Richard Norman Shaw
b. Edinburgh, 1831;
d. London, 1913.

Richard Norman Shaw was one of the most prolific and inventive late Victorian famous architects, who remained both an establishment figure and a setter of stylistic trends into the Edwardian era. He was educated in Edinburgh and articled to William Burn, an Edinburgh architect who had an office in London. In 1858 he joined G.E. Street as an assistant and in 1863 began his independent practice, with W E. Nesfield as partner. As well as a number of well-known country houses, such as Cragside (1870) and, much later, Bryanston (1889-94), he designed a series of major commercial buildings in a wide range of styles with great accomplishment, such as New Zealand Chambers, London (1872), White Star offices, Liverpool (1895-8), and New Scotland Yard, London (1887-90, with a significant design participation from W R. Lethaby, by then his senior assistant). A Royal Academician from 1877, he was co-editor with T. G. Jackson of the 1892 collection of essays Architecture, a Profession or an Art? Shaw’s reversion to a ponderous classical manner in his Piccadilly Hotel, London (1905-8) and the houses of Bryanston and Chesters (1889-91), lent great influence to the emergent Edwardian classicism of the early 20-century.

Major buildings / works:
Cragside, Northumberland, 1870.
New Zealand Chambers, Leadenhall Street, London, 1872.
New Scotland Yard, London, 1887-90.
Chesters, Northumberland, 1889-91.
Bryanston, Dorset, 1889-94.
White Star Offices, Liverpool, 1895-8.
Piccadilly Hotel, London, 1905-8.

Bibliography:
R. Blomfield, Richard Norman Shaw R.A., London, 1940.
A. Saint, Richard Norman Shaw, New Haven and London, 1977. RM