Lot 211
CHARLES SPOONER (1862-1938)
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNS FOR THE CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS, LITTLE ILFORD, LONDON, 1896
Auction: Day One | Lots 1 to 229 | Wed 15th April 2026 from 10am
Description
pen and ink, watercolour and graphite, 7 in total (numbered 2-7: including a duplicate of no. 4), all signed and dated ‘Charles Spooner, Architect, April 1896’ lower right, approval stamps of the Church Building Society (dated 1896), annotations of Cornish & Gaymer (ecclesiastical wood carvers, Norfolk), variable spotting and dust-soiling, nicks to edges, 2 plans with a few pencilled calculations
Dimensions
56cm x 78cm
Provenance
From the collection of Dr Alec Hamilton, author of Charles Spooner (1862-1938): Arts and Crafts Architect (Donington, 2012).
Footnote
The cornerstone of St Michael and All Angels, then in Essex, now in the London Borough of Newham, was laid in 1897, and building was completed by 1906. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner in the Buildings of England series remarked on its ‘noble proportions [and] tall giant wall-arcading' (Essex, 1965, p. 166). It was demolished in 1990, to be replaced by a community centre. St Michael's was Spooner's first London church and ‘a confident demonstration of [his] ability to meet the practical needs of a poor parish … On 1 May 1896 Spooner submitted 11 sheets of drawings … Six [sic] drawings survive, all but one dated April 1896, and numbered 2-7. They all appear to be presentation drawings. The drawings are beautiful watercolours, with meticulous attention to the detailed tints and textures of roots and tracery. Drainpipe fixings and the louvres of the fleche are precise and elegant' (Hamilton, p. 62).
Illustrated: Hamilton, pp. 62-4 (plan numbers 6, 2 and 4).