author
J. Alfred (John Alfred) Gotch
1852–1942
Best known as both an architect and a historian of architecture, he helped shape Kettering’s streetscape while writing influential books on English Renaissance and domestic design. His career joined practical building work with a deep curiosity about how earlier architecture was made and understood.
3 Audiobooks
The English Home from Charles I. to George IV. Its Architecture, Decoration and Garden Design
by J. Alfred (John Alfred) Gotch
Early Renaissance Architecture in England A Historical & Descriptive Account of the Tudor, Elizabethan, & Jacobean Periods, 1500-1625
by J. Alfred (John Alfred) Gotch
The Growth of the English House A short history of its architectural development from 1100 to 1800
by J. Alfred (John Alfred) Gotch
About the author
Born in Kettering in 1852, John Alfred Gotch studied at the University of Zürich and at King's College London before training in architectural practice. He went on to establish his own office in Kettering in 1879, later forming the partnership that became Gotch & Saunders.
Gotch built a strong reputation as a working architect, with projects ranging from schools, banks, houses, factories, and public buildings to war memorials and country-house alterations. He was especially associated with Kettering, and his firm also carried out major work for Midland Bank in the years after the First World War.
Alongside practice, he became a respected architectural historian and author, writing a series of books on Elizabethan, Jacobean, Georgian, and Renaissance architecture in England. He also played an important public role in the profession, serving as president of the Royal Institute of British Architects from 1923 to 1925.