John Dixon ButlerRA, FRIBA (December 1860[1] – 27 October 1920) was a British architect who, for 25 years, was the surveyor for the Metropolitan Police in London. He was the fifth architect to hold the post since its inception in 1842. He took over the role from his father, John Butler, in 1895.
Dixon Butler completed the designs and alterations to around 200 police buildings, including ten courts; as of 2022, about 58 of his buildings survive. Historic England describes him as "one of the most accomplished Metropolitan Police architects" and have included around 25 of his buildings on the National Historic List of England and Wales.
Dixon Butler was born in London and studied architecture under Richard Norman Shaw, with whom he would later work on the designs for Canon Row Police Station (1898), and the Scotland Yard (south building) (1906) on London's Embankment. Dixon Butler's designs were usually in a domestic style, sensitive to the context of newly-developed suburban areas in which stations were often located, but with strong municipal qualities such as iron railings, inscribed lintels identifying the building as a police station, and other stone dressings.
Dixon Butler was born in December 1860[1] at 11 Redcliffe Gardens, Chelsea, London.[2] He was the only son and the second of two children to John Butler (1828–1900), an architect and surveyor, and his wife, Hannah née Deavin.[3] Dixon Butler studied at University College London and then the Architectural Association before being articled to his father from whom he learnt about the design and planning of police buildings.[4]
John Butler was the deputy surveyor to the Metropolitan Police at the time of being called as a witness in the trial of the murderers of Harriet Lane in 1875.[5][6] Butler designed the police station on Bethnal Green Road, Tower Hamlets, in 1892 and his son refaced it in 1917, making it a rare example of both their work.[7][8][4] Both father and son worked under Richard Norman Shaw on the designs for Scotland Yard; Butler on the North building, Dixon Butler on the South.[9] The position was later reversed at Canon Row on London's Embankment, on which Dixon Butler was the lead architect and Norman Shaw acted as consultant.[10]
Surveyor to the Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Force Surveyorship was established in 1842;[a][b][11] the force's first purpose-built station was built at Bow Street, erected two years after Sir Robert Peel's Metropolitan Police Act 1829.
There was a boom in police stations during the 1880s following the political unrest of that decade and high-profile events such as the Whitechapel Murders.[14]Cherry, O'Brien and Pevsner, in their London: East volume of the Buildings of England series, record Dixon Butler's "unique" riverside police stations for the Thames River Police, founded in 1798 to combat piracy,[15] including his station at Wapping which now houses the Thames River Police Museum.[16][17]
Under Dixon Butler, after 1895, police station interiors in London became more domesticated and an effort was made to make them more approachable to the public, including their relocation into more public areas. After a violent demonstration outside the station in Bow Street, the Metropolitan Police decided to have separate entrances at their stations for constables, away from the public, and to have officers live at the stations under the supervision of senior colleagues. Extra provisions were also made for the care of prisoners, including the introduction of ablution areas and exercise yards.[14] Externally, Dixon Butler was careful to design them in a similar style to the surrounding, newly developed suburban areas in which they served.[15]
Dixon Butler's designs included features which give his buildings strong municipal accents, such as iron railings and lintels inscribed "Police" or "Police Station", set in stone dressings, and his frequent use of elaborate consoles to doors and windows.[18] These elements give his designs their architectural quality[14] creating a "characteristic type which can be recognised all over London".[18]Historic England describes him as "one of the most accomplished Metropolitan Police architects".[4]
Buildings
Tower Bridge Magistrates' Court and Police Station, now the Dixon Hotel. Named in honour of Dixon Butler, Cherry and Pevsner call it "quite spectacular of its date".[19]
Dixon Butler completed about 200 buildings during his career, nearly all police stations,[20] and around 10 courthouses;[21] around 58 buildings survive.[20] He designed Northwood Police Station in the Old English style, sensitive to the fact that at that time, Northwood was semi-rural, whilst acknowledging the proximity to London, through its station on the London UndergroundMetropolitan line.[14] He designed similar police stations at Pinner and Kew, with the one at Pinner, designed in 1897, being the most domesticated of all his stations; it was equipped with living quarters for a married sergeant and his family, including two bedrooms, a living room, a scullery and a larder, a lobby, waiting room, inspector's office, charge room, parade room, three cells, a stable for two horses and an attached ambulance shed.[3]
1896 – Former Holborn Police Station, Theobalds Road, Holborn, London Borough of Camden, WC1. Located on the junction with Grays Inn Road. Closed in the mid 1960s, now offices.
1917 – Former police station, 458 Bethnal Green Road, Bethnal Green. Dixon Butler re-designed the facade and made enlargements to an existing building that had been designed by his father, John Butler, in 1892. [7]
1920–1925 – Former Police Station and Magistrates Court, Aylward Street and East Arbour Street, Mile End - now flats. Designed by Dixon Butler, who died early on into the project; finished by his successor, Gilbert Mackenzie Trench.[85]
Personal life and death
In his spare time Dixon Butler participated in amateur dramatics. In an April 1890 edition of the Croydon Guardian and Surrey County Gazette he is listed as a member of the Selwood Operatic Company and performed in a small concert in aid of St James's Church, Croydon.[86] Five years later, according to The Stage, he, along with a group of other architects including George Baron Carvill, took part in a production of King Arthur[c] at the London Scottish Reserves HQ in Buckingham Gate. The play was advertised as being "a burlesque written for architects by architects" and featured an architectural-themed twist to its plot; the part of the King (played by Dixon Butler) was a district surveyor who had, under his care, three articled pupils, Sirs Lancelot (Albert L. Harris) Mordred (Herbert Phillips Fletcher, brother to Banister Fletcher) and Percival (C.V Cable).[88]
Dixon Butler retired to Molesey, Surrey, where he died on 27 October 1920. He was interred in the churchyard of St John's in Woking.[93] He was succeeded in the role of surveyor to the Metropolitan Police by Gilbert Mackenzie Trench, the same year. Dixon Butler's Tower Bridge Police Station and Court, now a hotel, is named The Dixon in commemoration of him.[94]
Notes
^The post of Surveyor to the Metropolitan Police has been held by ten people since its establishment in 1842: Charles Reeves (1842–1866); Thomas Charles Sorby (1867–8); Frederick Caiger (1868–81); John Butler (1881–95); John Dixon Butler (1895–1920); Gilbert Mackenzie Trench (1921–47); John Innes Elliott (1947–74); M. Belchamber (1974–88); T. Lawrence (1988–2002); A. Croney (2002–?).[11]
^"Architectural Association", The Stage, 23 May 1895, p. 12.
^Library and Museum of Freemasonry; London, England; Freemasonry Membership Registers; Description: Membership Registers: Country Q 1391–1482 to Country R 1486–1575; Reel Number: 16.
^Library and Museum of Freemasonry; London, England; Freemasonry Membership Registers; Description: Membership Registers: London A Lodges Grand Stewards Lodge to 87; Reel Number: 1.
^Surrey History Centre; Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Reference: WOKJ/4/6
^"Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
^"Deaths", Ealing Gazette and West Middlesex Observer, 6 November 1920, p. 4.
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