Lodges

The Abney Park Temple Lodges (1838-40) were designed by William Hosking as entrance lodges to the historic eighteenth century parkland associated with Isaac Watts and Lady Mary Abney. The buildings were added to the parkland estate on its becoming laid out as the Congregationalists' novel non-denominational garden cemetery, arboretum and educational institution.
Rather than the usual forbidding high walls of contemporary cemetery design, William Hosking was briefed to work up a visually prominent design that would occupy a considerable frontage expanse. This provided open, inviting, views into the park, for appreciation of its botanical richness and landscape beauty since the Abney Park Cemetery project was, moresonthan any other of the ring of cemeteries at the time, designed as an early semi-public London park as well as a London burial ground.
For buildings forming part of an English garden cemetery of the period, an unusual choice of architectural style was made at Abney Park: Egyptian Revival style. It had not previously been used on a large scale for a park or cemetery frontage; and for a prominent entrance onto one of the main roads into London, it was clearly designed to catch the eye and be symbolic of the novelty of a wholly non-denominational approach to cemetery layout and design, and the remarkable intention of also establishing a semi-public park.
William Hosking was already familiar with Egyptian temple architecture, as evidenced by his contributions to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, but he took expert advice from fellow antiquarian scholar Joseph Bonomi junior to achieve higher standards of detailing for the hieroglyphics and other Egyptian facets of the final design.