’ Desi ns f THE N M N L M L W O RKER S D IR EC TO RY Cottin ham 1 824 g rom O R A E TA ETA by L . N . g , AN INTR O D U CTIO N TO

R E GE N CY

C H I TE C TU

PA U L R EI LLY

P E L L E G R I N I C U D A H Y N EW Y O R K Pr inted in Great Br itain by S H E N VA L PR E SS LTD

and p ublis hed in the U S A . by I N I A Y I N C PE LL E G R C U D H , PREFACE

THIS SHORT ES SAY does not pretend to be more than an elementary survey of . Its purpose is to draw attention , by

of l way generalization rather than close examination , to the high ights of a brief but beautiful period of English building . I hope that the lay reader will learn enough from the text and the plates to value this fast-vanishin g beauty and to protest energetically when he sees an example of Regency architecture threatened with destruction .

of c t I must , course , a knowledge my deb to Mr for his Geor ian his of g (Pleiades Books) and life ,

Ar chitec t to Kin Geor e I V U g g (George Allen and nwin Ltd) , both of i re- wh ch I read before starting this present essay . I should like to thank the Director and the Staff of the National Buildings Record for their courteous help in finding so many of the plates and also the Librarian of the Royal Institute of British Ar chi

° ' ’ e f r - i ham s te ts o lending for block making copies of L . N . Cott ng

’ ’ Ornamental Metal Worker s Director London S treet y, John Tallis s

’ Views The Ro l P v o r t and John Nash s ya a ili n at B igh on .

Finally, I should like to acknowledge my lasting gratitude to my father, without whose impelling enthusiasms I might never have

of enjoyed the pleasures architectural appreciation . C O NTENT S

PR E FA C E p age 5 R E G E N C Y A R C H I TE C TU R E p age 9 S O ME R E G E N C Y A R C H I TE C T S p age 39 G EO R G E D A N C E p age 40 JO S EPH MICHAEL G AN D Y p age H EN R Y H O LLA N D 40 JOHN BU O N A R O TTI PAPWORT H JAME S W Y A TT 41 WILLIAM WIL K IN S JOHN NA S H 4 1 S I R ROBERT SMI R KE H 42 R S IR JO N S OANE CHARLE S . CO C KERELL S AM U EL PEPY S COC KERELL 43 G EOR G E B A SEVI S IR JEFFREY W Y A TVI LLE 43 D ECIM U S B U RTON

TH E I L L U S T RAT I O N S I N T H E T E 'T

’ Designs from THE ORNAMENTAL METAL WOR KER S D IRECTORY d . . n 1 824 r ontis iece an a es 30 32 33 34 by L N Cotti gham , f p p g , , , r V G n 1824 F om THE ROYAL PA ILION , BRI HTON , by Joh Nash, title- a e and a es 9 26 28 38 p g p g , , , Ramsgate and Broadstair s p ages 14—17 nin Dow g College, Cambridge n r D V n 1838—40 a e 23 Rege t Street f om LON ON S TREET IEW S by Joh Tallis , p g T H E P L AT E S

’ r n a e 49 n Chester Te race, Rege t s p g Adelaide Cresce t, ’ n rr n n Cumberla d Te ace, Rege t s Park Tria gle formed by Adelaide Street, 50 5 1 li and n , Wil am IV Street the Stra d, n n n 52 n n 63 Carlto House Terrace, Lo do Lo do ’ ’ n n 53 n n 64 Park Cresce t, Rege t s Park St George s Hospital, Lo do ’ n n 54 nn n n 65 Ha over Terrace, Rege t s Park Ca o Place, Brighto n n 55 n n 66 Theatre Royal, Haymarket, Lo do The Royal Pavilio , Brighto n n n 56 - in n 67 Athe aeum Club , Lo do Tea Shop Brighto n n 57 n Kem Town n68 Circus , Lo do LewesCresce t, p , Brighto r n n 58 n n n n 68 Victoria Squa e, Lo do Pelham Cresce t , South Ke si gto f n 58 nh 69 Bed ord Hotel, Brighto Wolseley Terrace, Chelte am n 59 n n 70 Bru swick Terrace, Hove The Prome ade, Chelte ham n 60 n and n Bru swick Square, Hove Cumberla d Terrace Mu ster n n 60 n n Crow Street, Brighto Square, Lo do n n 6 1 n and New Stey e, Brighto Rod ey House Wolseley Ter n n 6 1 n a Crow House, St Leo ards race, Chelte h m 6 n o n 72 n n n Claremo t L dge, Chelte ham Behi d the Rotu da , Chelte ham in l n 73 74 77 n n Villas Pittvi le, Chelte ham , , Royal Cresce t, Chelte ham I n 75 n n mperial Square , Chelte ham Gra d Parade, Brighto ’ 76 nn n Dix s Field , Exeter Pe sylva ia Park , Exeter n n n 78 n n La sdow Parade, Chelte ham Royal Cresce t, Brighto n nh 78 n n Rod ey Road, Chelte am Mari e Square, Brighto n r n n 79 n n Mu ster Squa e, Lo do Pelham Cresce t, Hasti gs D ownshire 80 n - - Hill , Haveri g atte Bower , Essex in n l n 8 1 - n Villas Mo tpel ier, Chelte ham Shop fro t , Weymouth n 8 1 End Bath Road , Chelte ham South Road , Hampstead n n n t n 82 n Hi l Alexa der Place, South Ke si g o Rossly l , Hampstead n 83 nh Russell Square, Brighto Bath Road, Chelte am n n n in Edwardes Square, Ke si gto ; House Colchester n Southam End Cumberla d Place, p South Road, Hampstead ton n n Medburn n n ; Dea Street, Brighto ; Street, Lo do n n n Goswell n n Mu ster Square, Lo do Road, Isli gto

