Rowland Plumbe , architect

Rowland was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (A.R.I.B.A.) on 1 December 1862 and elected a Fellow (F.R.I.B.A.) on 19 April 1869. He was President of the Architectural Association, an architecture school, from 1871-2. Rowland designed many public buildings, churches, hospitals and housing estates in and around London. Prominent buildings designed by Rowland Plumbe include the Woodford Congregational Church in Essex, built in 1874 and the Noel Park housing estate of 2200 properties for which he was the Consulting Architect in 1881. Plumbe designed Woodlands Park House in 1885 for which: Plumbe was commissioned 'with a free hand, unfettered in the slightest degree by economical considerations' to design a mansion in the Gothic Style. The most modern innovations were incorporated and Woodlands Park became one of the first country houses with electric light, renowned for the grandeur of its oak panelled Grand Hall.

Rowland Plumbe was Consulting Architect for the rebuilding of London Hospital in 1897 and designed the Middlesex County Asylum in 1900 as well as the Y.M.C.A. building on Tottenham Court Road (1911) which was descibed in The New international year book 1912 p67 as the largest and most complete structure of its kind in the kingdom, constructed largely of concrete and steel, and comprising a college, clubrooms, and lodgings for 1000 men, besides the usual association meeting and reception-rooms. The cost was $1,000,000.