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Belcher, John
(b London, 10 July 1841; d London, 8 Nov 1913). English architect and writer. His father, John Belcher sr (1817–90), was an architect practising in the City of London in the conservative classical style of T. L. Donaldson. The family belonged to the Catholic Apostolic Church, in which Belcher was a minister throughout his life. He was educated at private schools and in Luxembourg, and he studied architecture in Paris (1862–3). In 1865 he joined his father’s practice, introducing a youthful enthusiasm for the Gothic manner of William Burges; this is exemplified by his Mappin & Webb Building (1870–72; destr. 1994) on the corner of Poultry and Queen Victoria Street, London, a skilful treatment of an acute corner site. Belcher built a hall for the Curriers’ Company in London Wall, later demolished and rebuilt by him as part of a larger office scheme in Flemish Renaissance idiom for Rylands (1874; destr.) in Wood Street, London. Belcher’s domestic work, in the Old English style of Richard Norman Shaw, was highly regarded. He also designed a garden (1886–98) at Stowell Park, Glos, an early example of the revival of formal, architect-designed gardens. He was a founder-member of the Art Workers’ Guild (1884) and took to heart its ideal of uniting architecture with the other arts. He was a friend from boyhood of the sculptor Hamo Thornycroft, for whom he built a studio (1892) at 2A Melbury Road, London. Both men were keen members of a glee club, and Belcher, who had contemplated a musical career, sang bass roles in oratorio.
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