English architect
Richard Gibson Kyle (1820–1903), known professionally as Gibson Kyle, was an English architect practising in and around Newcastle upon Tyne. His father was a Northumberland journeyman mason and contractor-builder. Kyle was articled to his uncle John Dobson and worked with him on local projects such as Newcastle railway station, some of the Quayside buildings, and the King Street-Queen Street block which was the site of a major fire in 1867.
Among his independent works, he designed an extension which forms part of the College of St Hild and St Bede, now part of Newcastle University, besides the Chaucer Building in Grainger Street West, tenements, baths for Newcastle Lunatic Asylum, and baths and a wash house for the general public. Around north-east England he designed a number of nonconformist chapels and parsonages, and he was architect to the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral.
As a young man he lay in wait and caught a burglar who was carrying away of lead. He was teetotal and took part in the temperance movement. He was involved in a number of business ventures in Newcastle, and he took active part in local politics.
Background.
Kyle's paternal grandparents were mason Joseph Kyle (1759 or 1760–1849), and Jane Barnes. Kyle's father was also named Gibson Kyle (1789–1867), and he was a mason. Kyle's mother was Elizabeth Dobson (1793–1868). In 1821 along with his brother-in-law John Dobson, Gibson Kyle senior was a witness in the indictment of the bailiffs and burgesses of Morpeth, regarding the "ruinous state of the bridge of that town." Kyle senior, the bridge surveyor for the county, reported that the bridge, known as Three Mile Bridge, was so narrow that he had to dismount from his horse at the widest part of the bridge, to let a carriage pass him. It was Gibson Kyle senior who in 1835 designed the replacement Lowford Bridge, a skew bridge that permitted the B6343 road to be straightened a little. His stone arches "threatened to collapse" but were rebuilt with the assistance of Edward Chapman of Newcastle, who replaced the stone with brick. Gibson Kyle senior was one of the contractors for building Morpeth Gaol (designed by John Dobson in 1822–1828), and his servant Sarah Detchen who stole from him was the first convict to be jailed there. By 1843 Kyle senior was a journeyman mason, a builder-contractor and an insolvent debtor.
Life.
Richard Gibson Kyle was born in Ponteland, Northumberland, in 1820, and died at 2 Roseville, Bensham, Gateshead on 21 January 1903, aged 82 years. His wife was Mrs Elizabeth Dowson, (Hexham ca.1819 – Gateshead 1868), the former "active, intelligent and kind" matron of Newcastle Infirmary, and widowed by 1851. They married in Haltwhistle in July 1855, and their son was the architect Alfred Gibson Kyle (1856–1940). Gibson Kyle was a teetotaller, and belonged to the Newcastle auxiliary of the United Kingdom Alliance. He is buried in Elswick Cemetery, Newcastle.
In 1842, Kyle caught a burglar. Thomas Middlemass, who worked in Richard Grainger's Clayton Street shop, had noticed that lead was going missing, and young Kyle was hidden away there to watch for the thief. He saw John Marshall enter by the window and leave with of lead, and Marshall was still carrying it when Kyle caught him. The thief was taken to Court and committed to the sessions.
In 1866, Kyle was called for jury service. The jury was reassured that although they would be dealing with a great number of cases, the majority would be "very trifling in description." The sessions began with a list of thefts. In 1892, Kyle was called as a witness at the inquest regarding fatalities in the Gateshead Theatre Royal fire of 1892. Eleven people were killed in a crush at the gallery door, during a panic following cries of fire. Expert witnesses, including Kyle, stated that the number of exits and lack of fire precautions made the theatre unsafe.
Business and local politics.
Gibson Kyle was heavily involved in local business issues, including the gas lighting industry in 1859. He or his father took part in the procession of directors of the North Eastern Railway Company at the opening of Jarrow docks in 1859. In 1866 Kyle was a director of the Union Permanent Benefit Building Society, whose offices were at 93 Clayton Street, Newcastle. Kyle was regularly involved in the sale of land with development plans. For example, in 1868 he was selling 13 villa sites on 13 acres of land at the "east end of East Bolden." He also sold buildings and he was a director of the Tyne, Wear and Tees Property Trust. For example, in 1864 he was advertising a pub, shops, houses and domestic lettings in Newcastle. He was a moneylender, too. For example, in November 1888 he was offering £200,000 () to lend at 3.75 percent, and in March 1889 he had £45,000 () to lend at 3.5–4 per cent.
In 1868, Kyle was elected a town councillor for the West Ward of Gateshead, on a Ratepayers' Association ticket since he vowed to lower the rates, though he received both cheers and hisses when he won. In 1874 Kyle was elected as a member of Newcastle Town Council for Westgate Ward, the polling having taken place in a shed in the cattle market, where the voting numbers had been low.
Career.
Kyle was apprenticed to his uncle John Dobson. "Mr Dobson did not trouble himself much about articled pupils or apprentices. He was always too full of business to give either room or time for the purely elementary education of beginners. Mr Dobson insisted on some proficiency and fitness in those he employed. He was always approachable to his assistants ... He often said, "If you err, err on the side of strength." He had a horror of shams, and warned young men of the dangers attending flimsy and cheap construction." Kyle worked alongside Dobson and Richard Grainger, and was Grainger's foreman when some of their major works were carried out. Between them, they changed the face of Newcastle by demolishing and rebuilding. When they built the Central Station, Kyle was clerk of works. With Dobson he built "a magnificent pile of buildings on the Quayside," as well as other buildings in the city, including a training college and other public buildings.
