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{{Short description|British architect (1843–1924)}}
{{about|the British architect|the American Shingle Style architect|William Ralph Emerson|the American architect and MIT professor|William Emerson (American architect)}}
{{Infobox architect
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| name = William Emerson
| honorific_suffix = [[FRIBA]]
| image = Sir William Emerson in WT Pike London (2c).jpg
| caption = Sir William Emerson, in 1905
| birth_date = {{birth date|1843|12|03|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[London]], England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1924|12|06|1843|12|03|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Shanklin]], England
| occupation = architect
| practice =
| significant_buildings = {{ublist|[[Crawford Market]]|[[All Saints Cathedral, Allahabad]]|[[Muir Central College]]|[[Victoria Memorial, Kolkata]]}}
| significant_projects =
| alma_mater = [[King's College London]]
}}
'''Sir William Emerson''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRIBA}} (3 December 1843 – 26 December 1924) was a British architect, who was President of the [[Royal Institute of British Architects]] (RIBA) from 1899 to 1902, and worked extensively in India.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Emerson, Sir William|magazine=Who's Who|year=1907|volume= 59|pages=557–558|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEcuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA557}}</ref> He was the original architect chosen to build [[Liverpool Cathedral]].

==Early life and education==
Born in 1843, he was son of a silk manufacturer in [[Whitechapel]], London, and educated at [[King's College, London]]. Around 1861, he was articled to William Gilbee Habershon, who soon thereafter entered into partnership with Alfred Robert Pite. Emerson subsequently became a pupil of [[William Burges]].<ref>{{cite web | url= http://archiseek.com/2009/sir-william-emerson-1843-1924/| title =Emerson, Sir William (1843-1924)| work =Archiseek - Irish Architecture| date =7 June 2009| publisher = archiseek|accessdate = 8 January 2011}}</ref>

==Career==

=== Early career ===
[[File:Allsaintcathedral_ald.jpg|thumb|[[All Saints Cathedral, Allahabad]]]]
He went to India in 1864, initially to supervise the building of Bombay school of art in Bombay to Burges’s plan, which in the event was never built. Instead he stayed on to practice architecture in Bombay, returning to London in 1869, where he opened an office in Westminster. He continued however to do his best work in India. His first big commission was for Mumbai's Gothic [[Crawford Market]] (1865–71) with a fountain executed by [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s father, [[John Lockwood Kipling]], who was also responsible for the bas-reliefs on the main entrance.

=== Stints in Allahabad and Bhavnagar ===
Thereafter he moved to Allahabad where he designed his most important works, [[All Saints Cathedral, Allahabad]] (1869–93) and [[Muir Central College|Muir College]] (1872-78). He then did two buildings for the princely [[Bhavnagar State]], Nilambag Palace (1894–95) and the Takhatsinhji Hospital (1879–83).

In 1896, he designed the Clarence Memorial Wing [[St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington]], London

=== Later work and Victoria Memorial ===
Eventually he designed his most known building, the [[Victoria Memorial]] (1905–21) in Calcutta.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/emerson/index.html|title=Sir William Emerson (1843-1924)|publisher=The Victorian Web|accessdate=8 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Philip Ward|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7EHTBl_pyQC&q=All+Saints+Cathedral%2C+Allahabad&pg=PA280|title=Gujarat–Daman–Diu: A Travel Guide|publisher=Orient Blackswan|year=1998|isbn=8125013830|page=280}}</ref>[[File:Victoria Memorial situated in Kolkata.jpg|thumb|Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta]]He was admitted [[ARIBA]] on 12 February 1866, his proposers being Burges, Coutts Stone and Henry Edward Kendall; and was elevated to FRIBA on 21 April 1873, his proposers being Stone, Thomas Hayter Lewis and Thomas Roger Smith. He was President of the [[Royal Institute of British Architects]] (RIBA) from 1899 to 1902, and was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in the [[1902 Coronation Honours]],<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Coronation Honours |date=26 June 1902 |page=5 |issue=36804}}</ref> receiving the accolade from King [[Edward VII]] at [[Buckingham Palace]] on 24 October that year.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27494 |date=11 November 1902 |page=7165 }}</ref>

Most of his later work was in India; his most familiar being the design of the marble clad [[Victoria Memorial (India)|Victoria Memorial Hall]] in Calcutta (1905 onwards), described as "Britain's answer to the Taj Mahal". Although asked to design a building in the Italian Renaissance style, Emerson was against the exclusive use of European styles and instead incorporated Mughal elements into the structure.

He died in [[Shanklin]], [[Isle of Wight]] in 1924.

== Personal life ==
He had married in 1872 Jenny, the daughter of Coutts Stone and sister of fellow architect [[Percy Stone]].

== Style ==
[[File:Au science faculty.jpg|alt=|thumb|[[Muir Central College]]]]
Emerson was a pioneer of the [[Indo-Saracenic]] style, which developed in the 19th and 20th centuries in British India.

===List of buildings===

* 1869 - [[Crawford Market]], Bombay (now Mumbai), India
* 1870 - [[All Saints Cathedral, Allahabad]], [[India]]
* 1872 - [[Muir Central College|Muir College]], Allahabad (now Prayagraj)<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060618201033/http://www.hindu.com/yw/2006/06/09/stories/2006060900150200.htm Muir College] ''[[The Hindu]]'', June 9, 2006.</ref>
* 1878 - [[St Mary the Virgin Church, Brighton]], Sussex
* 1879 - Takhatsinhji Hospital, [[Bhavnagar]]
* 1894 - Nilambag Palace, [[Bhavnagar]]
* 1896 - Clarence Memorial Wing [[St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington]], London
* 1905 - The [[Victoria Memorial]], Calcutta (now Kolkata), India
* 1916 - High School, [[Vadodara]]
His design for Liverpool cathedral won first prize in the first, abortive competition in 1883.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Crawford Market.png|[[Crawford Market]], Mumbai
File:Au science faculty.jpg| Muir College now part of [[Allahabad University]]
File:Nilambagh Palace, Bhavnagar.jpg|Nilambagh Palace, Bhavnagar
File:Clarencewing.JPG|Clarence Memorial Wing [[St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington]], London
File:St Mary the Virgin Church, Upper St James's Street, Brighton.jpg|St Mary the Virgin Church, Upper St James's Street, Brighton.
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline|William Emerson (British architect)}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emerson, William}}
[[Category:1843 births]]
[[Category:1924 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Whitechapel]]
[[Category:Architects from London]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Royal Institute of British Architects]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College London]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects]]
[[Category:British people in British India]]

William Emerson (British architect) - Revision history

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