| Watts Cemetery Chapel | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Location in Surrey  Location in England | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
| Town or city | Compton, Surrey |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 51°13′04″N 0°37′56″W / 51.21775°N 0.6321°W |
| Construction started | 1896 |
| Completed | 1898 |
| Client | Watts Gallery |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Mary Fraser-Tytler |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | Watts Memorial Chapel |
| Designated | 14 June 1967 |
| Reference no. | 1029541 |
The Watts Cemetery Chapel or Watts Mortuary Chapel is a chapel in a Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style) version of Celtic Revival in the village cemetery of Compton in Surrey. The designer was Mary Fraser-Tytler, an artist resident in the village, who married the painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts. While the overall architectural structure is loosely Romanesque Revival, the lavish decoration in terracotta relief carving and paintings is Celtic Revival, on an unusually large scale. According to the local council, it is "a unique concoction of art nouveau, Celtic, Romanesque and Egyptian influence with Mary's own original style".[1]
Other responses have been less positive. Ian Nairn, in the 1971 Surrey volume of the Buildings of England series, described the interior as "one of the most soporific rooms in England" and regretted "the intolerable torpor and weariness of the motifs".[2] It is a Grade I listed building.[3]
- ^ "Watts Chapel". Guildford Council. Archived from the original on 14 September 2007. Retrieved 19 December 2008.
- ^ Nairn, Pevsner & Cherry 1971, p. 170.
- ^ Historic England. "Watts Memorial Chapel (1029541)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 November 2014.