A C K N O W L E D G M ENT S

Permission to reproduce the photographs is gratefully acknowledged to the following

49 50 5 1 68 bottom 79 80 84 bottom r i ht 9 1 92 93 95 96 : w n Pages , , , , , , g , , , , , Ed i Smith 2 57 ottom an d . 5 : r . Pages , b Bedfo d Lemere Co Ltd n Page 53 : A . F . Kersti g

' 54 57 to 58 bottom 59 60 to 63 65 67 68 to 76 83 86 87 to 89 Pages , p , , , p , , , , p , , , , p , National Buildings Record 55 56 64 82 : Pages , , , Hugh Veysey

58 ta 84 to e r l t and i ht : . . Pages p , p f g E R Jarrett

60 to 62 : M Pages p , THE TI ES

60 bottom 84 botto le t 87 o m b ttom 88 : . . Pages , f , , R E Ormerod 6 n Page 1 A . T . Rey olds Page 66 : Reece Winstone

69 70 7 1 72 73 74 75 77 78 8 1 85 94 to : r n Pages , , , , , , , , , , , p Marga et Casso 90 : and n Page Tuck So s Ltd . Page 94 bottom : Phoebe Harling

n B n : f n The Royal Pavilio , righto west ro t

R E G E N C Y A R C H I T E C T U R E

IT IS N OT A Y fi . E S to de ne Regency architecture The Regency, as

1 8 1 1 — 20 we all know, lasted from , but when we talk Of Regency architecture we are not thinking of the immediate results of ten years

nfini Of building . Were we to do so we would be co ng ourselves to a

n ot one relatively barren period, certainly that quantitatively could

- have attracted the attention of posterity . The post Napoleonic build ing boom had barely got started by the time that the Regency ended and the extravagant became the even more spendthrift

ni King George IV . A fairer defi tion would call it the architecture Of

George IV, whether as Regent or as King . But even that would leave unrecorded many buildings and tendencies, at either end of the period, which should be included in an account of Regency architecture . Y et having settled on dates we are faced with further complications

f di er en O . Our v style and scale period, for instance , can witness such g

’ cies in style as shown in St Luke s Church, Chelsea (Gothic) , Greek

in r villas , Roman and Greek te races in London , Indian

in i and Chinese interiors , and the altogether ind vidual 9 designs Of Sir in the Bank of England and at and l ff Du wich . And in scale the di erences are just as marked . At one end we have the Royal Mile of and , at the other the modest little facades of side streets in Brighton and the ' hi innumerable stucco villas throughout the land, w ch are

- ff noticeable today for their self e acing decorum . For the purpose of our argument we can allow the Regency period to run from the turn of the century down to the early years Of 'ueen

’ Victoria s reign , for early Victorian taste , though unequal, did respect many Of the canons of the great period of English building and still carried on classical traditions Of proportion and detail .

These traditions of proportion derived from the long , uninterrupted reign of Georgian building . The eighteenth century had brought Eng lish domestic architecture to a perfection never attain ed in any other f . o w period The origins these proportions ere classical , that is to say they owed their existence to the rediscovery of ancient Greek and

Roman forms at the time Of the Italian Renaissance . The fact that Roman forms predominated in England during most of the eighteenth century we owe to a sixteenth-century Italian— Andrea Palladio who set himself to codify the rules of architecture . But he was doing

' n n nc n — n in Although stucco was k ow to the a ie t world the Roma , Vitruvius, 46 BC gave instructions on its composition and on how to produce a mirror polish on — - n 1 677 the surface the earliest known patent for stucc o type ceme t dates from . ‘ ’ is n n n Edisbur and Glass . This was take out by Ke dricks y was called Thomas Leverto , ‘ ’ ’ the n - n n n Coade s n n in f eightee th ce tury Lo do architect, used Pate t Sto e Bed ord ’ in 1777 and Liardet s n n Square, , , the Adam brothers used pate t ceme t ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ’ in and on n n n stucco Fitzroy Square the Adelphi Buildi gs . Roma or Parker s Ceme t was patented in London in 1 796 and in 1 824 a bricklayer called Joseph A spdin patented ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ’ n n in 1 8 n of n n n n 83 . Portla d Ceme t . Kee s Ceme t was pate ted The ki d stucco ge eral ly used on the exterior Of buildings is a fine mortar with ordinary carbonate Of lime for in and . . its base . It sets very slowly, resists weather is washable (M B Adams the Journal o the 27th f July , Of his - no more than had one pre Christian predecessors , the Roman e hi Vitruvius . Wheth r Vitruvius was a practising arc tect or not, he left hi him l be nd a complete set of instructions on how to bui d correctly, in true proportions and with the proper use of the classical features

— which are familiar to us all today the columns , their capitals and

‘ ’ entablatures, in fact the orders as they came to be called . Palladio added his ow n touches to these instructions and reissued them as a hi c guide to the arc te ts of the Italian Renaissance . They were intro duced to England in the fir st half of the seventeenth century by

