in a kind of Neo-Tudor style, with a large central tower, for the
Earl of Ducie.[2] Other clients included
John Sumner, archbishop of Canterbury, who commissioned Christ Church in Croydon;[2] the
Duke of Marlborough, for whom he refitted the chapel at
Blenheim Palace in 1857-9;[8] the
10th Duke of St Albans and
Prince Albert.
His work included the remodelling of several unfashionable 18th-century churches to suit contemporary tastes.
Archibald Tait, the Bishop of London, praised his alterations at
St. Mary's, Ealing, as "the transformation of a Georgian monstrosity into the semblance of a Byzantine Basilica".[2]
As well as
Gothic Revival churches, he designed several country houses and even complete villages, as he did at
Hunstanworth in County Durham in 1863.[9]
Style
Despite his classical training, Teulon's early designs were mostly in imitation of Tudor and Elizabethan styles, and he soon became an enthusiastic follower of the latest developments of the
Gothic Revival.[2] He was an enthusiastic user of
Polychrome brickwork.[10] His planning was often elaborate:
Henry-Russell Hitchcock called his mansion at Elvetham Park in
Hampshire "so complex in its composition and so varied in its detailing that it quite defies description".[11] Some of his later work was, however, more restrained: for instance at
St Stephen's Church,
Rosslyn Hill,
Hampstead, (1869–76) the exterior is of purple-brown brick,[12] of subtly varied tones[13] with light stone trimming. The massing of the building is also simpler than in his earlier designs.[12]
Death
For the last 20 years of his life until his death on 2 May 1873,[2] Teulon lived in one of four Georgian mansions on Hampstead Green which were demolished at the start of the twentieth century to make way for Hampstead General Hospital, which was itself demolished in the 1970s and replaced by
The Royal Free Hospital. Opposite his home he designed
St Stephen's Church,
Rosslyn Hill. He is buried on the west side of
Highgate Cemetery,[14] not far from the family vault of his former neighbour on Hampstead Green,
Rowland Hill.
His great great great nephew, Alan Teulon, published a book on S.S. Teulon in
2009.[15] He was survived by four sons and four daughters.[2]
^
ab"19th Century". www.thorney-museum.org.uk. Archived from
the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
^Crossley, Alan and Elrington, ed. (1990).
"Blenheim: Blenheim Palace". A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 12: Wootton Hundred (South) including Woodstock. Institute of Historical Research. Archived from
the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
^Janet Cooper, ed. (2001).
"Birch: Churches". A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 5 May 2012.