Walter John Tapper [also known as Sir Walter John Tapper] was born in Bovey Tracey, Devon, England in 1861 and was articled to Joseph William Rowell (1826?-1902) in Newton Abbot, England from 1879 to 1882. He worked briefly as an assistant to Basil Champneys (1842-1935) and as chief assistant to the church architects George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907) and Thomas Garner (1839-1906) for eighteen years. He qualified as an architect in 1889 and in 1893 set up his own architectural practice in London while continuing to work for Bodley and Garner until 1900. From 1893 he was in partnership with J. L. Davenport, and from 1920 with his son, Michael John Tapper (1894-1963)
He designed numerous Anglican churches and from 1907 to 1935 was consulting architect to York Minster. From 1924 he was consulting architect to the Gas Light & Coke Company and from 1928 was honorary consulting architect to the Incorporated Church Building Society..
He was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1889 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1912. In 1927-29 he was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA). He was also elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1926 and a Royal Academician (RA) in 1935. He was knighted in 1935.
His address was given as 7 Gray's Inn Square, London and 12 Lightfoot Road, Hornsey, Middlesex in 1889; 10 Melina Place, St. John's Wood, London in 1914 and 1930; and 4 Dean's Yard, Westminster, London in 1935. He died in Westminster on 21 September 1935.
Works by Tapper included a font cover, St. Wulfram's Church, Grantham, Lincolnshire (1899); Church of the Ascension, Malvern Link, Worcestershire (1903); addition to Turville Grange, Turville Heath, Buckinghamshire (1904); Church of the Resurrection, Mirfield, Yorkshire (1908); restoration work, Penshurst Place, Kent (c.1905); St. Erkenwald's Church, Southchurch Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, Essex (1905); rebuilding of St. Oswald's, Lythe, Yorkshire (1910-11); Derby Lodge, Shipley Estate, Derbyshire (1911); St. Stephen's Church, Roberts street, Grimsby, Lincolnshire (1911-14); Church of the Annunciation, Quebec Street, London (1912-13); chapel, Guildford Grammar School, Guildford, Western Australia (1912-14); St, Michael's Church, Little Coates, near Grimsby, Lincolnshire (1913-14); St. Mary's Church, West Cliffe Grove, Harrogate, Yorkshire (c.1914-16); Nymans, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, with Norman Evill (c.1915); St Mark's, Whiteley Village, Surrey (1919); Carillon, Loughborough, Leicestershire (1919-23); Gosberton War Memorial, Gosberton, Lincolnshire (1920); Lancaster Gate Memorial Cross war memorial, Lancaster Gate, London (1921); Uppingham Cricket Pavilion, Uppingham, Rutland (1923); Our Lady of Mercy and St Thomas of Canterbury, Gorton, Manchester (1927); Gas Light and Coke Company Laboratories, Parsons Green, Middlesex (1927); St Oswald's Church, Deepdale, Preston, Lancashire (1934); and Newgate arch bridge, Chester, Cheshire, completed by Michael John Tapper (1938).
See also
Source of Illustrations
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
Dolan, David and O’Brien, Leigh. ‘Sir Walter Tapper and the Guildford Grammar School Chapel’. Early Days: Journal of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society, vol.12 no. 6, 2006 pp. 616-633 [”Details of the life and career of prominent English architect Sir Walter Tapper (1861-1935) are presented in the context of his professional contribution to Australia. The background events and the architectural merits of the Chapel of SS. Mary and George at Guildford Grammar School built by him and consecrated in 1914 are discussed to highlight his passion for the project which is considered his best surviving church design” WorldCat]
Gray, A. Stuart. Edwardian Architecture: a Biographical Dictionary. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd., 1985
Hamilton, Alec. Arts & Crafts Churches. London: Lund Humphries, 2020
‘Nymans, in Sussex’ [Architect: Walter Tapper]. Country Life 10 September 1932, pp. 292-297
‘Nymans, in Sussex’ [Architect: Walter Tapper]. Country Life 17 September 1932, pp. 320-325
'Obituary'. Architect & Building News vol. 143, 29 September 1935 pp. 350-351
'Obituary'. Architects’ Journal vol. 82, 26 September 1935 p. 439
'Obituary'. The Builder vol. 149, 27 September 1935 pp. 526, 532
'Obituary'. RIBA Journal vol. 42, 12 October 1935 pp. 1157-1160
Reilly, C. H. Representative British Architects of the Present Day. London: B. T. Batsford, 1931 [Chapter XII. Walter Tapper pp. 156-157]
Sir Walter John Tapper (1861-1935) ... : a list of works and bibliography. London: RIBA Library, 1959.
Who's Who in Architecture 1923. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: Architectural Press, 1923