John Jay (builder)
John Jay (1805–1872) was a building contractor and, earlier, a skilled stonemason, who owned a construction company located in the central
Early life
John Jay was born in
Buildings of note
The first building known to have been built by John Jay was the Abney Park Chapel (opened May 1840). This project was soon followed by the Trinity Independent Chapel (opened 1841), both designed by the architect William Hosking, and St. Michael's Church in Stockwell, designed by William Rogers.
During the 1850s, Jay won the contract for the construction of the Victoria Towers and clock, and the Old Palace Yard frontage at the
In the realm of railway building, Jay's contracts included Stoke-on-Trent Railway Station, built to the Elizabethan and Jacobean designs of A.H. Hunt (contract awarded in July 1847); a section of the Great Northern Railway from the King's Cross Station to the entrance of the tunnel beneath Copenhagen Fields, and also the King's Cross goods station and passenger terminus itself (all built around 1850). In 1853, Jay was awarded the contract for building the Metropolitan Railway, which he worked on during the 1860s. Colchester Station (Eastern Counties Railway) was also built by Jay. Furthermore, there was a substantial part of Paddington Station that Jay constructed. The latter building was built by Jay in about 1857 for the Great Western Railway Company, following the design of Isambard Brunel.
Jay also built commercial premises (such as the first
At one point relatively early in his career, his business was expanding so rapidly that he could not finance it (he was compelled to file for bankruptcy on 14 February 1843 at the Court of Bankruptcy in London). Before long his debts were re-arranged and discharged, and the business prospered again, enabling his family to move, in about 1860, to a fashionable detached villa in its own grounds, Highbury Park House, Highbury; and soon afterwards to Ashford House, Priory Road, in nearby Hornsey.
Memorial to the life of Jay
A memorial monument to John Jay, which is (grade 2 listed by English Heritage), stands on the west side of Dr. Watts' Walk (the central southern path) in Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, and is said to have been carved in his own workshop, possibly by his own hand. It is a highly ornamented white marble sarcophagus with moulded cover, lions' feet, and rich acanthus decoration in the corners.[3] Many of his station buildings still exist and are listed by English Heritage.
References
Citations
- Schwitzer, Joan (1986) Lost Houses of Haringey, London:Hornsey Historical Society
- Port, M.H. (1976) The Houses of Parliament, New Haven & London:Yale University Press
- Joyce, P. (1994 2nd edn.) A Guide to Abney Park Cemetery, London:Abney Park Cemetery Trust