John Pollard Seddon

John Pollard Seddon FRIBA (19 September 1827 – 1 February 1906)[1] was a British architect, working largely on churches.

His father was a cabinetmaker, and his brother Thomas Seddon (1821–1856) a landscape painter. Born in London,[2] he was educated at Bedford School.[3] He was later a pupil of Thomas Leverton Donaldson, though Donaldson was a classical architect and Seddon preferred the Gothic Revivalism of John Ruskin.[4]

Between 1852 and 1863, Seddon formed a partnership with John Prichard. Many of their major commissions were church restoration works, most famously for Llandaff Cathedral. In 1871 he submitted a design in a competition for Holloway Sanatorium.

C. F. A. Voysey was articled as a pupil of Seddon in 1873.[4] From 1884 to 1904 he was in partnership with John Coates Carter.

In 1904 he was Diocesan Architect for London and designed a gigantic Imperial Monumental Halls, with a tall tower, to be added to Westminster Abbey; it was intended to restore the dominance of the abbey over the surrounding crowd of towers and monuments. However, the cost of construction was prohibitive and it remained unbuilt.[5]

His works include the University College of Wales building in Aberystwyth; St Peter's Church, Ayot St Peter, Hertfordshire; St Nicholas Church, Great Yarmouth;[6] St Catherine's Church, Hoarwithy, Herefordshire; and, with Prichard, the Church of St John, Llandenny;[7] the 1858–9 rebuild of St Mary's Church, Aberavon, and limited extensions to Dingestow Court, Monmouthshire, including the stables.[8] He was also a prolific designer of furniture, metalwork, stained glass, tiles and ceramics.