Rowland Mason Ordish

Rowland Mason Ordish (11 April 1824 – 1886)^[1] was an English engineer. He is most noted for his design of the Winter Garden, Dublin (1865),^[2] for his detailed work on the single-span roof of London's St Pancras railway station, undertaken with William Henry Barlow (1868)^[3] and the Albert Bridge, a crossing of the River Thames in London, completed in 1873.^[4]

Biography

Family grave of Rowland Mason Ordish in Highgate Cemetery

The roof of St Pancras Station under construction in 1868

Born in Melbourne, Derbyshire, Ordish was the son of a land agent and surveyor. He worked with Charles (later Sir Charles) Fox, who was responsible for the construction of Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, in 1851. He subsequently supervised its re-erection in Sydenham, south London.^[5]

His other projects included:

• Farringdon Street Bridge, London^[5]
• Holborn Viaduct, London (1863–69)^[5]
• Derby market hall (1866)^[6]
• Franz Joseph I Suspension Bridge, over the Vltava, Prague (1868, bombed 1941, demolished in 1947)
• Cavenagh Bridge, Singapore (1869)^[7]
• Esplanade Mansions, Mumbai, India (1869)^[8]
• dome of Royal Albert Hall, London (1871)^[9]

He died in 1886 and was buried in a family grave on the western side of Highgate Cemetery.

Bridge design

The Albert Bridge over the River Thames

In 1858 Ordish patented a bridge suspension system, which he later used in the design of bridges across several European rivers that include Neva at St Petersburg. The system, which consists of a rigid girder suspended by inclined straight chains, was known as Ordish's straight-chain suspension system.^[5]

The Ordish–Lefeuvre Principle is named after him and his partner William Henry Le Feuvre (1832 – 1896) from Jersey (together the pair submitted plans for the department store De Gruchy's in St Helier, Jersey).^[10]

References

1. Brief biographical details from Structurae http://en.structurae.de/persons/data/index.cfm?id=d000361. Accessed: 29 June 2012.
2. "1863 – Design for Exhibition Palace & Winter Garden, Dublin". Archiseek.com. 24 June 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
3. Glancey, Jonathan (11 October 2007). "The miracle of St Pancras". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
4. Banerjee, Jacqueline. "The Albert Bridge, London". The Victorian Web. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
5. Curl, James Stevens. "Ordish, Rowland Mason". A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
6. "Derby Market". Derby Cathedral Quarter. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
7. Cavenagh Bridge, http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?ID=s0004258. Accessed: 29 June 2012
8. Esplanade Mansions (1871), http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?id=s0010390. Accessed: 29 June 2012
9. "Royal Albert Hall". Engineering Timelines. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
10. Jersey Heritage Trust. "Agreements Relating to the Fabric and Structure of the Buildings owned by A de Gruchy and Company Limited". Archive Collection Contents. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2012.