Inigo Jones . s l Jones had spent several year in Rome and other Ita ian cities, had studied at first hand the new architecture and had himself become a master in the Italian style Of architectural and decorative draughts i mansh p . Though he was better known by his contemporaries as a

of for c rt designer masques and scenery ou theatricals, by posterity he has been recognized as the father Of the Anglo -Italian or Palladian hi s . school . But example was not followed by his successors Though

fine of Wren designed in the classical style, with a appreciation l classical proportions , he was never a Pa ladian in the sense that he

‘ ’ f of abode by the rules O the orders . The acceptance these rules had to wait for another generation of travellers in to return to England . m l And this ti e the travel ers were aristocrats, rich and educated men,

o ur u who , by their patronage , were able to influence architect re in a

no way that Single designer or architect could hope to do .

rands s ei neurs r Most famous Of these g g was the Earl Of Bu lington, who not only combined great wealth with great energy, but was also an amateur of architectur e who had discovered for himself the

r on splendou of Palladian compositions and his return home began,

m i or hi self, design ng houses in the Palladian style employed architects

1 1 ll to like Colin Campbell , Leoni and Wi iam be his torchbearers . SO successful was this young earl in impressing his taste on his associates and contemporaries that for a long stretch Of the eighteenth

one century no contemplated a departure from the rules . The result was that all large public buildings and country mansions were exe outed unquestioningly in this style and it was inevitable that the taste

SO of the aristocrat influenced the professional and artisan classes . we find throughout the eighteenth century a uniformity of touch in all il our buildings, from the mansion to the v la , from the palace to the ff small town house . In the smaller houses no e ort was made to repro duce the facade dressings Of columns, pediments and entablatures , but nevertheless the Palladian influence was felt in the smaller details of

nf the doorways and chimney pieces and these , too , co ormed with standard rules Of orders and composition .

c That then was one trend in Georgian archite ture , a respect for a

n s standard Of proportion and desig , derived from foreign journeying

few not i Of the select , who only studied arch tecture as an integral part of their education (the Princes of had their own private

on i architectural tutors) , but also had the r bookshelves the standard works laying down the rules and forms of good building . But there were other influences at work which must be included in hi in a any assessment of Georgian building . To see Regency arc tecture true perspective we must trace our steps back into the eighteenth century to understand the links which tie the Regency to the Georgian and the departures which distinguish the two periods . The second featur e that marks out Georgian building from pre

‘ ’ r vions and subsequent eras is the idea of terrace architecture . Te race is a word applied to all building Which groups in a uniform com ce position a number of individual living units . The first terra seen in 12 ni England was probably the I go Jones Piazza in Covent Garden . He ul of b i t two sides a square , uniform in design, each house merging into the one composition and all united by a repeating arcade o n the

n ow of ground level . Not much is left these terraces , but they were the forerunners of all the London squares and street architecture . A more t Obvious pattern was set by John Wood, the elder, of Ba h, who in the first quarter Of the eighteenth century began building a complete sec

of tion a fashionable town in the one style, grouping his houses into

son his single architectural compositions . His carried on good work , 1 769 adding in his famous Royal Crescent, probably the finest Single

‘ ’

. too example of terrace architecture The word terrace , , may perhaps

to l be traced Bath, for much of the bui ding of that remarkable city was made possible by the levelling of flat terraces out Of the hillsides o n which to build those connected series Of town houses. Architecturally the terrace was a marked departure from the indi ld vidual efforts of the earlier builders . Imagine the o Strand of the six teenth of or and seventeenth centuries , a series Tudor Jacobean pal

of aces, linked by the broken gables smaller dwellings, all competing

- with each other to catch the eye of the passer by. There is no denying the charm Of such a medley in its original state , but it was no attempt i il at town or street arch tecture . The Georgian bu ders remodelled the Strand and through the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries achieved a uniformity and dignity which can still be enjoyed in old prints and, from the few existing pieces (like the stucco block with ll rounded corner features known as West Strand) , can sti be imagined by the visitor who takes the trouble to search for it among the grotesque rivalries of the commercial era .

i n ot l The , new terrace arch tecture was on y an architectural de

r . partu e It was a social phenomenon, reflecting a new attitude to life

1 3 m Of u in in e tu . Ex pl s s c l iv b il e c chi ec e he P n R m e . he o u a e pe u at e d g t rra ar t r T arago , a sgat T p p larit of and M y Ramsgate argate as seaside resorts increased rapidly from 1 824 when the n - Ge eral Steam Navigation Company started its paddle wheel steamer service from Lon don which has by now imparted to the British town dweller some of his more endearing characteristics . The long innings Of Georgian buildin g established a common outlook, a neighbourly consistency of approach

o ne to everyday living and, can almost say, a communal enjoyment Of hi the best t ngs in life . The square garden, Shared by all who lived

for round it, was the meeting place all the members of the neighbour hood unit . It was for the town dweller what the village green was for

