The Thoresby Society

Robert Dennis Chantrell was one of Leeds’s most eminent architects. Having trained in London as a pupil of Sir John Soane, then the country’s leading architect. Chantrell practised in Leeds from 1818 to 1847. During that period he was responsible for several buildings in the Classical style erected in the town, but his reputation rests chiefly on the numerous Gothic churches in Yorkshire designed and built from his Leeds office, and in particular on Leeds Parish Church which he rebuilt between 1837 and 1841.

This illustrated volume provides a full description and discussion of Chantrell’s architectural output and of his contribution to the contemporary debate on the theories underlying the design and construction of medieval buildings. In addition, several broader themes are explored. including the nature of architectural education; the professional practice of architecture in the provinces; and the church building movement of the first half of the nineteenth century.