E. W. Godwin and the Mild Mild West
From this drawing it would seem unlikely that the side wall at its centre would one day be photographed thousands of times, and attract the interest of people from all over the world. Here, it appears unremarkable, especially when compared to the gutsy brick detailing and gothic flourishes of the building’s principal facade. The drawing suggests that is merely a consequence of the front of the proposed building meeting the street while its neighbour, ‘Gotch’s House’, is stepped back.[1] And it is this consequence, and not the building’s design, nor its architects, E. W. Godwin and Henry Crisp, the former of whom was described by Oscar Wilde as the ‘one of the most true artistic spirits’ of the nineteenth century, that has made it famous.[2] Instead, it is because in 1999, over three days, a young street artist painted onto the brickwork of the first floor a mural of a teddy bear throwing a molotov cocktail at riot police.
Godwin and Crisp were in partnership from 1864 until 1871; Godwin drew and designed the projects while Crisp oversaw their construction. In 1865, after his wife’s death, Godwin moved to London where he continued to design the office’s projects—another of the drawings for this project (above) was drawn in London. See more drawings for the project on Drawing Matter Collections.
Notes
- The Reverend Frederic Gotch was the President of the Bristol Baptist College and the client for the project. His residence connected to no. 76 on one side and the college on the other.
- Oscar Wilde, ‘The Truth of Masks’ (1886), quoted in Dudley Harbron, The Conscious Stone: the life of Edward William Godwin (London, Latimer House: 1949), 1. Godwin was well-known in his time for his architecture, interior and furniture design, writing, and even theatrical productions. He was a central figure in the Aesthetic Movement and a friend of artists such as James Whistler, for whom he designed a house in Tite Street, Chelsea.