{{Short description|English architect and civil engineer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox architect | name = Richard Reynolds Rowe | image = | image_size = <!-- if image is smaller than 250px --> | alt = | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different than name --> | birth_date = 5 June 1824 | birth_place = | death_date = 21 December 1899 | death_place = | nationality = | alma_mater = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | awards = | practice = | significant_buildings = Cambridge Corn Exchange | significant_projects = | significant_design = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> }} '''Richard Reynolds Rowe''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRIBA|FSA|KStJ}} (5 June 1824 – 21 December 1899)<ref name=ICE-Obit /> was an English architect and civil engineer, mainly active in Cambridge and Cambridgeshire. His best-known work is the Cambridge Corn Exchange.
==Biography== thumb|right|upright|Cambridge Corn Exchange Richard Reynolds Rowe was born in 1824, the son of Richard Rowe, a Cambridge alderman.<ref name=CC_obit /><ref name=VicWeb /> He attended school at Eaton-Socon, and then either school or university in Cambridge. In his early career he worked mainly as a civil engineer. His first position was on the Isle of Man, as clerk of works for St Thomas's Church, Douglas (1847). He next worked on water supply and drainage projects in Essex.<ref name=ICE-Obit>Obituary: Richard Reynolds Rowe 1824–1899. ''Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers'' 141 (3): 349–50 (1900) {{doi|10.1680/imotp.1900.18708}}</ref>
In 1850 he set up practice in Cambridge as an architect,<ref name=ICE-Obit /> from 1893 in partnership with C. R. Scott,<ref name=CC_obit>Death of Mr. R. Reynolds Rowe. ''Cambridge Chronicle'' (22 December 1899) ([https://millroadcemetery.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/RRRowe-obit-CCh.pdf courtesy link])</ref> and designed and built several buildings around Cambridge and elsewhere in Cambridgeshire.<ref name=VicWeb /><ref name=CC_obit /> He was the borough surveyor in 1850–69,<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 28–29</ref> and also served as the architect attached to the Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely Asylum at Fulbourn and the clerk of works for Ely Cathedral.<ref name=ICE-Obit /><ref name=CC_obit /> He was an elected fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Society of Antiquaries and the Surveyors' Institution, a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers (1859), and served as president of the Institute of Sanitary Engineers. His other honours include being a Knight of Justice of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.<ref name=ICE-Obit /><ref name=CC_obit />
Rowe was married.<ref name=CC_obit /> With William John Beamont, he was associated with the foundation of the Church Congress in 1861.<ref>C. W. Sutton (H. C. G. Matthew, revised) (2020) [2004]. Beamont, William John. In: ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/1811}}</ref> In later life, he lived at Parkside in Cambridge.<ref name=CC_obit /> He died on 21 December 1899. His funeral was held at St Andrew the Great and he was buried at Mill Road Cemetery.<ref name=CWN_1899>Funeral of Mr. R. R. Rowe at Cambridge. ''Cambridge Weekly News'', p. 8 (29 December 1899)</ref><ref>Funeral of Mr. R. Reynolds Rowe, at Cambridge. ''Cambridge Evening News'', p. 3 (28 December 1899)</ref>
==Works== His most-notable work in Cambridge is the Cambridge Corn Exchange (1873–75).<ref name=VicWeb>[http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/rowe/index.html Richard Reynolds Rowe, F.S.A., R.I.B.A. (1824-99)], ''The Victorian Web'', 25 July 2011. Accessed 29 April 2013.</ref><ref>Bradley & Pevsner, p. 300</ref> His other buildings in the town include St Matthew's Church (1864–66),<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 28, 294</ref> number 6, Trumpington Road (1866),<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, p. 332</ref> Wilton Terrace, Station Road,<ref>Alice Philipson (29 May 2013). Mary Beard joins campaign to stop Cambridge becoming the 'Croydon of the Fens'. ''The Daily Telegraph''</ref> almshouses on King Street (1880),<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, p. 311</ref> and (with C. R. Scott) the Red Cow pub on Corn Exchange Street (1898).<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, p. 316</ref><ref>[https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1265272?section=official-list-entry The Red Cow Public House], National Heritage List for England, Historic England (accessed 24 November 2023)</ref>
Outside Cambridge, he built Anglican churches at Burwell (1863),<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 408, 448</ref> Prickwillow (1866–68)<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 408, 637</ref> and Wendy (1866; demolished in around 1950),<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 408, 671</ref> and was involved in restoring many Anglican churches in Cambridgeshire, including those at Stuntney (1875–76)<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 407, 656</ref> and Haddenham (1871–77).<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 407, 559–60</ref> He also built vicarages or rectories at Graveley (1853–54),<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, p. 552</ref> Fulbourn (1859)<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, p. 545</ref> and Chatteris (1878–80).<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 410, 453</ref>
His non-ecclesiastical work in Cambridgeshire includes the police station (1855) at Linton<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, p. 594</ref> and Arkenstall's Endowed School at Haddenham (1863).<ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 409, 560</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
'''Source''' *Simon Bradley, Nikolaus Pevsner. ''Cambridgeshire'' (''The Buildings of England'' series) (Yale University Press; 2014) <small>{{isbn|978-0-300-20596-1}}</small>
==External links== *{{NPG name}} *[https://millroadcemetery.org.uk/rowe-richard-reynolds/ Richard Reynolds Rowe] – biography at Mill Road Cemetery website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, Richard Reynolds}} Category:1824 births Category:1899 deaths Category:People from Cambridge Category:19th-century English architects Category:Architects from Cambridgeshire Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Category:Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects Category:Knights of Justice of the Order of St John