Robert Kerr (architect)

Robert Kerr (Aberdeen 17 January 1823 – 21 October 1904) was a British architect, architectural writer and co-founder of the Architectural Association.

Kerr was born in Aberdeen, where he trained as an architect. In 1844, he moved to London and in 1845 spent a year in New York City, from where he returned to London with a rebellious spirit.

Together with the only 18 year old Charles Gray, in 1847 Kerr was a founder of the Architectural Association (AA), becoming its first President, 1847–48. The aim of the AA was to offer an alternative for the education of architects through a systematic course of training provided by the students themselves, rather than having to settle with the existing highly unreliable custom where young men were articled to established architects.

Kerr had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1857, where he served as an examiner and as a council member. Between 1860–1902, Kerr was District Surveyor for the parish of St James's, Westminster, and 1861–90 Professor of the Arts of Construction at King's College London.

Favouring a mixture of architectural styles, which he called "latitudinarian", Kerr's main buildings were English country houses, and included Dunsdale (Westerham, Kent, for Joseph Kitchin, 1863; destroyed), Ascot Heath House (Ascot, Berkshire, 1868; destroyed) and Ford House (then in Lingfield, Surrey, 1862; now Greathed Manor). Great Down (for T M Kitchin, perhaps related to Joseph Kitchin of Dunsdale) on the Hog's Back in Surrey (now demolished) has also been attributed to him on stylistic grounds.

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