John Lowe
- Born: January 1828
- Died: 26 January 1920
Born in January 1828 in the reign of George the Fourth, John Lowe died in January 1920 within four days of his ninety-second birthday, in the reign of George the Fifth. Born two years before the first railway was opened, he lived to see aeroplanes a recognised means of transit. John Lowe, architect (for this he prided in calling himself), was born in Chorlton-upon-Medlock, and save for a short period in early professional life he lived and worked in his native Manchester. [Manchester City News. 7 February 1920; obituary]
John Lowe was one of Manchester’s most prolific church architects during the second half of the nineteenth century. It has been perhaps his misfortune that so many of his commissions were for churches, chapels, parsonage houses and schools in the densely populated inner-city areas of Ancoats, Ardwick, Collyhurst and Chorlton-on-Medlock: areas which were subject to the wholesale slum clearances and parish rationalisations of the 1960s and 1970s. It is a sad truth that architectural merit is often of little importance in determining the survival or otherwise of church buildings. Architecture is a non-transportable art form. Buildings rise and fall in the place ascribed to them, their fate ultimately determined by economic and demographic factors. Although John Lowe “never soared into the troublous regions of aesthetic architecture, he was eminently matter-of-fact and practical. It was said that his estimates were invariably reliable; that his work was thoroughly sound.” Notwithstanding this assessment, a number of his surviving buildings are now listed. He was articled to Richard Lane in whose office both Alfred Waterhouse RA and the Popplewell Pullan FRIBA were contemporary pupils. After acting as an assistant in various offices he commenced independent practice at St Ann Street in Manchester about 1851. In 1860 John Lowe married Caroline, the youngest daughter of John Lees of Newton Solney, Staffordshire, and thus became brother-in-law to Archdeacon Birch, to John Medcalf, head of the old firm of Medcalf, Musgrave and Company., to John Robinson of the Atlas Works, and afterwards of Westwood Hall, Leek, and to the Rev. William Doyle, of St Stephen’s, Chorlton-on-Medlock, and afterwards of the Stowell Memorial Church, Salford. These family connections would prove invaluable in his later professional career. Early in the 1860’s the rebuilding of the old Manchester Exchange was contemplated and no fewer than fifty-three architects from all parts of the country competed for the work. The drawings were on view in the Exhibition Room of the Old Exchange, and were inspected by more than 8,000 persons. The first and second premiums were awarded to Mills and Murgatroyd of Manchester, and the third premium of one hundred guineas to John Lowe. All the premiated designs were in the Italian style, but a Gothic design, submitted by Alfred Waterhouse found many admirers, and was secured from him by the promoters of a rival scheme intended to be located elsewhere. During his career John Lowe entered a number of architectural competitions including Ellesmere Memorial Worsley (2nd); Manchester Exchange, (3rd); Manchester Abattoir, (unplaced); Baths and Wash-Houses, New Islington, Manchester (3rd); Bootle Town Hall (2nd); Board School in Moss Side (2nd). The Town Hall at Eccles was his only success. On 3 November 1873 he was elected a Fellow of the RIBA., proposed by Edward Salomons, Alfred Waterhouse, and Thomas Worthington.By 1881 John Lowe was employing 5 clerks and 3 pupils, his major clients including J Robinson, JP, Westwood Hall, Leek; E P Stewart, London (£22,000); Rev. Canon Birch, Prestwich, Manchester; Ven. Archdeacon Birch, Blackburne; Mr J W MacClure, JP, Manchester; Manchester Carriage Company; Phoenix Fire and Life Office, Manchester.
John Lowe died on 26 January 1920 at his residence, Briarfield, Priory Road, Sale, within a few days of his 92nd birthday and was interred at St. Saviour's Church, Chorlton-on-Medlock on Friday 30 January 1920.