SHERWOOD, Edmund James

Architect

Was a quantity surveyor who was for a brief time in partnership with H Davidge PITTS (c1905) in Cape Town (LRIBA nom papers, H Davidge-Pitts) (cf SHERWOOD & DAVIDGE-PITTS). He was educated at a Yorkshire village school and trained in a small provincial town in all aspects of the building trade. He moved to Manchester and became a pupil of an architect and surveyor, John Noble. He won first prize, aged 24, for the competition for the Grosvenor Hotel and Arcade in Deansgate, Manchester (c1872); he was responsible for remodelling various Manchester streets and practised for seven years in Manchester. His health having been affected, he left his practice, transferring it to his assistant, Charles Caine. After two years of retirement he opened a practice in London where he worked for nearly nine years on churches, public halls and mission buildings; he applied for Associate membership of the RIBA but since he was also practising as a quantity surveyor he remained outside the Institute and 'now feels no architect should practice as a quantity surveyor' (SAA&B May 1905:154-55). Sherwood arrived in South Africa in 1890. He joined the Government Railway service in Port Elizabeth in 1890 and entered private practice there with his son in 1893. His son later entered the Public Works Department in Pretoria. It would seem that while Sherwood had his own practice, he was still able to work for the Railways. An account of his career in South Africa says that by 1905 he had been in South Africa for fifteen years, having come to the country in 1890; twelve of those years were spent in the service of the Government Railways. Sherwood and his son designed many prominent buildings including in St John's Wesleyan Church in Port Elizabeth, a new church and schools at Graaff-Reinet, alterations to the Wesleyan Church, Cradock, a large block of buildings in Strand St, Port Elizabeth, stores, mills and factories. Sherwood settled in Cape Town around 1897 and practised mainly as a quantity surveyor, thus working on the Valkenberg Asylum, the City Hall, large stores in Cape Town as well as other Government buildings and public buildings at Uitenhage. He was listed in partnership with H Davidge PITTS in Cape Town in 1903. Together they obtained first prize for the Dutch Reformed Church building in Noorder Paarl in 1905 (cf. SHERWOOD & DAVIDGE-PITTS. In 1902 he lived at Laurel Bank, Observatory, Cape Town.

(Juta's dir 1902; SAA&B May 1905:154-5)

All truncated references not fully cited in 'References' are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon.

List of projects

With photographs
With notes

Grain Store for City Flour Milling Company: 1900. Cape Town, Western Cape - Architect *

Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk - Toringkerk: 1904-1907. Paarl, Western Cape - Design Architect

St John's Methodist Church: 1894 : 2011. Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), Eastern Cape - Architect

Wesleyan Sunday School Hall: 1901. Woodstock, Western Cape - Architect *

Books citing SHERWOOD

Herholdt, AD. 1994. Eight beautiful Gothic revival churches of Port Elizabeth. Port Elizabeth: Ad Hoc Publishers. pp 147