. the countryman This communal sharing Of the seasons, of the trees thiS and the lawns , free meeting place for the exchange of daily civilities , led to communal acceptance of certain standards and values and taste . The result of this revolution in social outlook on architec ture was to implant through several generations a will to conform of with the general tenor the neighbourhood . How rich was the 14 ff - . On f of i West Cli , Ramsgate the le t th s mid Victorian engraving is the Gothic Church Of St A u n u A ug sti e b ilt by ugustus Welby Pugin . The adjacent terrace is in the manner of Regency seaside buildin g

of - r reward this self denial we are belatedly beginning to realize . O u distracted and anxious generation can yet enjoy the calm of our Georgian squares and terraces and even in isolated homes up and down the countryside we can recognize the unworried pleasure o ur ancestors took in knowing that the houses they built would conform ff with a sure taste and give O ence to no one . The third characteristic Of Georgian building which must be men i ne t o d in a preface to Regency architecture was the speculative basis Of

of the majority urban developments . In Georgian England specula

ff m our - tion had a meaning rather di erent fro present day usage . Today

s the speculator is seldom a great landed proprietor . He buys plot where he can find them and runs up a house or two or an ‘ estate ’ (what

of ' on a use the word ) and then unloads them the public . The specula

1 5 B i f i n a n its nes roadsta rs rom the Pier. Th s small resort mai t i ed exclusive s ’ into the middleyears Of Victoria s reign tor l s today can hardly be cal ed even a builder . He give little thought to

or what posterity, five six generations hence , will find on the site he devastates . But in the eighteenth century speculation in building had not deserved the Obloquies that are justly bestowed on our con temporary Philistines . Speculative building was , it is true, the pastime of anyone from a duke to a carpenter, but, and this was the saving

of . grace Of their game , the landlord seldom lost sight his property

Either he himself was the principal speculator, building and letting his

or - houses , he sold the building rights to a middle man, a master builder or maybe a member of the professional classes with some

to money spend, but he retained the freehold Of the land, and in due

r course the land and the house would revert to his estate . To ensu e their reverting in good condition , aesthetically and structurally, he generally employed his own architect or surveyor to pass the plans .

1 6

Proportion, neighbourliness and speculation were then three out

of l standing characteristics Georgian bui ding . How were they trans lated into Regency architecture? Before answering this question and before leaving the eighteenth

for to century we must stop a moment consider . He li needs no introduction to most Eng shmen and to few Americans . There are in the world today many more Adam fir eplaces and door ways and ceilings than he ever built . Plagiarism and falsification have taken their t oll of his reputation but they cannot undo the revolution he created in his generation and the loosening of the bonds he effected when he introduced his fanciful details into a world in bondage to

e n edimentation rigid rul s of colum s and bases , rustication and p and all that respect for Palladio entailed . He was as outspoken in his ow n

‘ his praises as he was sensational in designs . We have not trod in the path Of others , nor derived aid from their labours The skilful will easily perceive within these few years a remarkable improvement in

ni t reliefin of the form , conve ence , arrangemen and g apartments ; a greater movement and variety in the outside composition , and in the

ahn o st decoration of the inside an total change . The massive entabla

e ahn o st ture , the ponderous compartment ceiling, the tab rnacle frame , the only species Of ornament formerly known in this country, are uni versall d y explode , and in their places we have adopted a beautiful v of ariety light mouldings , gracefully formed, delicately enriched, and ’ 77 hi arranged with propriety and skill . He wrote that in 1 8 in s preface

The Works in Ar chitectur e o Rober t and James Adam Es uir es to f , q , and what architect could say fairer than that about his own work? But in

’ tr uth it was no exaggeration . Adam s approach to domestic building

Sk - li was indeed explosive . He blew y high the prevai ng fashion and in il its place provided. a free and mob e treatment, spatially and in detail ,

18 which caught the imagination of all classes and which earned its copyists in every branch of the decorative arts from architecture to

- Y e of hi cabinet making . t had Adam introduced merely a set fas onable frills and gr aces his influence would have been negligible and he would never have unseated the venerable Palladians who had been securely

r a in the saddle for half a century o more . It was the logic Of his p proach to living and planning that appealed to the Age of Reason . When as a young man he made his tour Of Italy and Dalmatia in

1 754— 58 architec , he saw more than the classical features , the temple

of c . ture Rome , which had SO aptivated his predecessors He ques tioned the sense of turning every sort of building into a variation on a pagan temple ; he studied other sources than the textbook prototypes and found evidence that the ancient World had a domestic vernacular quite different from the formal facades Of temple and forum .

For i to o to his deta ls , , he looked fresh sources and was inspired by the decorative designs of the Etruscan civilization as well as by later

for Italian models . Educated taste was ripe his innovations when he returned to England and began to practise as an architect and specu

hi s lator . It was certainly the movement in all work that appealed

S l in most trongly, the movement in his de icate plaster patterns and his

of his s subtle interior planning . By variety shapes in rooms , by change

Lo n Of levels and planes , he infused new vigour into the stereotyped

o n hi b e don house . His w definition of movement in arc tecture cannot

‘ ’ ‘ e bettered . Movement, he wrote , is defined as meant to express the ris

of the and fall , the advance and recess , with other diversity forms , in

iff n of d ere t parts a building . For the rising and falling, advancing and

n x . of recedi g , with the conve ity and concavity, and other forms the

r ff hi h g eat parts , have the same e ect in arc tecture , t at hill and dale ,

’

i . foreground and distance , swelling and sink ng, have in landscape

19 Y et the Adam brothers did not play fast and loose with the

fronts of their buildings . Their pilaster treatment on the Adelphi blocks was certainly new and brought down the condemnation of a i critic l ke Horace Walpole, but it was not revolutionary . Their town i houses conformed, externally at least , with the accepted discipl nes Of

Georgian taste . They respected the flush frontage of an eighteenth

. hi century street However, Robert Adam had started somet ng that can

n now be recog ized as the progenitor Of many a Regency experiment .

