William Eden Nesfield was born in Bath, England on 2 April 1835 and was the son of the landscape architect and artist William Andrews Nesfield (1793–1881).
He trained as an architect with James Kellaway Colling (1816-1905), William Burn (1789-1870) from 1851 to 1853, and with his uncle, Anthony Salvin (1799-1881) from 1853 to 1856. He also briefly attended the atelier of Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879).
He commenced work as an independent architect in 1858 and from 1866 to 1869 was in partnership with Richard Norman Shaw (1831-1912) as Nesfield & Shaw, although the pair worked independently of each other. Like Shaw, Nesfield's work was influenced by the prevailing Queen Anne style.
Nesfield was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1861. He was the author of 'Specimens of Mediaeval Architecture' (1862).
He retired from architectural practice in 1881 and moved to Brighton, Sussex. He died at his home, 45 Buckingham Road, Brighton, Sussex, on 25 March 1888.
A biographical file on William Eden Nesfield is available on request from the Enquiry Desk, Royal Institute of British Architects Library, London
Cloverley Hall in Calverhall, Shropshire (1854-70); additions to Combe Abbey, Warwickshire (1862-63); Sproughton Manor, near Ipswich, Suffolk (1863); Farnham Park, Buckinghamshire (1865); estate cottages, Crewe Hall, Cheshire (1865); Temperate House Lodge in Kew, Surrey (1866); alterations to Hampton-in-Arden Manor, Warwickshire (1868-72); Southampton Lodge, Broadlands, Hampshire (1870); Kinmel Hall, near Abergele, Flintshire (1870–74); Plas Dinam, Montgomeryshire (1872-74); additions to Bank Hall, Derbyshire (1873); remodelling of Bodrhyddan, Flintshire (1872-74); Holy Trinity Church, Calbverhall, Shropshire (1872-74); additions to Kiplin Hall, Yorkshire (1875); Loughton Hall, Essex (1878); and Grammar School, Newport, Essex (1878).
A deuce of an uproar : William Eden Nesfield's letters to the Rector of Radwinter in Essex. Radwinter: Friends of Radwinter Church, 1988.
Armstrong, Barrie and Armstrong, Wendy. The Arts and Crafts movement in the North West of England: a handbook Wetherby, England: Oblong Creative Ltd., 2006 [Note: name given as Eden William Nesfield]
Aslet, Clive. ‘Bodrhyddan, Flintshire (1)’ Country Life vol. 164, no. 4228, 20 July 1978, p. 158-161.
Aslet, Clive. ‘The country houses of W E Nesfield (1)’ Country Life vol. 163, no. 4210, 16 March 1978, pp. Country Life vol. 163, no. 4211, 23 March 1978, pp. 766-769.
Aslet, Clive. ‘The country houses of W E Nesfield (2)’ Country Life vol. 163, no. 4211, 23 March 1978, pp. 766-769.
Avery, Derek. Victorian and Edwardian Architecture. London: Chaucer Press, 2003
Bryden, J. M. ‘Plas Dinam, & Landinam: house by W. E. Nesfield’. Architectural Review vol. 4, 1898, pp. 62-66.
Brydon, J. M. ‘William Eden Nesfield’ Architectural Review vol. 1, 1896-97 pp. 235-247, 283-295
Brydon, J. M. ‘William Eden Nesfield’ Architectural Review vol. 2, 1897 pp. 23-32
Brydon, J. M. ‘William Eden Nesfield’. in Edwardian Architecture and its Origins. Edited by Alastair Service. London: The Architectural Press Ltd., 1975 pp. 26-38 [Originally published in 1897]
Church Art. [Catalogue of an exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1971-72]. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1971 p. 136
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Evans, Shirley Rose. Masters of their Craft: The Art, Architecture and Garden Design of the Nesfields. Cambridge, England: The Lutterworth Press, 2014 [ISBN: 978 0 7188 9293 1]
Girouard, Mark. The Victorian Country House. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, revised and enlarged edition, 1979
Girouard, Mark. The Victorian Country House. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, revised and enlarged edition, 1979
Girourd, Mark. ‘Kinmel, Denbighshire’ Country Life 4 September 1969, pp. 452-455
Girourd, Mark. ‘Kinmel, Denbighshire’ Country Life 11 September 1969, pp. 614-617
Haslam, Richard. ‘Gloddaeth, Gwynedd’. Country Life vol. 164, no. 4248, 7 December 1978, pp. 1966-1969
Jackson-Stops, Gervaise. ‘An 'olde English' lodge’ [architect: William Eden Nesfield’. Country Life vol. 169, no. 4354, 29 Janyary 1981, p. 261.
James-Fowler, Nina Gibbs. Landscape into architecture: William Andrews Nesfield and William Eden Nesfield. PhD thesis, Royal Holloway College, University of London, 1997
Munro, Bruce. ‘Nesfield in Essex’. Country Life vol. 169, no. 4359, 5 March 1981. p. 570.
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 54, 14 April 1888 p. 269
‘Obituary’. RIBA Journal vol. 10, 1903 pp. 396-400
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 54, 31 March 1999 pp. 225, 2329
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 54, 7 April 1888 p. 244
‘Obituary’. Building News vol. 54, 30 March 1888 p. 481
‘Obituary’. American Architect & Building News vol. 23, 1888 p. 206
‘William Eden Nesfield 1835-1888. An impression’ Architectural Review 1897 pp. 23-32
William Eden Nesfield, 1835-1888. Part II’. Architectural Review 1897 pp. 283-295
‘William Eden Nesfield, 1835-1888. Part I’ Architectural Review 1897 pp. 235-247