PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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John Foulston was Plymouth's most celebrated architect in Victorian times. He was born in London in 1772 and during the reign of King George III was a pupil of Thomas Hardwick. After he became a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, he set up practice in St Alban's Place, Pall Mall, London, in 1796. What brought Foulston to Plymouth was the competition to design the Royal Hotel and Theatre group of buildings. His success in the competition resulted in his appointment in 1810 as Plymouth's first Town Architect. The Royal Hotel had over fifty bedrooms and an ingeniously designed room for storing ice. The room was insulated by straw and access was through a series of three doors. The was a ballroom measuring some 80 feet by 40 feet, which sported a fine decorated ceiling. The Theatre next door could seat 1,192 people, almost half of them in private boxes. John Foulston was also responsible for the Plymouth Proprietary Library in Cornwall Street, the Athenaeum to the west of the Theatre Royal, the Exchange in Woolster Street, Princess Square, St Andrew's Chapel (later St Catharine's Church), the Devon and Cornwall Female Orphanage in Lockyer Street (although one source attributes this to Foulston's partner, George Wightwick. He also worked in Devonport, designing St Michael's Terrace, Albemarle Villas, Belmont House at Stoke, the Devonport Town Hall in Ker Street, the Devonport Column, which curiously aligns with Foulston's creation of Union Street to link the Three Towns. The Mount Zion Chapel and the Civil and Military Library in Ker Street were also his work. His only venture into neo-Gothic architecture was the Church of St Paul in Durnford Street, Stonehouse. Although he has been credited with designing the Crescent, this has since been attributed to a Mr T Hutchins, of whom nothing is known. His work was not confined to Plymouth, however, and amongst his other credits are the main entrance to Saltram House, the Independent Chapel and Ballroom in Torquay, the restoration of the Abbey Buildings in Tavistock, and a mental hospital at Bodmin. Foulston has been criticised for his involvement in the pre-First World War restoration of St Andrew's Church in Plymouth but he was at great pains to point out that his suggestions had actually been rejected by the restorations committee of the Church. In 1838 John Foulston published "The Public Buildings of the West of England". John Foulston died on January 13th 1842 at the age of 69 years and was buried in the new cemetery attached to St Andrew's Church. His widow was still living at Athenian Cottage, Townsend Hill, Mutley, in 1862.
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