Designer Biography

Phillip Webb

Born: 1831

Died: 1915

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Webb met William Morris in G. E. Street's office in Oxford. His subsequent architectural practice as well as his design career were bound up with the fortunes of the Morris firm. Commissions for both were interdependent, Webb specifying the Morris firm as decorators and Morris recommending Webb as architect. Webb was responsible for the decorative scheme in an important early Morris commission, the 'Green Dining Room' at the South Kensington Museum (still intact and restored by the Victoria and Albert Museum) and drew almost all the birds and animals in Morris's fabric, tapestry and wallpaper designs. He was commissioned by Morris to design table glass made by Powell's, and furniture for the Red House in 1859. Webb provided furniture designs for Major Gillum in 1860 and for the Morris firm from 1861 until the responsibility was taken over by his assistant George Jack in the I880s. Metalwork for gates and fireplaces were executed by Longden, whose London premises were next to Morris & Co.'s showrooms. He used the distinguished carver James Forsyth, who had also worked for R. Norman Shaw, his successor in Street's office, and W. E. Nesfield among others. Webb retired in 1900 unable to come to terms with what he foresaw as the future of architecture. Shaw described him as 'A very able man indeed, but with a strong liking for the ugly'.