Edward William Godwin

Edward William Godwin (26 May 1833, Bristol – 6 October 1886 London) was a progressive English architect-designer, who began his career working in the strongly polychromatic "Ruskinian Gothic" style of mid-Victorian Britain, inspired by The Stones of Venice, then moved on to provide designs in the "Anglo-Japanese taste" of the Aesthetic Movement and Whistler's circle in the 1870s. Godwin's influence can be detected in the Arts and Crafts Movement.

His best known early works include The Guild Hall, Northampton (illustration, right), which was his first notable public commission, and Town Hall, Congleton, as well as restorations and neo-Gothic additions to Dromore Castle, Limerick and Castle Ashby.

Apprenticed to an engineer in Bristol, where his architectural training was largely self-taught, Godwin moved to London about 1862, and made the acquaintance of the reform Gothic designer William Burges. As an antiquary, he had a particular interest in medieval costume, furniture and architecture.

Godwin was widowed in 1865; during his affair with the renowned actress Ellen Terry between 1868 and 1874, she retired with him to Hertfordshire, and produced two children: Edith Craig and Edward Gordon Craig (1872–1966), who became an important actor, designer, director, and theoretical writer of the early 20th century European stage. The affair inspired Godwin to spend much time designing theatrical costumes and scenery. After she returned to the theatre and their connection cooled, Godwin married a young designer in his office, Beatrice/Beatrix Birnie Philip (1857–1896), who bore him a son, Edward. After Godwin's death, she married the painter James Whistler in 1888. Godwin was a frequent contributor to the periodical British Architect and published a number of books on architecture, costume and theatre.

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