John Wills (architect)

John Wills (1846 - 20 June 1906) was an architect based in Derby.

Personal life

He lived at Dodbrook, 136 Whitaker Road, Derby, a house he designed himself.

For many years he was president of the Derby and Derbyshire Band of Hope Union, and treasurer of the South Derbyshire Liberal Association. He was also a councillor on Derby Town Council for the Becket Ward in the 1880s. He was a trustee of Green-hill Chapel in Derby.

He died in Salcombe, Devon on 20 June 1906.[1]

Career

He formed a partnership with his sons William Francis Wills (b. 1877) and John Ross Wills (b. 1882). His practice was based at Victoria Street Chambers in Derby.[2] He was responsible for building many non-conformist chapels in the Midlands and in the southeastern counties of Sussex, Middlesex, Essex and Kent. He has been called the "pre-eminent architect" of Baptist chapels in Kent, where his designs ranged from expensive, large chapels in towns to small wayside chapels in rural areas.[3] His Baptist church at Holland Road in Hove has been called one of the most important Nonconformist chapels of the Victorian era in Sussex.[4]

He was the author of Hints to Trustees of Chapel Property and Chapel Keepers’ Manual which was in its 3rd edition by 1884.

Buildings

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References

  1. Derby Daily Telegraph - Thursday 21 June 1906
  2. Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Alison Felstead and Jonathan Franklin, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001
  3. Homan 1984, p. 10.
  4. Elleray 1981, p. 28.
  5. Blackburn Standard - Saturday 14 September 1878
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Homan 1984, p. 113.
  7. Derby Daily Telegraph - Friday 9 June 1882
  8. Elleray 2004, p. 21.
  9. Royal Cornwall Gazette - Friday 16 September 1887
  10. Elleray 1981, p. 68.
  11. Nottingham Evening Post - Thursday 26 July 1888
  12. Llangollen Advertiser, 31 Jan 1896
  13. Elleray 1981, p. 69.
  14. Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald - Saturday 3 October 1896
  15. Elleray 1981, p. 85.
  16. Sheffield Evening Telegraph - Thursday 8 June 1899
  17. Portsmouth Evening News - Saturday 23 February 1901
  18. Derby Daily Telegraph - Thursday 9 January 1902
  19. Historic England. "Details from image database (338841)". Images of England. Retrieved 20 April 2015.

Bibliography

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