Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort
Benjamin Mountfort was born 13 March 1825, grew up in Birmingham, England, and studied architecture with Richard Cromwell Carpenter. Carpenter was an important member of the Gothic Revival and was a strong influence on Mountfort's architectural style.
Arriving in Canterbury
On 20 August Mountfort married Emily Newman and travelled with his new wife on board the Charlotte Jane to Canterbury, arriving on 16 December 1850.
His first design in New Zealand was for the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Lyttelton. Unfortunately unseasoned (not fully dried) timber was used, and after strong winds had buffeted it, it was decided that the church was not safe and it was demolished in 1857. This incident did not help Mountfort's career at first, although it was his knowledge of local timber and conditions that was the problem, not his skill as an architect. Until 1859 he ran a bookshop and worked as a drawing teacher. In that time he designed two more churches.
Architect to the province of Canterbury
By 1857 Mountfort and his partner and brother-in-law, Isaac Luck, had become architects to the province of Canterbury. Together they designed the new Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings, built between 1858-1865. The stone chamber (built in 1865) is thought of as the most important example of Mountfort's work.
Gothic Revival
A style of architecture popular in the nineteenth century. It was based on a return to the medieval look of pointed arches, steeply pitched roofs with gables, spires and other decoration. It was supposed to combine usefulness with design, with no additions such as windows, unless they were really needed, rather than just for the look of the building. It was regarded as the best architectural style for English colonies where there was no strong local architecture, and where the English Church was to have an important influence.
When the construction of Christchurch Cathedral began in 1863, the English architect, George Gilbert Scott, recommended Mountfort for the job of supervising architect (looking after the day-to-day work on the building site). The Cathedral Commission insisted on an architect from England instead. After the building had been delayed because of money problems, Mountfort was made supervising architect when building finally started again in 1873.
New Zealand's leading church architect
Other buildings designed by Mountfort were the Canterbury Museum (1869-1882), Canterbury College (now the Arts Centre), which included the clock-tower block (1877) and the Great Hall (1882). Nowhere else in New Zealand is there a collection of public buildings in the Gothic style.
He was elected president of the Canterbury Association of Architects when it was formed in 1872. By the 1880s Mountfort was recognised as the country's leading church architect, with the design of over forty churches to his name.
Benjamin Mountfort died on March 15 1898, in Christchurch.
Sources
- Ian J. Lochhead. Mountfort, Benjamin Woolfield — Biography, from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1-Sep-10
- Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort, Aotearoa New Zealand Centre information file, Christchurch City Libraries.
- Dictionary of New Zealand biography, Vol. 1, 1769-1869. Wellington, 1990.
Find out more about Mountfort and the Gothic revival
In our catalogue
Related pages
Other websites
- B.W. Mountfort and the Gothic Revival: A Centennial Exhibition at the Christchurch Art Gallery
- Mountfort, Benjamin Woolfield: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography by Ian J. Lochhead
- Gothic Revival by Georg Germann and Pippa Shirley. Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online.