‘ ’ on Where Adam fought shy Of movement the street frontage, Nash,

’ the great Regency architect, gloried in it . His terraces in Regent s Park are as different from the reserve of Adam’ s Mansfield Street or

Chandos House as the Prince Regent was from George III . But Nash

i his n must have owed, without necessarily acknowledg ng it, liberatio

’ - to from the architectural strait jacket Adam s daring innovations . In two minor respects also the Regency period owed much to Adam’ s mi researches . His enthusiasm for Etruscan detail set nds working on mi new lines and under ned faith in the standard Palladian ornament . Following him others looked behind Roman forms and rediscovered the Greek orders and Greek patterns and they even played with f Oriental and other bizarre moti s . Adam was also the fir st architect of importance to popularize the use of a stucco or plaster facing o n m brick . He seldo covered a whole house with it, but he used it widely

his across ground floors below the principal rooms, and found it a

for . SO convenient medium his decorative pilasters plaster, too , which

- of i is Often taken as the hall mark Regency arch tecture , dates back to before the turn of the century . For all these reasons it has been necessary in this introduction to

Regency architecture to look back into the eighteenth century, to recognize the permanent values that run right through the two

20 wn n u in Do i g College, Cambridge, b ilt the Grecian f n of i i kin 1 807— style a ter the desig s Will am W l s, 21 periods and to see the influences that produced such startling glories and at the same time such serene little facades as grace the opening years of the nineteenth century . Compare the sombre procession of a Harley Street with the gay cavalcade of Old Regent Street and you will m see both the Si ilarities and the differences of the two great periods of our domestic building and you will get somewhere near to an answer

to the questions we asked before Robert Adam intervened .

First, how was Georgian proportion translated into the Regency ? , of style The answer is that apart from individual vagaries taste , the

of Regency builders observed the same general rules proportion .

of n Behind the dressing colum s and arches and porticoes , the terraces ’ in Regent s Park or the Brunswick Terraces at Hove or even the later

21 do squares and curves of and , Brighton ,

n l broadly reveal the same balance between ope ings and wal surface , between storeys and roof height as can be observed in the earlier ter

ff not races Of Bloomsbury or Bath . The di erences were in proportion

in but architectural features and, the purist would say, in knowledge

(or lack of it) of the correct uses of classical ornament . Nash has Often

f r his l been accused o ignorance o carelessness in handling of detai . He

his mixed metaphors , putting a Roman order above a Greek or

n j umping from o e to the other in the wrong sequence . These foibles

' Shocked many of his contemporaries who still looked to Sir William

r Chambers , the last great Palladian , as thei master . But today, having lived with the whole scrapb r o ok of competing styles bequeathed to

fir us by the Victorians, we can view with tolerance (con med no doubt by ignorance) such academic slips and can still look upon Nash and the many architects and builders who collaborated with him as men o f i taste , energy and vision . The r taste they had inherited ; their energy

of was instinct in the period they lived through, a period danger and

Vi sIOn of - successful war ; their was the product many cross currents, of the newromanticism that revolted again st the formality Of the

of Georgian Age , Of fresh ideas blowing across the Channel, royal indulgence of an extravagant hobby and inevitably of the wishful thinking that goes with the turn of a century . And what Of neighbourliness? How did the Regency b uilders react to the Georgian conceptions of neighbourly living? The answer is of

of es eci the ancient order Caesar and Brutus being very much alike, p

The ally Brutus . Regency carried the idea of the community a step further . The neighbourhood unit became more expansive, embracing

-b wider views, greater areas and taking in the passer y and the stranger

’ s r at the gate . The terrace in Regent s Park, Te races,

22 Pi c c a d i lly

r o d p i0 g are s o K L N HH S N L ’ LD KS

Fr L ND N VI W n 1 838— 40 om O O STREET E S p ublished by Joh Tallis ,

B ’ runswick Square , Hove , and even Nash s Regent Street were neigh b o url y conceptions , but on a grander, more generous scale than the

’ - compact units of eighteenth century or Bloomsbury . Nash s idea that the beaux and the bachelors Should take suites and apart i ments above the Shops in Regent Street, from which they would qu z in un friends the street below, was an eorgian idea (borrowed perhaps from the

