Richard Reynolds Rowe (5 June 1824 – 21 December 1899) was an English architect and civil engineer, mainly active in Cambridge and Cambridgeshire. His best-known work is the Cambridge Corn Exchange.
Biography
Richard Reynolds Rowe was born in 1824, the son of Richard Rowe, a Cambridge alderman. He attended school at Eaton-Socon, and then either school or university in Cambridge. In his early career he worked mainly as a civil engineer. His first position was on the Isle of Man, as clerk of works for St Thomas's Church, Douglas (1847). He next worked on water supply and drainage projects in Essex.Obituary: Richard Reynolds Rowe 1824–1899. Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 141 (3): 349–50 (1900)
In 1850 he set up practice in Cambridge as an architect, from 1893 in partnership with C. R. Scott,Death of Mr. R. Reynolds Rowe. Cambridge Chronicle (22 December 1899) (courtesy link) and designed and built several buildings around Cambridge and elsewhere in Cambridgeshire. He was the borough surveyor in 1850–69,Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 28–29 and also served as the architect attached to the Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely Asylum at Fulbourn and the clerk of works for Ely Cathedral. He was an elected fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Society of Antiquaries and the Surveyors' Institution, a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers (1859), and served as president of the Institute of Sanitary Engineers. His other honours include being a Knight of Justice of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.
Rowe was married. With William John Beamont, he was associated with the foundation of the Church Congress in 1861.C. W. Sutton (H. C. G. Matthew, revised) (2020) . Beamont, William John. In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press In later life, he lived at Parkside in Cambridge. He died on 21 December 1899. His funeral was held at St Andrew the Great and he was buried at Mill Road Cemetery.Funeral of Mr. R. R. Rowe at Cambridge. Cambridge Weekly News, p. 8 (29 December 1899)Funeral of Mr. R. Reynolds Rowe, at Cambridge. Cambridge Evening News, p. 3 (28 December 1899)
Works His most-notable work in Cambridge is the Cambridge Corn Exchange (1873–75).Richard Reynolds Rowe, F.S.A., R.I.B.A. (1824-99), The Victorian Web, 25 July 2011. Accessed 29 April 2013.Bradley & Pevsner, p. 300 His other buildings in the town include St Matthew's Church (1864–66),Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 28, 294 number 6, Trumpington Road (1866),Bradley & Pevsner, p. 332 Wilton Terrace, Station Road,Alice Philipson (29 May 2013). Mary Beard joins campaign to stop Cambridge becoming the 'Croydon of the Fens'. The Daily Telegraph almshouses on King Street (1880),Bradley & Pevsner, p. 311 and (with C. R. Scott) the Red Cow pub on Corn Exchange Street (1898).Bradley & Pevsner, p. 316The Red Cow Public House, National Heritage List for England, Historic England (accessed 24 November 2023)
Outside Cambridge, he built Anglican churches at Burwell (1863),Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 408, 448 Prickwillow (1866–68)Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 408, 637 and Wendy (1866; demolished in around 1950),Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 408, 671 and was involved in restoring many Anglican churches in Cambridgeshire, including those at Stuntney (1875–76)Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 407, 656 and Haddenham (1871–77).Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 407, 559–60 He also built vicarages or rectories at Graveley (1853–54),Bradley & Pevsner, p. 552 Fulbourn (1859)Bradley & Pevsner, p. 545 and Chatteris (1878–80).Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 410, 453
His non-ecclesiastical work in Cambridgeshire includes the police station (1855) at LintonBradley & Pevsner, p. 594 and Arkenstall's Endowed School at Haddenham (1863).Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 409, 560
References
Source Simon Bradley, Nikolaus Pevsner. Cambridgeshire (The Buildings of England series) (Yale University Press; 2014)
External links
Richard Reynolds Rowe – biography at Mill Road Cemetery website