John Jay (builder)

John Jay 1805-1872 was a building and civil engineering contractor and stonemason with offices in the City of London during the early nineteenth century and the subsequent era of London's rapid railway and civic expansion. His varied portfolio also included building the clock and Victoria tower of the Houses of Parliament after the damage of the 1833 fire, and many smaller-scale architect-designed projects such as the Abney Park Chapel and Trinity Independent Chapel.

Early life

John Jay was born in Norfolk in January 1805. By 1826 he had moved to Bethnal Green near the City of London, where he married Esther Wilson (1806-88) at St. Matthew's Church. By the late 1830s he had offices in the heart of the City of London at 65 London Wall. These appear to have been inherited or shared with a close relative, for in 1806 another Mr Jay, also a builder with an address at London Wall, had already rebuilt the venue that was later named the Adelphi Theatre, to the designs of the architect, Samuel Beazley.

Buildings of note

The first building known to have been built by John Jay was the Abney Park Chapel (opened May 1840). This was swiftly followed by the Trinity Independent Chapel (opened in 1841) - both designed by the architect William Hosking, and St. Michael's Church in Stockwell (consecrated 18th November 1841), designed by William Rogers.

In the 1850s John Jay won a contract for construction of the Victoria Towers and clock, and the Old Palace Yard frontage at the Houses of Parliament [Port (1976)] ; and one for St. Olave's Grammar School. His other "civic" buildings included Andrew Reed's philanthropic ventures, the "Infant Orphan Asylum" at Wanstead (opened in 1843) and the "Idiot Asylum at Earlswood" now the Royal Earlswood Hospital.

In the field of railway construction, John Jay's contracts included Stoke-on-Trent Railway Station, built to the Elizabethan and Jacobean designs of A.H.Hunt (tender awarded July 1847); a section of the Great Northern Railway from King's Cross to the entrance of the tunnel beneath Copenhagen Fields along with the King's Cross goods station and passenger terminus itself (all c.1850). In 1853 he was awarded the contract for building the Metropolitan Line underground, which he worked on during the 1860s. Colchester Station (Eastern Counties Railway) was also built by Jay; as was a substantial part of Paddington Station. the latter was built by Jay c.1857 for the Great Western Railway Company to the designs of Brunel.

Jay also built commercial premises (such as the first Billingsgate Market, and the rebuilding of the Clothworker's Hall in the City of London - both during the 1850s); and estates of domestic houses - for example, three hundred houses at the Packington Estate just north of the City of London were built by John Jay. Also, in 1868, upon acquisition of Campsbourne Lodge along with those parts of its estate not already sold off to the British Feeehold Land Company or other developers, he proceeded to build several of the streets bordering Alexandra Park; some of which remain to this day. [Schwitzer (1986), p.43]

At one point relatively early in his career, his business was expanding so rapidly that he was unable to finance it (he was compelled to file for bankruptcy on February 14th 1843, at the Court of Bankruptcy in London). Before long his debts were re-arranged and discharged, and the business prospered again, enabling his family to move, in about 1860 to a fashionable detached villa in its own grounds, Highbury Park House, Highbury; and soon afterwards to Ashford House, Priory Road, in nearby Hornsey.

Death and memorial

A memorial monument to John Jay, which is (grade 2 listed by English Heritage), stands in Dr Watts' Walk, Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington and is said to have been carved in his own workshop, possibly by his own hand. It is a highly ornamented white marble sarcophagus with moulded cover, lions' feet and rich acanthus decoration to the corners. [Joyce (1994), p.98] Many of his station buildings still exist, and are also listed by English Heritage.

References

Citations

*wikicite|id=idSchwitzer1986|reference=Schwitzer, Joan (1986) "Lost Houses of Haringey", London:Hornsey Historical Society
*wikicite|id=idPort1976|reference=Port, M.H. (1976) "The Houses of Parliament", New Haven & London:Yale University Press
*wikicite|id=idJoyce1994|reference=Joyce, P. (1994 2nd edn.) "A Guide to Abney Park Cemetery", London:Abney Park Cemetery Trust