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]
ListedNote
14–15 Old Bond StreetWestminster1911
55 BroadwayWestminster1929Grade 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 LaneWelwyn, Hertfordshire1906Holden's own home
127 & 129 High HolbornHolborn1904Grade II[10]
Acton Town Underground stationActon1932Grade II[11]
AlmshousesWoburn, Bedfordshire1906
Alperton Underground stationAlperton1931
Archway Underground stationArchway1931Replacement Portland stone and glazed screen entrance façade, since demolished
Arnos Grove Underground stationArnos Grove1932Grade II*[12]
Balham Underground stationBalham1926Grade II[13]
Bedfordshire Cottages, Workhouse siteWoburn, Bedfordshire1901
Belgrave Hospital for ChildrenKennington1903Grade II*[14]
Birchmoor LodgeWoburn, Bedfordshire1901
Bond Street Underground stationWest End1927Replacement Portland stone and glazed screen entrance façade, since demolished
Boston Manor Underground stationBoston Manor1934Grade II[15]With Stanley Heaps
Bounds Green Underground stationBounds Green1932Grade II[16]With Charles Holloway James
Bristol Central LibraryBristol1906Grade I[17]A Tudor revival exterior with classical interior. Furnishings also by Holden.
Bristol Royal Infirmary King Edward VII memorial extensionBristol1912
British Medical AssociationStrand1908Grade 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 HospitalIstanbul, Turkey1903
Bushey Heath Underground stationBushey, HertfordshireUnbuilt
Cavendish Laboratory, Austin Wing, University of CambridgeCambridge, Cambridgeshire1940
Chiswick Park Underground stationChiswick1932Grade II[19]
Clapham Common Underground stationClapham1924Grade II[20]
Clapham South Underground stationClapham1926Grade II[21]
Clifton College Memorial ArchBristol1922Grade II[22]
Colliers Wood Underground stationColliers Wood1926Grade II[23]
Cockfosters Underground stationCockfosters1933Grade II[24]
CottagesPort Sunlight, Merseyside1898
Cottage HospitalWoburn, Bedfordshire1903Grade II[25]Listed as Henry P. Adams design
Crowholt LodgeWoburn, Bedfordshire1914
Danvers Tower, Cheyne WalkChelseaUnbuilt design for artists' studios
Ealing Common Underground stationEaling1931Grade II[26]With Stanley Heaps
Eastcote Underground stationEastcote1939Grade II[27]
East Finchley Underground stationEast Finchley1939Grade II[28]With Leonard Holcombe Bucknell
Elstree South Underground stationElstree, HertfordshireUnbuilt
Evelyn House, Oxford StreetWest End1909Grade II[29]
Farm CottagesMayland, Essex1906
Finchley Central Underground stationFinchleyWith Reginald Uren. Unbuilt.
Gants Hill Underground stationGants Hill1947The platform level concourse was modelled after stations on the Moscow Metro
General HospitalTunbridge Wells, Kent1902
Green Park Underground stationPiccadilly1932New Portland stone entrance shelter adjacent to Green Park, since demolished
Grey GablesBolton, Greater Manchester1898
Hall of Remembrance (War Museum)LondonUnbuilt
Hammersmith tube stationHammersmith1931New Portland stone and glazed screen secondary entrance façade, since demolished
HaresfootBerkhamsted, Buckinghamshire1920Additions to existing house
Highgate Underground stationHighgate1939Partly built and partly disused
Holborn Underground stationHolborn1933Replacement Portland stone and glazed screen entrance façade
Homeopathic Cottage HospitalSouthport, Lancashire1909Arts and Crafts hospital building with sea view.
Hounslow West Underground stationHounslow1931Grade II[30]With Stanley Heaps
HouseDelamere Forest, Cheshire1898Holden's first project, unknown location
HouseHolford, Somerset1923
House KnightBepton Common, Midhurst, West Sussex1915
House MayorBicknoller, Somerset1928
House SemonGreat Missenden, Buckinghamshire1910Grade II[31]Now known as Rignalls
House SixsmithAdlington, Lancashire1907Grade II[32]Now known as Brown Low
Institution of Electrical Engineers Interiors, Savoy PlaceWestminster1911
Isle of Thanet District HospitalMargate, Kent1926Grade II[33]Now part of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother Hospital
Isolation Hospital for Infectious DiseasesAmpthill, Bedfordshire1903
King Edward VII SanatoriumMidhurst, West Sussex1906Grade II*[34]Chapel separately listed Grade II*[35]
LodgeWoburn, Bedfordshire1908
Lodge, Birchmoor DriveWoburn, Bedfordshire1914
