John Starkie Gardner

John Starkie Gardner (1844-1930) was one of the foremost artistic metalworkers of his time although he came to it relatively late in life, in his late 30s, having had the means to take his time over choosing a career. He was also a great scholar of his craft and went on to document many of the metalwork projects of the Early Modern period and he is perhaps now best known for what remain standard academic works on that subject rather than his own metal work.

At Two Temple Place he is responsible for the Grade 2* listed railings, some of which was sadly lost to war damage, and the magnificent nautical gilded weathervane. Other work includes the Exhibition Road gate of the V&A. He had a particularly colourful private life and his career, despite major commissions, was marked by bankruptcies.