Silvanus Trevail (often misspelled as Sylvanus Trevail) was born in Luxulyan in October 1851. He rose to become Mayor of Truro and, nationally, President of the architects' professional body, the Society of Architects.

More importantly perhaps, he was Cornwall's most famous architect, certainly of the 19th Century. Following the Education Act of 1870 which created Board Schools, Trevail designed around fifty such schools throughout the county.

He was also largely responsible for putting Cornwall, and particularly Newquay, on the tourist map, designing many of the major coastal hotels including those at Tintagel (King Arthur's Castle), St. Ives (Carbis Bay), The Lizard (Housel Bay), Falmouth (Pendennis) and Newquay (Atlantic & Headland). He was not merely an architect but also a developer. He raised the money to build most of his hotels and he often ran them as Chairman, Director or Company Secretary. 

He also designed private houses, chapels, churches, banks and, following his association with John Passmore Edwards*, several libraries and institutes. In the cases of churches and chapels, he often also helped the congregations with their fund-raising or, as in the case of Temple in the heart of Bodmin Moor, gave his services free. 

    *    For more about philanthropist John Passmore Edwards, visit  www.passmoreedwards.org.uk

Later he became an important figure in the County Council when it was established in 1888, notably as Chairman of the Sanitary Committee where he was deeply (some would say "passionately") involved in drainage schemes for Truro and other parts of Cornwall. He was also engaged in a plan to establish harbours on Cornwall's north coast. In addition to being Mayor of Truro in 1894/5, he designed the Central Technical Schools for Cornwall in the city and his fund-raising talents and executive abilities were again also demonstrated by his having raised some of the money for the building and, as Chairman of the Executive Committee for the Schools, he was responsible for administration and staffing.

In his buildings he showed an exceptional flair in the choice of material, using satisfying combinations of granite and other stone. His close association with the brick and quarry tile works at Ruabon in North Wales gave him the opportunity to use their red brick and terracotta for window surrounds or indeed whole buildings.

Members of the STS outside the 'Red Bank' in St Austell

Over a century after his death, many of his buildings still survive in fine form and some of the most notable, like the Atlantic and Headland Hotels in Newquay, have celebrated their centenaries many years ago. Others, however, such as the chapel at Mount Charles and Fowey Grammar School, are less fortunate, having either been demolished, under threat of demolition or subjected to significant alteration.

Sadly, although it is only just over 100 years since his untimely death, few people in Cornwall let alone outside the county have heard of him or, if they have, either spell his name wrongly or remember him only for his suicide. Hence, one of our main aims is to gain wider recognition for his works and arguably as the greatest Cornishman of the 19th century.

The Silvanus Trevail Society was founded in 1993 and the current aims and objectives of the Society are:

• To encourage further research and publications

• To liaise with existing groups and organisations concerned with the preservation of Cornwall’s history

• To play a part in helping to preserve the buildings that survive and to campaign to preserve the buildings that are at risk

• To ensure that anniversaries of his important buildings are acknowledged and celebrated.

Over the past few years some major work has been undertaken:

• A definitive list of Trevail’s works has been produced

• Trevail’s architectural plans, now stored at the Cornwall Record Office in Truro, have been catalogued and can be found on the CRO website 

• The book Silvanus Trevail: Cornish Architect and Entrepreneur by Ronald Perry and Hazel Harradence was published, winning an award for the best book on Cornwall in 2008

If you can identify with our aims, we would welcome you as a member!

Each year members receive a Newsletter containing new research into Trevail‘s life, works and updates on his buildings and Members are also invited to an annual walk and a car or walking tour of Trevail buildings

Click here for a Membership application form

Click here for further reading on Silvanus Trevail

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  Photo by Hazel Harradence - Page designed by LuxSoft of Luxulyan - last updated 31/03/2012

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