100 years ago John Alfred Gotch – ‘the man who built Kettering’ – was elected to the illustrious position of president of the Royal Institute of British Architects. It was an historic moment. Gotch had become the first architect from outside London to hold the post since the RIBA was founded in 1834.
His career to that point had been a remarkable one. He had founded his own architecture practice in 1879 and was joined by Charles Saunders in 1887 and Henry Surridge in 1899 to create Gotch, Saunders and Surridge.
The practice has offices nationwide but, says GSSArchitecture’s current senior partner Tom Lyons, the legacy of John Alfred Gotch lives on in everything the practice does.
In almost a decade after the end of the First World War, GSS designed and built more than 140 branches for the Midland Bank pictured left, culminating in the construction of the bank’s headquarters in Poultry, London, grade I listed and designed by the eminent architect Sir Edwin Lutyens.
In Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, Gotch was involved with 49 school-building projects between 1891 and 1937. His biggest school-building project, as well as the largest building he erected in Kettering, was Kettering Grammar School, a secondary school built for Northamptonshire County Council in 1912-16 at a cost of £16,323.
Gotch also created the original designs for the Grade II-listed Alfred East Art Gallery pictured below in Kettering, together with many of the shops and pubs.
“We have a long history at GSS and we are proud of the legacy that John Alfred Gotch and his partners have left for us to follow,” says Mr Lyons. “We have grown significantly over the years to a national practice but with our head office still here in Northamptonshire. It is fantastic to have so much history and see how far the practice has come.”
Kettering Civic Society unveiled a memorial plaque to Gotch in 2018 in recognition of his contribution to the town. It remains at the HSBC branch in the town, one of the 142 he designed for Midland Bank.
Today GSSArchitecture now operates from its head office in Kettering with six UK offices and more than 70 staff creating innovative, sustainable design solutions across sectors including residential, education, commercial, healthcare, sports, and leisure.
Mr Lyons says: “We hope to continue Gotch’s legacy by producing exciting schemes and encouraging future generations to also follow in his footsteps.”
Special thanks to Dr Roy Hargrave for his research on John Alfred Gotch.
