Ernest Gimson: Arts & Crafts Designer and Architect

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Gimson’s first interest in this field arose during his architectural apprenticeship in his native Leicester. The son of Josiah Gimson, who had established a successful engineering company, Ernest Gimson was articled to Isaac Barradale in 1884 and also attended classes at the local School of Art. As part of the South Kensington National Training Course he submitted drawings to the National Competition, including some for drawing-room furniture. Sadly these appear to have been lost. They gained him a silver prize medal but also, rather surprisingly, the comment that they were ‘based on an illogical, fantastical, unfruitful and embarrassing style’. Described elsewhere as in ‘a refined kind of Chippendale style’, they presumably reflected the teaching of the course and late-Victorian interest in the ‘golden age’ of the eighteenth century. Gimson’s main concern was the provision of useful and rewarding work for his craftsmen, using local materials and traditions of making. At Marchmont House, we saw how contemporary handwork can still provide a worthwhile and rewarding occupation. Nicholas Hobbs’ thoughts on the day offer a fitting conclusion: Barradale was also designing villas in the pleasant south suburbs of the city including one in Knighton Park Road in 1882 for Joseph Harrison, head of the School of Art. Here the dramatic lines of its steeply-pitched roof are broken up by the introduction of dormer windows. The house also includes incised plasterwork on the coving between the walls and the roof. He left Barradale’s office at some point between the end of 1883 and early in 1884.There is, unfortunately, a downside to this organic approach; the wall built into the bank suffers from cold and damp. As early as 1905 Country Life magazine reported that the occupants of Stoneywell had to 's uffer for its beauty'. A stunning Grade II listed thatched cottage nestling within the highly sought after Charnwood Forest. Herbert also started a newspaper locally, The Leicester Reasoner, for which Gimson was asked to design a masthead. In the course of the project he wrote to his brother, Sydney:

Street. (fn. 13) By 1573 a bridge had been built at Daneway (fn. 14) and that part of the road which led up the hill Drawing of Stoneywell by Ernest Gimson, July 1898. Ernest Gimson Blue Plaque displayed at the Belmont Hotel, De Montfort Street / New Walk, Leicester.Ernest Gimson: Arts & Crafts Designer and Architect by Annette Carruthers, Mary Greensted and Barley Roscoe is published by Yale University Press. As a young man in Leicester, Gimson met William Morris after hearing him talk on art and socialism. Morris encouraged him to carry on his architectural training in London and gave him an introduction to the ecclesiastical architect John Sedding. In London, Gimson became part of an enthusiastic circle of young architects who included William Lethaby, Alfred Powell, and the brothers, Ernest and Sidney Barnsley. Ernest William Gimson (1864-1919) for the Lea Cottage wardrobe Ulverscroft, England, circa 1898 oak, iron 46 1/2"w x 23"d x 77"h Provenance: Christie's, New York, New York, Important 20th Century Decorative Arts Including Wiener, 09 December 2003, Sale 1311, Lot 61 Catalog Note: Ernest William Gimson is known as one of the most important figures of English Arts & Crafts Movement of the 20th century. Born to an engineer and iron founder Josiah Gimson of Gimson & Company that manufactured steam engines and various machineries, Gimson gained his working knowledge in engineering and design at an early age. At 15, he began working as an apprentice at a renowned architectural firm in his hometown of Leicester. At 19, after attending a lecture entitled 'Art and Socialism' by William Morris, he was completely drawn by Morris' philosophy and the Arts & Crafts Movement as a whole. This encounter had such a significant impact on Gimson who maintained close ties with Morris thereafter. In 1887, upon completing his apprenticeship and education at Leicester School of Art, he began his professional career as a designer and architect in London with John Dando Seddin's firm. During his two-year tenure with the company, Gimson trained himself by creating intricate, natural design elements and embodying the philosophy of the Arts & Crafts Movement. In 1889, Gimson joined Morris' Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and continued his effort in preserving not only historic architecture, but also the traditional methods of crafts — an essential part of Arts & Crafts Movement. By 1893, Gimson had uprooted his life in London and moved with brothers Ernest and Sidney Barnsley to a rural region of Gloucestershire in the Cotswolds, where they practiced furniture making for a small group of clients and planned to establish a "Utopian craft village" characterized by simplicity and pleasurable labor. This wardrobe was custom made for the Lea Cottage, designed by Gimson and executed by Detmar Blow between 1898 and 1899, for his siblings as their summer retreat. Toomey & Co. Auctioneers Nicholas Mander, Owlpen Manor, Gloucestershire: a short history and guide (Owlpen Press, current edition, 2006) OCLC 57576417 ISBN 0-9546056-1-6 In July 1903 Gimson and his wife moved to their new home at Sapperton. Gimson designed the house, known as The Leasowes himself and it was built by local craftsmen apart from the thatched roof. Gimson loved the soft curves and texture of thatch so much that he was prepared to use it even though it was not common in Gloucestershire. He employed a thatcher from Oxfordshire. Fred Griggs wrote: