Giles Gilbert Scott: Google doodle on 20th century’s British architect on 140th birthday

Happy Birthday Sir Giles Gilbert Scott!!!

Today Google celebrates the 140^th birthday of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott by dedicating an artistic doodle illustrated by UK-based guest artist Jing Zhang.

Sir Giles Gilbert Scott is widely regarded as one of the country’s most significant architects of the 20th century. He was an English architect known for his work on the Cambridge University Library, Lady Margaret Hall, Liverpool Cathedral, Oxford, Battersea Power Station, and designing the iconic red telephone box.

Giles Gilbert Scott was born on November 9, 1880 in Hampstead, London. His father Sir (George) Gilbert Scott was a famous architect who is remembered for designing the Albert Memorial and the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras Station.

When Giles Gilbert Scott was three, his father was declared to be of unsound mind and was temporarily confined to the Bethlem Royal Hospital. Later he said that he remembered seeing his father only twice. He and his brothers were raised as Roman Catholics; their father was a Catholic convert.

Giles Gilbert Scott’s mother encouraged him to carry forward the family legacy, and took him and his brother on bicycle trips to view church architecture throughout the English countryside. He went on to apprentice as an architect, and at just 21 he won a contest that landed him the largest commission of his life: the Liverpool Cathedral–one of many churches he designed throughout his career.

In 1903, the assessors recommended that Giles Gilbert Scott should be appointed as the main architect of Liverpool Cathedral. There was widespread comment at the nomination of a 22-year-old with no existing buildings to his credit. The choice of winner was even more contentious when it emerged that Scott was a Roman Catholic, but the assessors' recommendation was accepted by the diocesan authorities.

Construction continued throughout the 1930s, but slowed drastically throughout the World War II, as it had done during the WW I. Giles Gilbert Scott continued to work on the project until his death, refining the design as he went. He designed every aspect of the building down to the fine details. The cathedral was finished in 1978, 18 years after his death.

While Giles Gilbert Scott was feuding with Bodley in Liverpool, he managed to design and see built his first complete church. This was the Church of the Annunciation, a Roman Catholic church in Bournemouth, in which he made a high transept similar to his original plan for Liverpool. Other churches built by Scott at this time, at Ramsey on the Isle of Man, Northfleet in Kent and Stoneycroft in Liverpool, show the development of his style.

For his exceptional achievements in the field of architecture, Scott was knighted in 1924, and in 1944 he was awarded one of Britain’s highest honors—the Order of Merit. He died on February 8, 1960 at the age of 79. Google today honors him with a beautiful doodle on his 140^th birthday.

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