Kings College for WomenKensington1916Grade II[36]Wren-influenced design for college for domestic science
Sir James Knott Memorial FlatsTynemouth1939With Tasker & Child
Law Society extensionHolborn1904Grade II*[37]Listed with main building by Lewis Vulliamy
Leicester Square Underground stationWest End1933New Portland stone entrance building including public house and sub-surface booking hall and concourse
London Underground Acton Works and OfficesActon1932
Manor House Underground stationManor House1932
Mansion House Underground stationCity of London1930Replacement Portland stone and glazed screen entrance façade, since demolished
Memorial Chapel, New College, OxfordOxford, OxfordshireUnbuilt
Morden Underground stationMorden1926
Mortuary Chapel, Richmond HospitalRichmond1914
National Library of WalesAberystwyth, Wales1937Grade II*[38]Front range (modified version of earlier design by Sidney Greenslade). Also the Central Hall (completed 1955).
Northfields Underground stationNorthfields1932Grade II[39]
Oakwood Underground stationOakwood1932Grade II*[40]With Charles Holloway James. The free-standing station sign is separately listed Grade II[41]
Orchestral AssociationLondon1912
Osterley Underground stationOsterley1934Grade II[42]With Stanley Heaps
Piccadilly Circus Underground stationPiccadilly1928Grade II[43]Sub-surface booking hall and concourse beneath the roadway of Piccadilly Circus
Rayners Lane Underground stationHarrow1938Grade II[44]With Reginald Uren
Redbridge Underground stationRedbridge1947Grade II[45]
Royal Northern HospitalHolloway1941Demolished
Royal Victoria InfirmaryNewcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear1906With W. L. Newcombe
Royal Westminster Ophthalmic HospitalWestminster1926
St George's Hospital, Hyde Park CornerWestminsterUnbuilt
St Luke's HospitalValletta, Malta1939
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of LondonBloomsbury1946Grade II[46]
Senate House, University of LondonBloomsbury1937Grade II*[47]Tallest office building in London from 1937 to 1957. Remnant of a much grander unrealised scheme.
Shire Hall extensionBedford, Bedfordshire1910Grade II[48]Listed with main building by Alfred Waterhouse
Southgate Underground stationSouthgate1932Grade II*[49]Station parade and lamp standards also by Holden separately listed Grade II and Grade II*[50][51]
South Harrow Underground stationSouth Harrow1935
South Wimbledon Underground stationSouth Wimbledon1926Grade II[52]
SS Caldedonia, Interiors1922Interior design of principal rooms for Anchor Line ocean liner
SS Cameronia, Interiors1922Interior design of principal rooms for Anchor Line ocean liner
SS Tuscania, Interiors1922Interior design of principal rooms for Anchor Line ocean liner
Sudbury Hill Underground stationSudbury1931Grade II[53]
Sudbury Town Underground stationSudbury1931Grade II*[54]
Sutton Valence SchoolSutton Valence, Kent1914Grade II[55]
Sutton Valence School, ChapelSutton Valence, Kent1928
Tomb of Oscar Wilde, Père Lachaise CemeteryParis, France1912With Jacob Epstein
Tooting Bec Underground stationTooting1926Grade II[56]
Tooting Broadway Underground stationTooting1926Grade II[57]
Torbay HospitalTorbay, Devon1927
Torbay Hospital ChapelTorbay, Devon1929Grade II[58]
Trent Park HouseEnfield1926Grade II[59]New façades to existing mansion
Turnpike Lane Underground stationHarringay1932Grade II[60]
Two CottagesOakley, Bedfordshire1905
Two CottagesWoburn, Bedfordshire1907
Uxbridge Underground stationUxbridge1938Grade II[61]With Leonard Holcombe Bucknell
Victoria HospitalFolkestone, Kent1910Ward extensions
Wanstead Underground stationWanstead1947
Warren Street Underground stationEuston1933Replacement station building
West Ham HospitalWest Ham1907
West Kensington Underground stationWest Kensington1928New façade and ticket hall
Westminster Female RefugeWestminster1902
Westminster Hospital, Clapham CommonClaphamUnbuilt
Westminster Underground stationWestminster1924Replacement side entrance and ticket hall, since demolished
Women's Hospital, Soho SquareSoho1908Grade II[62]New façades and internal redesign of two existing houses
WoodcoteAspley Guise, Bedfordshire1914
Wood Green Underground stationWood Green1932Grade 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]

