Walter Tapper
Building Location Date Notes
Church of the Ascension , Malvern Link Malvern , Worcestershire 52°07′40″N 2°19′52″W / 52.127788°N 2.331237°W / 52.127788 ; -2.331237 1903
St Erkenwald , Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea 51°32′12″N 0°43′26″E / 51.536776°N 0.723936°E / 51.536776 ; 0.723936 1905-10 Demolished 1995
Church of the Resurrection , Mirfield Mirfield , West Yorkshire 53°40′58″N 1°42′50″W / 53.682707°N 1.713808°W / 53.682707 ; -1.713808 1908
Turville Grange Turville Heath , Buckinghamshire 1904 Added a parallel rear wing to this 18th century country house ; listed Grade II in 1955
St Oswald 's , Lythe Lythe , North Yorkshire 54°30′24″N 0°41′19″W / 54.506645°N 0.688531°W / 54.506645 ; -0.688531 1910-11 Rebuild of C13 church
Derby Lodge Shipley Estate , Derbyshire 1911
St Stephen 's , Grimsby Grimsby 1911-14 demolished 1973/4
Church of the Annunciation , Marble Arch Marble Arch , London 51°30′52″N 0°09′31″W / 51.51444°N 0.15861°W / 51.51444 ; -0.15861 1912-13
Guildford Grammar School Chapel Guildford , Western Australia 1912-14
St Michael 's , Little Coates Little Coates 1915
St Mary 's Church , Harrogate Harrogate , North Yorkshire 53°59′17″N 1°33′06″W / 53.987944°N 1.551658°W / 53.987944 ; -1.551658 1916 Now known as the Kairos Church ; closed 2007 owing to structural problems
St Mark 's , Whiteley Village Whiteley Village , Surrey 1919
Loughborough Carillon Loughborough , Leicestershire 1919-23
Memorial Cross Lancaster Gate , London 1921
Nymans Haywards Heath , West Sussex 1920s Stone Tudor-style mansion house ; ruined by fire in 1947
Our Lady of Mercy and St Thomas of Canterbury Gorton , Manchester 1927 Now the Mount Olivet Apostolic Church
St Oswald 's , Preston Deepdale , Preston 53°46′19″N 2°40′49″W / 53.771882°N 2.68015°W / 53.771882 ; -2.68015 1934 Original building demolished c.1987
Newgate , Chester Chester city walls 53°11′20″N 2°53′17″W / 53.18902°N 2.88819°W / 53.18902 ; -2.88819 1938 Completed after Tapper 's death by his son , Michael
Buildings
Interior of Tapper 's Church of the Annunciation at Marble Arch ( 1912–13 ) Tapper 's first independent church project was the Church of the Ascension at Malvern Link in Worcestershire ( 1903 ) . This Grade-II listed structure was designed in the Early English style with lancet windows and features a stone relief of the Ascension by Harry Hems . [ 11 ] [ 12 ] In 1901 Tapper submitted an entry into the design competition for Liverpool Cathedral which was assessed by G. F. Bodley and Norman Shaw ; Tapper was shortlisted for the final along with four other submissions from Austin & Paley , C. A. Nicholson , Malcolm Stark and Giles Gilbert Scott . [ 13 ] Scott 's design was selected in 1903 , but Tapper 's scheme was highly regarded ; Sir Charles Herbert Reilly , whose entry for the design competition was also unsuccessful , wrote of Tapper 's rejected design , `` it seemed to me one of the finest architectural conceptions I had ever seen . I had no idea ... that Gothic architecture could be used with such breadth and spaciousness combined with such delicacy and romance . `` [ 14 ] In 1905 Tapper was commissioned to build a large Romanesque-style church to serve the growing population of Southend-on-Sea in Essex . His church , dedicated to St Erkenwald , was built of yellow stock brick and featured a large rose window and flying buttresses . Its grand design and exceptionally large dimensions were intentionally aspirational , as the church was said to have been built with the intention of eventual elevation to cathedral status . In the end , St Erkenwald 's proved to be surplus to requirements ; with dwindling church attendance the church was eventually closed in 1978 and became derelict . Following a fire , the church was demolished in 1995 to make way for residential property development . [ 15 ] One of his notable architectural achievements is the Church of the Resurrection , at the Mother House of the eponymous Community of the Resurrection , at Mirfield , West Yorkshire . Only the eastern portion of the church was built to Tapper 's highly ambitious design which , had it been completed , would have produced a monastic church of a scale hardly seen in England since the Reformation . Begun in 1908 , building was stopped because of shortage of funds and by design problems . It was eventually completed by Michael Tapper as a memorial to Charles Gore , theologian , bishop ( of Worcester , then Birmingham , then Oxford ) and founder of the Community , and whose mortal remains lie in a fine tomb within its walls . In addition to church building , Tapper was also engaged in ecclesiastical decorative fittings and ornaments . The ornate entrance to the choir at Ludlow Parish Church is his work , as is the gilded altarpiece in St Chad 's , Stafford [ 19 ] and the organ casing and font cover in St Wulfram 's Church , Grantham , and he designed a silver processional cross for York Minster . [ 20 ] He also enjoyed a lucrative arrangement with the Gas Light and Coke Company , designing appliance showrooms in the Art Deco Streamline Moderne style . [ 5 ] [ 21 ]
Sir Walter John Tapper (21 April 1861 - 21 September 1935) was a British architect known for his work in the Gothic Revival style and a number of church buildings. He worked with some leading ecclesiastical architects of his day and was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Tapper was appointed Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey and acted as consulting architect to York Minster and Manchester Cathedral. On his death in 1935 his son Michael Tapper completed some of his works.