14 Facts About Walter Tapper

Walter Tapper worked with some leading ecclesiastical architects of his day and was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

On his death in 1935 his son Michael Walter Tapper completed some of his works.

Walter Tapper was born in Bovey Tracey, Devon, in 1861, the son of George Tapper, a stonemason, later a builder.

In 1900 Walter Tapper started his own practice, beginning his independent work in Gray's Inn but later moving to St John's Wood, where he worked from his own home at 10 Melina Place.

In 1928 Walter Tapper was appointed Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey.

Walter Tapper repaired and restored the chapel, and as part of the project designed a new altar for the chapel, based on the original altar which had been designed in 1517 by the Italian sculptor Pietro Torrigiano but was destroyed during the Restoration.

Walter Tapper remained in his post at Westminster Abbey until his death in 1935.

Walter Tapper often spoke about love to explain his artistic philosophy, and associated beauty with love and goodness.

Walter Tapper was deeply religious, and aimed to express divine and human love through his architecture.

In 1905 Walter Tapper was commissioned to build a large Romanesque-style church to serve the growing population of Southend-on-Sea in Essex.

Walter Tapper's church, dedicated to St Erkenwald, was built of yellow stock brick and featured a large rose window and flying buttresses.

Walter Tapper designed the internal fittings including the organ casing and the high altar reredos, executed by Jack Bewsey who designed most of the stained glass.

Walter Tapper designed a silver processional cross for York Minster as well as the ten oak screens bearing the names of the 1,513 women who died in the line of service during WWI, as part of the Five Sisters window memorial.

Walter Tapper enjoyed a lucrative arrangement with the Gas Light and Coke Company, designing appliance showrooms in the Art Deco Streamline Moderne style.