’ setting of the Terraces in Regent s Park,

ecuted to particularly plan , Shows a brave approach community ot one square or one terrace but a whole h garden city where t ousands, not hundreds , would enjoy the rich pat tern of par palaces . It was planning by and for a generation nd the prince of the extroverts was the Regent husiasm (and ownership of Crown lands) made it

for i That answers our third question, Regency building was , l ke

n Georgian, speculative, but agai on a grander more risky scale . There

’ sucli a s eculation L N never had been g t p as the Regent s ondon and ash braved personal bankruptcy more than once in his battle for his gr eat West End the Whole burden of the Regent Street quadrant an see a fine architectural conception

h e u jeopardize a ack r . We discourage o r architects

interests in the erection Of a building . It is fortunate for was restrained by no such professional

for his i etiquette , lost original Regent Street we st ll have the fine sWeep Of thcs uadrant to lighten the heavy hand of our

now ot The reader, by , may have g the impression that Regency

of architecture was a procession palatial terraces , columned and porticoed and stuccoed , leading from one royal park to another or a f repetition at the seaside o the same grandiose conventions . It was not all like that . There were three kinds of Regency building (if we may

ff of li exclude the romantic e orts the Gothic reviva sts , whose influence

24

n B n : a n O ne of of on The Royal Pavilio , righto the Red Dr wi g Room . a suite lesser rooms the Th e n i n f n n t in west side of the Pavilion . gra d su te o the east ro t was fir st show o the public February 1 820

n sio s, taller by a couple of storeys than their Regency prototypes , i clumsy and restless in their deta l , present today an insoluble problem

l . to landlord and tenant a ike TO pull them down piecemeal, two i b houses here or half a dozen there, and to bu ld instead roseate locks

' Of in mon rel ofl fo r flats , g Georgian will leave London no better , , whatever their faults , these Victorian acres were attempts at urban architecture and in their layout have a certain regularity and plan

’ ning . Ifyou half close your eyes on a sunny day 'ueen s Gate becomes a remarkably fine street when the stucco is newly painted and even the

Ennismore cavernous severities Of Gardens , when the paint is fresh, ff O er a secure urbanity which subsequent builders have altogether lost . Most people connect Regency stucco with fresh ivory white or

’ cream paint . There are few finer Sights in England than the Regent s 26 Park Terraces gleaming in the evening sunshine thr ough the fresh u green of the trees in the Park, or the Br nswick Terraces at Hove

on . sparkling a blue day, behind the lawns Of the sea front We can see

of them , not today, course , but yesterday before the war and to m morrow, after the restrictions , as Nash and his conte poraries never saw them . In his day the stucco was painted in imitation of stone and the stone he wished to reproduce was not the splendid Portland stone hi which weathers white to the wind and the sun , but Bath stone w ch

u w of Old turns yellow and d ll ith age . Contemporary prints Regent

Street rarely Show this . The artists who drew them had a sunnier eye than the architect who built them and public taste soon followed the

to . artists , with no loss the architecture

ut The second facet of Regency building need not delay us long . I p

to o of it second because it, , drew its inspiration from royal whims

i 1 3 grandeur . The great example Of this style , if t can be called a style ,

i re the Pavilion at Brighton , a d screet seaside Georgian house

of modelled by Nash into a species of Taj Mahal . No account

Regency architecture would be complete without mention of it . t For unately, it had few copyists though one builder in a Brighton back street did foolishly try to Indianize his roof line with a

r o two . The Regent commissioned the Pavilion for his own enjoy ment and probably never gave a thought to whether or not others would follow suit . He did nothing by halves and the Pavilion bears him witness today . If we take it in the spirit in which it was built, remembering that it was never intended to be more than a seaside retreat where the Regent and his court might, in relative seclusion

extrava and in appropriate surroundings , indulge their exotic and

of gant tastes , we can also enjoy the exuberance its domes and

Of minarets , the rich fantasy its great ballroom and banqueting hall

27 in in n B n : M . r n The Royal Pavilio , righto the usic Room The fi st gra d ball was held this room February 1 821 Its classical frame is obscured by a lavish overlay Of heterogeneous decoration and the humour of cast iron palm trees supporting the kitchen vault .

’ SO little were the Regent s contemporaries impressed by his pavilion that the third and most widely executed style of Regency building could not imaginably have been less Oriental . Across the street from i Where this is be ng written are four small London houses , built, not

’

i IV S . strictly dur ng the Regency, but before the end Of George reign

not They are stuccoed from ground to roof, but they might well have

r r ow been . They are typical small town houses Of the period, fou in a ,

u - each with a gentle bowed window on the gro nd floor, semi rusticated

of stucco up to the level the first floor balcony and , very typical of the

i c period , intricate cast iron ra lings to the balconies , in orporating two

28 common Regency designs- the sloping and repeating letter S and the anthemion or Greek honeysuckle pattern . The windows are Georgian and sashed but spaced, if anything, more widely . The front entrance is a simple roundheaded opening with a cast iron fanlight above the

- n six panelled door . Inside the builder spent more of his money o the

on . front rooms than the back, a usual speculative feature The doors are framed with fluted or reed mouldings which meet in plain square panels at the two top corners . These square panels, in a richer house , would have been filled with some decoration like a rosette or the

’ popular lion s mask SO Often seen on drawer knobs of Regency furni ture , but they would rarely have been dressed up to be a capital to the vertical pilasters . Above the architrave is a simple , flat cornice . The same theme is repeated for the inside architraves of the front windows (whic h are Of course still fitted with folding Shutters) and it is seen

for c again adapted the mantelpiece and firepla e surround . The f ll classical origin s o a these features are not in doubt . The flat fluted t pilasters would earlier have been finished wi h a capital . The hori

l in of zonta flut g above the door takes the place the frieze . The flat

‘ cornice has replaced the earlier pediment or segmental arch, but the whole classical entablature is still there in a form of Regency Short l hand . In the smal houses the ensemble is modest and repressed, but the same family likeness is recognizable in the door architraves Of

ld - grander bui ings , for instance, in the great drawing room of the

Athenaeum Club built by in 1 830 . The simplicity of the smaller Regency building was a happy

ni economy forced upon the period by the costly Napoleo c wars .