CemeteryLocationIdentified
casualties[note 4]
Note
Aubers Ridge British Cemetery[74][75]Aubers, France278
Avesnes-le-Comte Communal Cemetery Extension[76]Avesnes-le-Comte, France329
Awoingt British Cemetery[77]Awoingt, France714
Bac-Du-Sud British Cemetery[78]Bailleulval, France737
Bapaume Post Military Cemetery[79]Albert, France229
Bellicourt British Cemetery[80]Bellicourt, France892
Bienvillers Military Cemetery[77]Bienvillers-au-Bois, France1,198
Boulogne Eastern Cemetery[81]Boulogne, France5,743
Brown's Road Military Cemetery[82]Festubert, France664
Busigny Communal Cemetery Extension[83]Busigny, France697
Buttes New British Cemetery[84]Zonnebeke, Belgium432
Cambrai East Military Cemetery[85]Cambrai, France474
Cambrin Churchyard Extension[86]Cambrin, France1,304
Cambrin Military Cemetery[87]Cambrin, France816
Canada Cemetery, Tilloy-les-Cambrai[88]Cambrai, France248
Caudry British Cemetery[77]Caudry, France654
Chapelle British Cemetery[77]Holnon, France360
Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension[89]Corbie, France918
Cross Roads Cemetery[77]Fontaine-au-Bois, France638
Dadizeele New British Cemetery[90]Moorslede, Belgium871
Doullens Communal Cemetery Extension No. 1[91]Doullens, France1,366
Doullens Communal Cemetery Extension No. 2[92]Doullens, France459
Dranoutre Military Cemetery[93]Heuvelland, Belgium456
Forceville Communal Cemetery and Extension[94][95]Forceville, France308The principal architect was Reginald Blomfield, but aspects of the design have been attributed to Holden.
Gorre British and Indian Cemetery[96]Beuvry, France901
Gouy-en-Artois Communal Cemetery Extension[97]Gouy-en-Artois, France47
Grand Seraucourt British Cemetery[98][99]Seraucourt-le-Grand, France496
Guards Cemetery, Windy Corner[100]Cuinchy, France1,246
Ham British Cemetery[77][101]Muille-Villette, France267
Highland Cemetery, Le Cateau[102]Le Cateau, France560
Honnechy British Cemetery[77][103]Honnechy, France347
Kandahar Farm Cemetery[104]Heuvelland, Belgium435
Le Cateau Military Cemetery[105]Le Cateau, France513
Lancashire Cottage Cemetery[106]Comines-Warneton, Belgium265
La Plus Douve Farm Cemetery[107]Comines-Warneton, Belgium345
Lindenhoek Chalet Military Cemetery[108]Heuvelland, Belgium248
London Rifle Brigade Cemetery[109]Comines-Warneton, Belgium343
Louvencourt Military Cemetery[94][110]Louvencourt, France230The principal architect was Reginald Blomfield, but aspects of the design have been attributed to Holden.
Marcoing British Cemetery[77][111]Marcoing, France181
Messines Ridge British Cemetery[112]Messines, Belgium577
Montay-Neuvilly Road Cemetery[113]Montay, France418
Naves Communal Cemetery Extension[77][114]Naves, France320
Pargny British Cemetery[77][115]Pargny, France149
Passchendaele New British Cemetery[116]Zonnebeke, Belgium501
Poelcapelle British Cemetery[73]Langemark-Poelkapelle, Belgium1,248
Polygon Wood Cemetery[117]Zonnebeke, Belgium88Attached to Buttes New British Cemetery
Pond Farm Cemetery[118]Heuvelland, Belgium297
Post Office Rifles Cemetery[119]Festubert, France128
Premont British Cemetery[120]Prémont, France561
Romeries Communal Cemetery Extension[121]Romeries, France703
Rue-des-Berceaux Military Cemetery[77][122]Richebourg-l'Avoué, France243
St. Aubert British Cemetery[123]Avesnes-les-Aubert, France391
St. Quentin Cabaret Military Cemetery[124]Heuvelland, Belgium455
St. Souplet British Cemetery[77][125]Saint-Souplet, France591
St. Vaast Post Military Cemetery[98][126]Richebourg-l'Avoué, France850
Savy British Cemetery[77][127]Savy, France430
Strand Military Cemetery[128]Comines-Warneton, Belgium802
Tancrez Farm Cemetery[129]Comines-Warneton, Belgium328
Tournai Communal Cemetery Allied Extension[77][130]Tournai, Belgium819
Trefcon British Cemetery[77][131]Trefcon, France277
Unicorn Cemetery[132]Vendhuile, France599
Valenciennes (St. Roch) Communal Cemetery[77][133]Valenciennes, France882
Villers Hill British Cemetery[134]Villers-Guislain, France385
Wailly Orchard Cemetery[135]Wailly, France351
Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery[136]Saulty, France1,286Some sources list this as a Lutyens cemetery that Holden completed
Wimereux Communal Cemetery[137]Wimereux, France3,022
Woburn Abbey Cemetery[77][138]Cuinchy, France315
Wulverghem-Lindenhoek Road Military Cemetery[139]Heuvelland, Belgium658
Zantvoorde British Cemetery[140]Zantvoorde, Belgium449
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.

MemorialLocationNumber of missingNote
Buttes New British Cemetery (New Zealand) Memorial[142]Zonnebeke, Belgium378See also Buttes New British Cemetery
Messines Ridge (New Zealand) Memorial[143]Messines, Belgium827See also Messines Ridge British Cemetery
Linked pavilions and colonnades of the New Zealand Memorial, Buttes New British Cemetery, Zonnebeke, Belgium.

Notes

References

Bibliography