Sundridge, and Hadleigh. During the restoration of Sundridge he made the acquaintance of Benjamin Webb [q. v.], secretary of the Ecclesiological Society, who was then curate of the adjoining parish of Brasted.
Webb recommended Street to William Butler (afterwards dean of Lincoln), who employed him on the vicarage and other works at Wantage, and introduced him to Samuel Wilberforce [q. v.], bishop of Oxford, who appointed him honorary diocesan architect. In 1850 he took up his residence at Wantage, making Oxfordshire the centre of his architectural activity. During two foreign tours in 1850 and 1851 he studied the greater churches of France and Germany. Acting on the advice of his friend, John William Parker [q. v.], he settled in May 1852 in Beaumont Street, Oxford, and shortly afterwards took two pupils, Edmund Sedding and Philip Webb, his first regular assistants. In 1853 Street's practice was augmented by the inception of two important works—the theological college at Cuddesdon, and the buildings of the East Grinstead Sisterhood, an institution with the foundation of which Street showed such practical sympathy as to refuse remuneration. The commission to design the important and beautiful church of St. Peter at Bournemouth, completed some twenty years later, belongs to the same year. In 1853 also he visited Northern Italy, and obtained material for ‘Brick and Marble Architecture’ (published 1855), his first important publication. In 1854 he followed up his studies of continental brick architecture by a tour in North Germany, which bore fruit in more than one paper on the churches of the district communicated to the ‘Ecclesiologist’ (1855). In all these tours, as indeed in all his leisure moments, he was occupied in the masterly sketches which, though only means to his ends, were in themselves enough to make a reputation.
In 1855 Street secured a house and office in London at 33 Montague Place, Russell Square, from which he removed to 51 Russell Square, and subsequently in 1870 to 14 Cavendish Place.
In 1855, in an open competition for a cathedral at Lille in the French Gothic style, Street's design was placed second to that of Clutton and Burges. To the last-named architect Street was shortly afterwards again placed second in a competition (among forty-six rivals) for the Crimean memorial church at Constantinople. In 1857 the sultan gave a site to which Burges's design could not be adapted, and the commission was transferred to Street. The church, which was designed with special reference to the requirements of oriental climate, was begun in 1864 and completed in 1869.
Meanwhile it was recognised that Street stood side by side with his former master, Scott, as one of the great champions of Gothic architecture, and it was natural that he should engage on the Gothic side as one of the competitors in the competition for the new government offices in 1856. He was one of the seventeen out of 219 competitors to whom premiums were awarded, and it was generally considered that he divided with Scott and Woodward the credit of sending in the best of the Gothic designs. Other important works on which he was engaged at this date were the new nave of Bristol Cathedral; the church and schools of St. James the Less, Westminster; St. Mary Magdalene, Paddington; All Saints, Clifton; St. John's, Torquay; schoolrooms and chapel at Uppingham; Longmead House, Bishopstoke; and the restoration of Hedon church, Yorkshire. These were followed shortly afterwards by St. Saviour's, Eastbourne; St. Margaret's, Liverpool; a church for Lord Sudeley at Toddington; Dun Echt House (with chapel) for Lord Crawford; and a number of school and church buildings for Sir Tatton Sykes.
In spite of great pressure of work, Street made three tours in Spain in 1861–2–3, collecting materials for his book entitled ‘Gothic Architecture in Spain,’ which appeared in 1865, all the illustrations being drawn on the wood by himself. In 1866 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, and he became a full member in 1871.
In 1866 Street was invited by the government to compete for the designs both of the National Gallery and the law courts. For the National Gallery competition, which ended abortively in the appointment of Edward Middleton Barry [q. v.] to rearrange the existing building, Street prepared himself by a tour of the galleries of Mid-Europe, and produced a design of dignified simplicity and convenience—a long arcaded front with a continuous roof broken only by a central dome and by the projecting entrance.
Street's successful competition for the law courts in the Strand marks the culmination of his career, though as the invitation was issued in 1866, and the work was still unfinished when Street died in 1881, the undertaking was coincident with much other practice. Originally five architects were invited as well as Street, viz. (Sir) G. G. Scott and Messrs. T. H. Wyatt, Alfred Waterhouse, Edward M. Barry, and P. C. Hardwick, junior Wyatt and Hardwick afterwards retired. The number of competitors was subsequently