’ Though the Regent s taste was for grandeur and palatial effect the work had to be carried out in the cheapest materials , stucco for stone

for and cast iron cores the columns . In the back streets and smaller

29 E n tr an c e Gat e s to Wa t c r l o o Pl a c e t h e To w n Re s r de n c c u l ' J o h n Na h E s A I c h m t e Km Er t'c t c d 1 2 s q u t. o th ? 8 ?

n f THE N M N L M L W K ’ D I C Y . n 1 824 Desig s rom OR A E TA ETA OR ER S RE TOR by L N Cotti gham, Abo e n v : e trance gates ; centre: win dow guards ; below: balcony railings 30 villas the same economies were made , any decoration being put into the smaller features like balconies and trellis verandahs with curved metal Sheeting roofs . These small stucco villas seen in great numbers

nh i in Chelte am, Weymouth , Plymouth or Leam ngton are as typical of the period as the plaster palaces or reproductions of Greek temples and are today the more precious for the model solution they i i Offer to a generation attempting to rebuild at the m n mum cost . The

on n for ff Regency builders relied shape and Spaci g their e ect . A shape

b ow which never grows wearisome was the Regency front, Often car

of ried right up the house . Hundreds these can be seen in the Side streets of Brighton , one after the other, each peeping down towards

of the narrow View the sea, and each adorned with its delicate cast

on iron balcony, often with a crinolined roof supported trellis piers to keep the rain Off .

- The bow front could be either segmental or semi hexagonal , it could run up the whole front Of the house or appear only at the ground level or even to carry forward the first floor window from the face of the house . It was used not only in connected terraces but also

- on indiVidual free standing villas . A good example of the detached

- - - bow fronted villa is to be seen at Havering atte Bower in Essex . The windows are very widely spaced and the expanse of curved wall surface between them is relieved by unobtrusive flat pilasters capped

by independent cornice projections , which are not carried round the whole front except in the form of a slightly raised stucco band which

divides the top storey from the principal floor . The whole rounded

form is covered by generous overhanging eaves , a Regency departure

Thefir from the Georgian parapet . st floor window lets on to a delicate iron balcony which is supported by a trellis arch to provide a verandah l . its to the ground floor french window This vi la , like SO many of

3 1 Balcony railings by Cottingham

l on l contemporaries , re ies clear wall surfaces , bold Shape and de icate

0 . iron work . It is reproduced here on page 9

’ A good example of economical urban building is Nash s Munster f ’ m o . s ac of Square , to the east Regent s Park The p g the single win dows of each house gives breadth and architectural solidity t o an

otherwise humble square . The windows are surrounded externally by hi projecting stucco arc traves, a feature much mishandled later in the

of century and one which, against a background stock brick looks clumsy and obtrusive in middle-class developments like Thurloe

Square , South . But here again the critic is likely to be

n confronted by earlier examples from the Palladian era . Did ot Old

or Chesterfield House , by Isaac Ware , Melbourne House () , by

l r Sir Wil iam Chambers , have external stone architraves round thei window openings contrasting with the stock brick walls? The test is that the Georgians did not apply mansion features to the small town

‘ or house in a street square , whereas the Victorians overloaded each

unit in a terrace with borrowed snob appeal . The first floor windows in Nash’ s Munster Square are provided with Regency cast iron bal

comes which brightly Offset the plain stucco walls between . The door

32

Above: fen der designs ; belo w: sp earheads for n f n n iro e ces, gates , etc . , by Cotti gham

Internally, too , this cheap plaster allowed for repeating patterns usually of Greek origin (the fretted key pattern was popular) , round the ceiling cornices and in the larger houses round o r oval plaster mi panels , fra ng Greek or Egyptian figures and symbols , would be let

of in to relieve the broad surfaces . A popular ceiling form the period was the Shallow segmental vault with coffered pane ls . This can be seen in even relatively modest houses like those in Bedford Street, Liver 1 840— 45 i pool (built about , but, allowing for the t me lag between north and south, still Regency in style) . Though the normal window

i was still Georg an and sashed, many Regency Villas have windows with

of two narrow glazed panels down either Side the Georgian sash,

- Aestheti forming a three leafed window with two stuccoed mullions . cally this was a dangerous innovation and was successful only in

for individual houses . It was copied by the next generation terrace houses and accounts for much Of the clumsiness of Victorian fenestra

ff was tion . A more e ective modification of the Georgian sash window the Regency disposition of the actual window bars . They are still as

Of thin as those Robert Adam, but narrow side lights are set in a few

34 inches from the frame . The panes between may then be larger than

c the normal Georgian re tangles , but they are still a long way from the

’ unsightly glazing Of plate glass . It was a glazier s variation of detail

ff the and did not a ect the shape or proportion of window opening . The glazier ’ s art was brought to a high perfection in the many Regency Shopfronts which in town and country were so typical of the

Jane Austen period . Not many have survived the introduction of plate

glass , but the gently bowed fronts and the delicate bars between the small square panes of those that have survived should certainly attract more custom today than the vulgar expansiveness of their plate

of glass neighbours . Some of the best are in the small villages Dorset .