Kyle's first office as an independent architect was at 16 Market Street, then in May 1865 he moved to 2 St Nicholas' Buildings, Newcastle. By March 1892 he was working from 130 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle. Kyle was appointed architect to the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral, and he designed a "large number of churches" in the area. He was a "stickler for thoroughness," he was one of the founders of the Northern Architectural Association, and when young he was a "keen politician." His "Newcastle Daily Chronicle" obituary said, "There are none to whom the saying that their works live after them is more appropriate than the great architect, for though his most durable monuments pass away, they remain to exercise influence for many years, speaking to those who gaze upon them."
In 1869 at Kyle's office in St Nicholas Buildings, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tom Bell aged 23, one of Kyle's assistants, fell through a skylight and was severely injured. He had been looking out of an upstairs window when he climbed out onto a skylight to retrieve a pen. The skylight gave way, and he dropped 40 feet into the lobby. He was "greatly stunned" and badly cut with broken glass. He was treated at the Infirmary, then taken home by his sisters.
Connections with other architects.
In Newcastle, Kyle associated with other architects, including his contemporary Septimus Oswald (1823–1894), whose funeral he attended in 1894. Oswald designed Newcastle General Hospital (formerly the workhouse hospital) in 1870. He was father of architect Joseph Oswald (1851–1930) who designed the Central Arcade, and Newcastle Breweries' head office in Newgate Street.
One of Kyle's last assistants was James Newton Fatkin (c.1882–1940), who also came from Ponteland. After Kyle's death, Fatkin acquired and developed the business, designing flats at 63 Fern Avenue, Eslington terrace and Osborne Avenue, Newcastle. He designed "numerous cinemas throughout the North," and during World War II converted basements into air raid shelters.
Joseph G. Angus of Low Fell (b.Gateshead 1842), a member of the leather and rubber manufacturing family of Grainger Street West, was articled as an architect to Gibson Kyle. But "he was too fond of agricultural pursuits to settle down to plan drawing," so he emigrated to Natal around 1875, and farmed there.
Works in association with John Dobson.
King Street – Queen Street block, Akenside Hill, circa 1863.
This is the triangular block bounded to the north by Akenside Hill, to the south by Queens Street and to the east by the upper stepped end of King Street. On 20 December 1867 this new Italian-style block, worth £9,000 () to £10,000 (), designed by Gibson and Kyle as part of Newcastle's Quayside improvement scheme, burnt down in a great fire. The fire was first discovered in the premises of Messrs Bell and Dunn, shiphandlers and hardwaremen, where a considerable quantity of very combustible material was stowed away, consisting of hemp, tar, rosin, and other articles usually sold by ship chandlers. Soon the premises were in a complete blaze, and the fire extended, spreading right and left, to the offices of Mr Southern, timber merchant, 9 Queen Street; Mr J. Liddel, the Mickley Coal Company; Mr Hilson Philipson, coal fitter; Mr Henry Scholefield, in Queen Street; Messrs Hall Brothers, in King Street; Messrs J.H. and P. Brown, merchants; and Messrs Forster, Blackett and Wilson, lead merchants, Queen Street, and others.
This event occurred on the same spot as a previous explosion and fire of 1854. No-one was hurt on this occasion, and several heroic acts were reported, including that of plumber Caleb Jobling (1823–1869), who was "very active in the dangerous task of breaking off the connections of the roofs by which the fire was prevented from spreading to the adjoining buildings."
Independent works.
Durham Diocesan Training School (extension), 1856–1858.
On 28 May 1856 Kyle was calling for tenders from prospective builders of this extension, which involved "erection of the principal's residence, and forming additional dormitories &amp;c., in present building." Because it was completed in the same period, Kyle is likely to have designed the Model School which was attached to the main building for teaching experience purposes. In 1858 the Durham Diocesan Female Training School (later called the College of St Hild) was opened close by. The architect of St Hild is unknown.
This unlisted building extended by Kyle was known as the Durham Diocesan Training School for Masters between 1839 and 1886 when it was renamed Bede College. It trained elementary school masters, and by 1860 the numbers of pupils had increased from five to fifty. The College of St Hild and St Bede is now part of Durham University.
Former Methodist New Connexion Chapel and schoolroom, Ripon, 1859.
Kyle called for tenders on 24 May 1859, for "a new chapel and school room for the Methodist New Connexion, in the city of Ripon. in 1877 this building in Cemetery Road was demolished and replaced by the larger Melbourne Terrace Chapel, designed by Edward Taylor of York.
Methodist New Connexion Chapel, Hartlepool, 1859–1860.
On 29 October 1859 the foundation stone for this chapel was laid by Mrs Joseph Love, wife of benefactor Joseph Love of Willington Hall, Greater Willington. There was a "large and respectable" procession from the Freemasons' Hall, Hartlepool, and a "large gathering" at the site. There had been special trains booked for the guests, and seating platforms and banners had been set up. There was hymn-singing, a speech and a tea. Kyle's design, seating 800 people, was "an elegant structure," and "somewhat Byzantine in character." It measured 70 by 42 feet, and included classrooms, schoolrooms and vestries. In the gallery behind the pulpit was an organ by Nicholson of Newcastle.
The chapel was opened for services on Easter Sunday, 8 April 1860. There was a "spacious lecture hall" under the chapel, and a fund-raising bazaar was held there between 9 and 11 April. There were special sermons by guest speaker Rev. S. Hulme of Leeds on the following Sunday, and the public tea was held on Monday 16 April in the chapel's lecture hall.
Methodist New Connexion Chapel, Spennymoor, 1860–1861.
The foundation stone for the Methodist New Connexion Chapel at Spennymoor,