Life of Philip Webb

Philip Webb in 1873

Philip Webb (1831-1915) was born in Oxford to a family of eleven children.

When Philip Webb was eleven years old his father, a physician, passed away. Consequently Webb had little choice but to abandon his aspirations to become a fine artist and pursue a career as an architect . In 1854, Webb was hired as chief assistant at a firm in Oxford, this was also the place where he met his life-long friend and client of the Red House, William Morris.

Red Barns House

        Philip Webb met William Morris in 1856; the two would be life-long collaborators from that point on.  They started to work together on design projects due to their common "anti-industrial" mind-set that was greatly influenced by the writings of John Ruskin.  Along with architecture Webb became well known for his handiwork in stained glass, hand-painted glass, tile, carvings, furniture, wallpaper, carpets and tapestry. Webb started his own architectural practice in 1858 when Morris and himself started design for The Red House.  Webb became later known for his unconventional country houses that were unpretentious and informal.  He is also well known for designing the Red Barns House in 1868 and the Rounton Grange in 1870.  In 1877 Webb and Morris founded the "Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings."

Ophelia by John Everett Milliais

         The architect's most apparent influences apart from Gothic Architecture and The Gothic Revival are the works of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The Brotherhood was a secret society that helped to revitalize painting in Britain.  They took inspiration from early renaissance paintings, particularly from a group of painters called the "Primitives" who predated Raphael. The writings of John Ruskin, the most prominent art critic of the Victorian era, also guided their philosophy. The group insisted that paintings must be done by direct observation of nature.  The Painting Ophelia was painted by John Everett Milliais, a member of the Brotherhood.  Millias spent four months outside painting the background alone. This purist approach and love of work and craft in balance with art and design is what lead to the ideals behind The Red House and the beginning of the Arts and Crafts movement.

In 1858, Webb took on his first design commission to envision a family home for his good friend, William Morris, who was about to get married. The Red House was to be the first residential building of Modern Gothic, and its layout concept, such as the idea of having individual passageways leading up to the rooms, was later developed into the core characteristic in typical architecture of the Arts and Crafts movement.

In 1877, Webb became actively involved in the preservation work of old churches, thus becoming a key figure in the history of building conservation. The architect had gradually stopped working by the year of 1899 and enjoyed a peaceful retirement in Crawley, Sussex. Today, many examples of Webb's furniture design is owned and preserved by the National Trust.


Morris' friend and co-worker at his firm, Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a part of



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Citation:

"Webb, Philip Speakman." Oxford DNB Article. Accessed December 11, 2012. http://www.oxforddnb.com/
           view/article/36801?docPos=1.

"Philip Speakman Webb by Charles Fairfax Murray." Pre Raphaelite Art (blog). Accessed December 11,
           2012. http://preraphaelitepaintings.blogspot.ca/2009/09/
           philip-speakman-webb-by-charles-fairfax.html.


"Red Barns House, Kirkleatham Road, Redcar, Redcar and Cleveland." Heritage Explorer. Accessed
          December 11, 2012. http://www.heritage-explorer.co.uk/web/he/
          searchdetail.aspx?id=7711&crit=bell.

The Furniture Designs of Philip Webb

Phillip Webb designed this dresser in the
 Red House. In this image, this piece of
 furniture is located in the Dining Room.

William Morris built the Red House so he could live a life surrounded by handcrafted artifacts. All the furniture inside the house was designed by either himself or another member of his circle of close friends, many of them artists and important cultural figures. Philip Webb, architect of the Red House, was also a skilled furniture designer whose work contributed a great deal to furnishing the Red House. Furniture designs produced by Webb within Morris' firm, Morris & Co. were highly popular in Europe and abroad.

An iconic example of Webb's furniture can be found in the Red House dining room. Pictured here, Webb's oxblood red dresser was meant to serve as a multifunctional storage unit and a viewing gallery for use by the children Morris would have with his wife, Jane Morris.

Some more examples of Webb's furniture design include the William Morris Chair. Famously distinguished by its wooden back structure at the time, Webb did this to differentiate his handcrafted furniture from the mass produced chairs made of steel in America. Handcrafted with a high degree of detailing, all of Webb's furniture evokes a feeling of the medieval era, in its construction and aestethic qualities.

Through much of his furniture, Webb set a standard the Arts & Crafts movement would strive toward.

William Morris Chair,
designed by Philip Webb.

