Henry Clutton


Henry Clutton was an English architect and designer.

Life

Henry Clutton was born on 19 March 1819, the son of Owen and Elizabeth Goodinge Clutton. He studied with Edward Blore between 1835 and 1840, but began his own practice in 1844. He became an expert in French medieval architecture. Clutton also worked with William Burges. John Francis Bentley was a student of Clutton.
In 1855, Clutton and Burges won the competition to design Lille Cathedral; however, the idea of entrusting the construction of a church in honour of the Virgin to foreign architects of an Anglican confession raised objections. Therefore, the project was given to a local architect.
Between 1858 and 1860, Clutton built Minley Manor in the French chateau style for Raikes Currie, a partner in Glyn Mills' Bank and a member of the Currie family who benefited substantially from slavery in the British West Indies. It was later used by the Royal School of Military Engineering.
After Cliveden House burned down for the second time, around 1859, George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland commissioned Clutton to design a nearby water tower. The 100-foot clock tower was added in 1861 and still provides water for the house today. It is rendered in Roman cement like the rest of the house, and features four clock faces framed by gilded surrounds and a half-open staircase on its north side. It was described by the architectural critic Nicholas Pevsner as "the epitome of Victorian flamboyance and assertiveness."

Works