Charles Voysey (architect)

Charles Francis Annesley Voysey
Portrait by John Henry Frederick Bacon (1901).
Born	28 May 1857 Hessle, Yorkshire, England
Died	12 February 1941 (1941-02-13) (aged 83) Winchester, England
Nationality	English
Occupation	Architect
Awards	RIBA Gold Medal, 1940
Buildings	Broad Leys, Windermere, Cumbria (1898) Norney, nr Shackleford, Surrey (1897) Perrycroft, Colwall, Malvern (1893–94) The Whitwood Institute, Whitwood, Castleford (1904)
Design	designer of textiles and furniture

Charles Francis Annesley Voysey (28 May 1857 – 12 February 1941) was an English architect and furniture and textile designer. Voysey's early work was as a designer of wallpapers, fabrics and furnishings in a simple Arts and Crafts style, but he is renowned as the architect of several country houses.

He was one of the first people to understand and appreciate the significance of industrial design. He has been considered one of the pioneers of Modern Architecture, a notion which he rejected. His English domestic architecture draws heavily on vernacular rather than academic tradition, influenced by the ideas of Herbert Tudor Buckland (1869–1951) and Augustus Pugin (1812–1852).

The Sanderson wallpaper factory (1901) in Chiswick, which he designed, is named Voysey House in his memory.

Born at Kingston College, at Hessle, Yorkshire on 28 May 1857, he was the eldest son of Rev. Charles Voysey, a Church of England priest who was deprived of his living in 1871 for his heterodox views. The family moved to London where his father founded the Theistic Church. Voysey was educated by his father, then briefly at Dulwich College.

In 1874 Voysey was articled for five years to the architect J. P. Seddon, with whom he subsequently remained a further year as chief assistant. From Seddon Voysey learnt the 'Gothic' principles of design first propounded by A. W. N. Pugin: elevations should grow naturally out of the requirements of the plan and only ‘honest’ construction should be used. Seddon and Voysey both believed in following these principles of design without slavishly copying Gothic styles. But, however freely Seddon interpreted the Gothic styles, his work remained discernibly Gothic, whereas Voysey’s mature work eliminated all trace of period styles. Voysey followed Seddon in believing, like Pugin, that it was the business of an architect to make designs not only for buildings but also for the allied crafts.