Charles Kirk (senior)

Charles Kirk (senior)
Boston, Lincolnshire. Sessions House
Born	10 March 1791 Wigston Magna, Leicestershire
Died	1847 ?Sleaford
Nationality	English
Occupation	Architect
Practice	Kirk and Parry

Charles Kirk (1791–1847) was a builder and architect who worked on many buildings in Sleaford and South Lincolnshire, England.

The architect and builder Charles Kirk was born on 10 March 1791 at Wigston Magna, Leicestershire. The Kirk family had long been connected with the building trade and Charles' father, William (1749-1823), was a builder and architect in Leicester. Charles Kirk came to Sleaford in 1829 to undertake the building of the new Sessions House at Sleaford which had been designed by the London architect H E Kendall and when the work was completed he decided to stay in Sleaford. In the years that followed, Kirk's building business and architectural practice flourished and he was involved in the construction or planning of many of Sleaford's new buildings, including Carre's Hospital, Carre's Grammar School (1834) and the Gasworks (1838). He formed a partnership with Thomas Parry, who had been an articled clerk with Kirk's firm. In 1841, Parry married Charles Kirk's daughter, Henrietta. Following Charles Kirk's death in 1847, the firm was taken over by his son, also called Charles in partnership with Parry. The business continued to prosper and Kirk and Parry established a countrywide reputation for their railway buildings and church restorations. Kirk was buried at Quarrington near Sleaford.

Fortunately Kirk’s journal and account book have survived and are now held by the Lincolnshire Archives Office. The journal covers the period 1828-32. A particularly interesting entry is 30 October 1828: At Sleaford and Lincoln. I was very much pleased with Smirk's [sic] County hall. There is an ancient grandeur about this modern edifice. This entry shows the great influence that Robert Smirke’s Gothic revival County Hall in Lincoln Castle had on Kirk. The Gothic revival was a style which Kirk was to adopt, very successfully for many of his buildings in Sleaford and elsewhere in Lincolnshire. The accounts at the back of the journal provide a record of the many surveying and building projects undertaken by Kirk over the period 1833-1848. He frequently carried out work on many of the bridges in the Sleaford area. He was the main building contractor for the Stamford architect Bryan Browning for Folkingham House of Correction and supervised extensive alterations to Browning’s Bourne Town Hall in 1845.