Ian L Handford: The visionary behind Paignton’s iconic buildings

George Soudon Bridgman (spelt with no”e”) was a descendant from one of the most famous of Edginswell families, the Soudons, traceable back to the 16th century.

Born in 1839, few recall the name George Soudon Bridgman, yet he spent most of his life building Paignton and, to a lesser extent, Torquay. As a teenager he left the family home in Torquay to go to London to study architecture and returned to Torquay to do his Architectural Articles with our famous builder, J. Harvey Company.

Jacob with sons John and William Harvey designed and built the majority of Torquay’s iconic buildings, including Higher Terrace, Beacon Terrace, Lisburne Crescent, the wonderful Osborne Crescent, and Wellswood Park. They also constructed dozens of villas and properties in and around Torquay’s hills while in the town, most of our municipal buildings, churches, etc. George became an innovator himself and would have enjoyed his time at Harvey’s, where he would have undoubtedly met William Kitson, solicitor, land agent, banker, and senior official in Torquay, who was eventually named “Maker of Torquay”. George could never have foreseen that decades later he, like Mr Kitson, would be named by residents as the “Maker of Paignton”.

When qualified, George set up his own practice in Paignton to then design some of its most iconic buildings, including Oldway Mansion, Paignton Gentlemen’s Club, and the Theatre before building around the bay: Masonic buildings, churches, and eventually the Paignton Pier. Working mainly in Paignton in the 1870s, he also designed a number of public halls, numerous bank premises, Wesleyan churches, and the Torquay Market. The Wesleyan Church at St Marychurch was designed by Rev J Johnson of London and built by local builder E P Bovey, under George’s supervision. He built many chapels outside of Torbay and still found time for restoration work at Paignton while designing and building that quite magnificent sea wall on Paignton Esplanade.

Above: Grave of George Soudon Bridgman in Paignton Cemetery. Image: Partonez / Creative Commons

One of his first commissions had been to design Gerston Hotel before, years later, it became a Woolworths retail shop. Due to the arrival of “Gods Wonderful Railway” in Paignton, the hotel came courtesy of Mr Dendy in 1859. But then in 1863 Mr Bridgman had married Miss E W Norman, and they were soon blessed with no less than eight children at Courtland Road, Paignton, near the Gentleman’s Club, one of George’s most iconic buildings. Meanwhile, Polsham Green had been donated to the town by Mr Maclean who then commissioned George to drain the swampland and then construct that wonderful sea wall in 1867. He even created the new seafront green for use by holidaymakers who still had to mingle with sheep, as farmers retained the “right” to graze right up until 1908.

It was in 1886 that Mr Singer, Lambshead, Bartlett, and Couldrey formed a four-man partnership called “The Four Radicals” to purchase the land between Winner Street and the Railway Station. They then commissioned George to oversee the new town, making him Paignton’s most successful architect for Paignton and Preston. He created the new Dellers (previously the Supply Stores in Winner Street) by building an iconic Dellers restaurant on Torbay Road (sadly later demolished). Owners of Paignton’s shops in Winner, Church Street, and Palace Avenue must have been in awe at the old cabbage plots and pasture lands being completely ripped out as the town’s population rose to over 6000.

In 1900 George lost his first wife and then married Eliza (Lizzie) Black. Now they left Paignton to live in Torquay, where in January 1902 George Soudon Bridgman would die aged 86 on 3rd April 1925. Residents of Paignton did not forget their star architect, as they called him the “Maker of Paignton”. Yet it took until 1986 before Torbay Civic Society honoured him on the Town Hall Blue Plaque at St Marychurch when recalling him as the architect—although unfortunately we misspelt his name as Bridgeman.

IAN’S COMMENT – An absolute visionary who for nearly two decades designed many of the most iconic buildings in Torbay. Many changes: the bandstand, which stood on the green nearest Torquay Road, has long gone. On the green near the seafront there was a covered shelter and seating area near the pond, also now gone.

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Image Credits and Reference: https://www.torbayweekly.co.uk/news/home/1693626/ian-l-handford-the-visionary-behind-paignton-s-iconic-buildings.html