Architectural History: Looking Up in Lincoln

As well as our scheduled free walking tours of the city of Lincoln; we also offer private tours for visitors, groups or local businesses and organisations. As part of this service, we can offer bespoke tours tailored to your requirements, including being able to focus on specific subjects or periods from the city’s fascinating history.

We recently provided a 'net-walking' tour to showcase the architecture of the city for the Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with local architect’s practice Stem Architects Ltd. We thought we would share some of the interesting content from the tour to highlight the architecture on offer in Lincoln and the architect’s that have helped to shape the city.

William Watkins

Watkins was born in 1834 in Worcestershire; however worked predominantly in Lincoln through the late 19th Century. He was in a partnership for several years with a local architect called William Scorer (the uncle of Sam Scorer below). Watkins himself had two sons, William Gregory Watkins and Henry Watkins who also both went on to be prominent local architects. It was a family affair!

He shared an enthusiasm like many architects at the time in decorating public and commercial buildings with terracotta. Terracotta was fashionable through the 1880s following its extensive use in South Kensington on buildings such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Royal Albert Hall. Terracotta resists attack from pollution and can be washed clean, making it a perfect addition to buildings during Lincoln’s industrial heyday.

Several prominent local buildings by Watkins can still be seen today along Lincoln’s High Street including House of Cavani (190-191 High Street), Fatface (305-306 High Street) and HSBC bank (221 High Street). His most notable works in Lincoln are the former Christ’s Hospital School for Girls on Lindum Hill (now part of Lincoln College) and the former Constitutional Club on the corner of Silver Street and Broadgate which sadly features on the Victorian Society’s Endangered Buildings list due to it lying empty and in need of TLC.

William Mortimer

Mortimer came to Lincoln as a child and began working as an architect in the city in 1858. He lived in the city and would later partner with his sons who helped to expand the practice. He designed Oddfellows Hall in the city for the friendly society known as the ‘Manchester Unity of Oddfellows’ and moved his practice into the building. The building would later be used as a club for a local engineering firm, but has sadly been left empty since it’s closer in 1981.

He also designed the Liberal Club in the city’s St Swithin’s Square in 1892, another building which stands empty. The building’s most notable visitor comes from 1910, when the then Home Secretary Winston Churchill was asked to make a speech on the building’s balcony on election day. The lunchtime crowds, which included workers from the nearby engineering works became rowdy and Churchill was pelted with tomatoes and other missiles. He gave up on his speech, swiftly left by the back door and got the next London bound train home.

Mortimer worked on lots of buildings across the city in the late 19th and early 20th Century; with the former Grandstand building of Lincoln Racecourse being a particularly notable example. Sadly, several of Mortimer's buildings, along with Watkins, stand unloved in the city, and desperately waiting for investment to bring them back to life.

Sam Scorer

Scorer was born in 1923 and worked almost exclusively in Lincoln. He was a leading pioneer in the development of reinforced concrete structures through the mid-20th Century. The majority of his work, as with many of his contemporaries at the time, is often overlooked as part of the post-war architecture which is not perceived positively in the 21st Century. He however has the rare accolade of having two of his buildings listed during his own lifetime.

He is known particularly for his work in developing the ‘hyperbolic paraboloid’ roof structure. This is most easily described as a structure that has been twisted in two different directions to provide a plane that is sweeping and curved. Using this principle in construction at the time was revolutionary.

Scorer has used this principle of several of his buildings locally to form beautiful sweeping roof structures. Most notably in the former Lincolnshire Motor Company showrooms on Brayford Wharf North (now home to Nandos, Five Guys and Prezzo), as well as the St John the Baptist church in the north of the city. If you are travelling to Lincoln from the north; make sure to catch a glimpse of the former Markham Moor petrol station designed by Scorer as you leave the A1 (now home to Starbucks). You can not miss it, it looks like a giant Pringle!

How Can We Help?

If you are part of a group, business or organisation and think we may be able to help with a bespoke private walking tour; you can find out more information by following the link, or you can contact us direct for a chat about how we can help. Email us at lincolnfreewalkingtour@gmail.co.uk or send us a message through our social media channels!