Architect. An influential figure in English building design, he specialised in the late Georgian and early Regency styles. The son of a Norfolk farmer, he journeyed to India as ship's carpenter from which he earned sufficient funds to start his own building firm, where he was the first builder to have a 'modern' system of employing all the types of sub-contractors internally, on permanent wages, instead of outsourcing the tradeswork as had been done previously. His first major building was the London Institution in Finsbury Circus, built in 1815. His development of areas of St. Pancras, including Gordon Square and Tavistock Square, began in 1820, for a group of landowners including the Duke of Bedford. He was commissioned in 1824 by Richard Grosvenor, the 2nd Marquess of Westminster, to create a great swathe of building in Belgravia centred around Belgrave Square and Pimlico, in what was to become his greatest achievement in London. He was also responsible for much of Bloomsbury, and the east facing of Buckingham Palace. He also built and personally funded nearly a kilometre of the Thames Embankment. After his death, Queen Victoria said "In his sphere of life, with the immense business he had in hand, he is a real national loss. A better, kindhearted or more simple, unassuming man never breathed."
Architect. An influential figure in English building design, he specialised in the late Georgian and early Regency styles. The son of a Norfolk farmer, he journeyed to India as ship's carpenter from which he earned sufficient funds to start his own building firm, where he was the first builder to have a 'modern' system of employing all the types of sub-contractors internally, on permanent wages, instead of outsourcing the tradeswork as had been done previously. His first major building was the London Institution in Finsbury Circus, built in 1815. His development of areas of St. Pancras, including Gordon Square and Tavistock Square, began in 1820, for a group of landowners including the Duke of Bedford. He was commissioned in 1824 by Richard Grosvenor, the 2nd Marquess of Westminster, to create a great swathe of building in Belgravia centred around Belgrave Square and Pimlico, in what was to become his greatest achievement in London. He was also responsible for much of Bloomsbury, and the east facing of Buckingham Palace. He also built and personally funded nearly a kilometre of the Thames Embankment. After his death, Queen Victoria said "In his sphere of life, with the immense business he had in hand, he is a real national loss. A better, kindhearted or more simple, unassuming man never breathed."
Bio by: julia&keld
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