A sideboard designed by Webb, with tons of decoration and detailing

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Citation:

Didimendum1. "'Red House, Bexley and Related Material." Flickriver: Photoset (blog). Accessed 

     December 9, 2012. http://www.flickriver.com/photos/mynameismisty/sets/72157627292853981/.

The Red House: A Brief Outline

 Name: The Red House

Address: Red House Lane, Bexleyheath, London, DA6 8JF

Site painting by John Tenant 

Location:  The site was carefully selected by both the commissioner, William Morris, and the architect, Philip Webb. It is located in Upton, Northern Kent, surrounded by markets, orchards, and gardens, facing south to the valley of the River Cray. The site was ideal  Morris and Webb found the site ideal for its dense greenery and controlled humidity. Morris deeply admired the English landscape so many Victorians found dreary. In 1860 Upton was only a small settlement, today it is a dense London Suburb. Artist and biographer John Tenant portrayed the site in an idyllic painting (see image on right).

The Purpose: The construction of the Red House was a response to the mass production in the Industrial Revolution. By the mid nineteenth century, people were beginning to see the revolution's impact on social and environmental aspects of their lives. For the first time, a large proportion of consumer goods sold in stores were mass produced in factories. Many people, such as English art critic John Ruskin, criticized the manufactured goods as soulless, cheap and lacking creativity. As a reaction of this, the design of Red House had sparked the start of the Arts and Crafts movement. Ruskin and his followers believed and followed the medieval guild model, promoting the idea that everyone should hand make the things they need from start to finish. The home owner and designer of the Red House, William Morris, was one of the followers of Ruskin; as a result, the Red House was created in a way that promoted the Arts and Crafts Movement that began shortly after. 

Note the windows with different shapes on the Red House

Construction: The exterior of the Red House was heavily influenced by the handcrafted characteristics of Gothic and Medieval style architecture. Various elements of the house, such as the different looking windows (see image on right) and the locally manufactured bricks, all contribute to its Medieval and handmade appeal. The layout of the house is a L shaped courtyard, where in the center stands a well, one which provided a major source of water when the house was first built. Directly adjacent to the well is the stairwell inside the house, giving the space a nice view of the courtyard. The design of the house incorporated the practical idea of John Ruskin that the function of each room inside the house is directly reflected by the exterior of the space. The nature of such design gets rid of any unnecessary fancy decoration that takes away from the practicality of the rooms.


Architect Biography: The commissioner and co-designer of the house was William Morris, who was born in Walthamstow in 1834. Morris studied to become an architect, and for a short term of his life, he worked at the office of George Edmund Street, where he met his co-worker and soon-to-be close friend, Philip Webb. Growing up, Morris had always had strong interests in arts; as a working architect, Morris found that it was not possible to continue perusing his passion with the amount of work he received everyday as an architect. He soon decided to quit his job and became a full-time painter instead. Throughout his life, Morris had worked on various mural paintings across the country; such includes the Oxford debating chamber, where he painted the tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Morris later married Jane Burden, an artist's model for Morris, and that was when the couple decided to settle down by beginning the design of the Red House. The second architect who also worked on the house was Phillip Webb, the Red House was the first house he had ever designed, and for this, he was also known as the Father of the Arts and Crafts movement. Webb was fond of simplistic design with high quality, and his motto was "to consume the least possible, yet without impoverishment".

Narrative: The English Enclosure Acts (18th - 19th century) were a series of English acts that enclosed/took away the farmland of the peasants. Before this act took place, the English peasants rented land from the rich in order to produce food for survival. As time passed, the rich realized that raising sheep for wool was much more profitable than farming, and therefore they used the Parliamentary Act to take back their land from the unneeded farmers. Without space to grow their food, the farmers sought new factory jobs located in the city. The Enclosure Acts thus fueled the progression of the Industrial Revolution, which promoted the production of manufactured goods. The Red House architects desired to counteract the impact of the Industrial Revolution and therefore designed the Red house. In 1851, the Great Exhibition took place in England. Also known as the Crystal Palace, the exhibition was aimed to display the wealth of the European country as a result of their successful industrial revolution. It was an event created for England to show off to the world, a purpose which Ruskin and Morris were horrified by.

"I got a friend to build me a house, very medieval in spirit in which I lived for 5 years, and set myself to decorating it; we found, I and my friend the architect especially, that all the minor arts were in a state of complete degradation, especially in England..." 

William Morris, to Andreas Scheu, September 1883

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Citation:

Jan, Marsh. Marsh, Jan. William Morris & Red House. London, UK: National Trust, n.d.