ARCHITECTURE
There seems to have been very little written about Keith Murrays contribution to architecture in England. Most of our information has been sourced from architectural periodicals from the early to middle part of the 20th century, when Keith Murray's architectural practice was at it's busiest. We begin by looking at Keith Murray's greatest contribution to Wedgwood, the design of their new factory at Barlaston.
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Photograph showing the new office block for Directors, designers and clerical staff. In the background is the south front of the main factory. |
During the 1930's Wedgwood's fortunes had begun to improve. It was decided that a new factory, along with an associated model village, should be built. The existing factory at Etruria was originally built by Josiah Wedgwood in 1769 but the factory had experienced serious subsidence problems caused by mining. Temporary extensions had also fallen into disrepair and were swiftly decaying.
A new site for the factory was chosen in 1936 and was to be situated at the Barlaston Hall estate, near Trentham. The land covered 381 acres and was located just 7 miles from the present factory and 4½ south of the Potteries in Stoke on Trent. Fifty one acres of this land had been set aside for industrial developement. The remaining land included several large ponds and wooded areas and was earmarked for workers houses and open parks. It is interesting to read that even in the 1930's consideration was given to conservation of the area. Where only a small number of trees had to be removed, new ones were planted in the vicinity.
Both Keith Murray and his partner C.S.White were responsible for the design of the new factory, whilst a third independant architect, Louis de Soissons, was responsible for the design of the housing and the general layout of the estate. The proposed plans for the new site were drawn up in 1937 and 1938 and the first foundation stone was laid in september 1938.
| Work on the new factory moved along rapidly until a year later at the outbreak of the 2nd world war. Many changes had to be made to the original plans which would completely alter the look of the factory. This water colour (right) shows how the |
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The original drawings for the proposed Wedgwood factory. The offices located at the top right and the railway at the bottom where raw materials would be brought in. |
factory might have looked with it's modern, white, ceramic facade, a style which epitomises contemporary style at this time. Buildings such as this were representative of the large ocean going cruise liners of the day that were making foreign travel a popular pastime. As it was, the beautiful facade had to be replaced completely by red brick, something which must have been quite frustrating for both Murray and White. |
The new factory sloped gradually down to a railway, where a private halt had been provided to shuttle in both workers and office staff. A separate siding was also built which would allow the bulk of the raw materials to be brought into the factory. New offices were built for the Directors, designers and cerical staff and a new canteen, which doubled as a theatre, was built to house over 500 for lunch or 750 for shows held there.
The cost of the building as at 1940 was £145,000, a substantial amount compared to, say, a three bedroom house, which in 1940 would cost an average of £400. The cost of the building did not include any of the new processing equipment, some of which had been developed by Norman Wilson for the factory. The first section of the new building was completed in 1940 and in the summer of that year all earthenware production was transferred to Barlaston.
Note: Several designs were made to commemorate the move to Barlaston. These include one by Victor Skellern which was printed onto the Keith Murray designed, Queensware mug and shows two views of the new factory. Skellern also made another factory design which can be seen on our Pattern page. Robert Gooden and Eric Ravilious also produced designs commemorating this move which were applied to other Wedgwood shapes.
RAMSEY, MURRAY, WHITE AND WARD By the 1950's keith Murray's busy architectural practice had expanded and now included two other architects, Ramsey and Ward. One of the commissions undertaken by the practice was this office building in Stramongate in the Lake District. The building forms part of the extension of the head offices of an insurance company. The facade of the building is made with Portland stone and Westmoreland green slate. |
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| Internally, the main layout is modern and stark with expansive window areas and modern design features such as acoustic ceiling tiles and flush light fittings, which also serve to hide the electrical conduits and plumbing. Most of the flooring is made from wood blocks (parquet) except the entrance lobby. Here a nabresina marble is used with the walls covered with glass mosaic tiles and lined with black bean timber. Walls and floors on the staircase are faced with off-white terrazzo. |
More Keith Murray architecture to follow.
ARCHITECTURE |