tw o . Cerne Abbas has splendid examples London has a few left . There

for t are two good ones in Sydney Street , Chelsea , ins ance , and a series

now in Woburn Walk in the parish of St Pancras ( sadly dilapidated) . The charm Of this row in Woburn Walk was in the repetition of a

simple formula . Each merchant had identical window space and depth

Of fascia board . There could be no competition between them in such a

setting except in the quality of their merchandise . Window dressing

and advertising lettering were at a discount in those days . The same ) e Regency detail, moreover, rep ats all down the row in a lightly l mou ded frieze , capping the windows and the unobtrusively pilastered

doorways . This frieze is made up of alternating anthemions of slightly

ff Of di erent design, possibly cribbed from the cornice frieze St Pancras

u Ch rch . Above each Shop window is a cast iron balcony Of Simple

fle r - - lattice and u de lis pattern . The house windows above the Shops

too - ff illustrate , , the three leaf e ect already described ; the mullions h dividing the side lights from the central panels , in t is case being of wood , are therefore set back four inches from the stuccoed wall sur f in u 1 709 ace accordance with the B ilding Act of , which was still in

3 5 on force . This Act forbade the exposure or near the face of a building

of -in of any wooden frame or architrave . The arrival non flammable stucco Often encouraged the Regency builders to do what up till then ff had been possible only for rich clients who could a ord stone . The Object of this introduction is not to describe the details of Regency architecture but to give a general impr ession of the range and chief characteristics of the period . Academically the Regency saw a reversion to Greek (and sometimes Egyptian) forms ; economically

‘ ’ it was a period of cheap building (the flying splinters Of have revealed the cast iron cores of the squat Doric colonnades of the Carlton House Terraces and the flanking columns of Drury Lane Theatre) and artistically a period of conservative revolt from the

- Georgian strait jacket . There is not so much left that we can afford to be prodigal with our

’ Regency buildings . The Regent s Park Terraces appear to be reprieved for a few years , the Brunswick Terraces at Hove are protected by an e i 1 960 Old Act of Parliament and are said to be saf t ll , but who will defend the smaller streets Of unpretentious houses which are just as representative of the period? The war has taken its toll of the Regency in Plymouth , Exeter, Weymouth and London . Cheltenham was more

the fortunate and that faithful watchdog , Georgian Group , has issued

h - a valuable report on t is rare example of Regency town planning,

‘ ’ which Offers such a happy union of town and country and in one city

of diflerent provides SO many examples the facets of Regency building,

n u from civic architecture in the gra d manner, through classical sq ares

r - and terraces to the smaller detached o semi detached villas . Through

Out to o of the Cheltenham, , one sees the superb ironwork period in

ni l n balco es , trellis porches and rai ings , all the work of local craftsme

l of who had retained the ski l and traditions their fathers .

36 The Regency has been to o Often dismissed as a bastard period Of

- jerry stucco , cheap and shoddy in construction , inconsequent in its

u architecture . In fact it was the fine Indian S mmer of the eighteenth

of - century, the colourful sunset before the blanket mid Victorian night . It was a period of adventure and experiment in new materials and new designs and in it we can look for the germs of our present day revolt against the platitudinous reproductions of the nineteenth

- and twentieth century eclecticism . The plain surfaces that Sir John

Of Of Soane played with in his Bank England halls , the simple shapes the unpretentious villas, the economy of detail and the articulation of volume and groupings demanded more artistry in the architect than

of any amount reproduction , however scholarly, which littered the nineteenth century, and , possibly, more artistry than the respectful regimentation of the pure Georgian period . The Regency, indeed, was mi ‘ not only a great age of building , successfully xing the monumental

’ and the unpretentious , but it was also a great age of town planning . The Regency planner did more t han execute functional street lay-outs

r c dimen and t afli arteries and processional ways . He planned in three

sions with an eye to the architecture in relation to his plan . The

’ following passage from s report o n Cheltenham

‘ points this combination Of planning and architecture : The notable grace and dignity Of the early nineteenth-century quarters of the town depend to a great extent on the consistency of scale displayed by the

buildings in all their various categories . The impressive scale of the

larger groups Of buildings and palatial villas , whose proportions are t based on the classic orders , is admirably related to the spacious layou

of streets and open gardens about them, while the more intimate scale Of the many charming small terraces and unpretentious Villas is equally

’ t o well proportioned their surroundings . In London we have no

37 quarter that illustrates SO well this combination Of scales in Regency

— ’ building , but we have both ends Of the scale separately Regent s Park l and Carlton House Terraces in the grand manner, and Park Vi lages

’ East and West and St John s Wood, the latter a little later but still

or . Regency in feeling , in the villa garden city manner The detached

’ or semi-detached houses of St John s Wood are still in many ways admirable and are the worthy forebears Of a worthless issue . The force

on of this garden city idea was irresistible . It carried long after the restraints Of good taste , proportion and neighbourliness had been swept away and the ugly face Of profit and speculation had spewed

of out its suburban balderdash across the length and breadth England .

n B n : n f n The Royal Pavilio , righto orth ro t S O M E R E G E N C Y A R C H I T E C T S

THERE ARE PROBABLY only half a dozen names of architects which are commonly ’ n — n n and associated with Rege cy architecture Joh Nash , the architect of Rege t s Park n n n r hl in Rege t Street ; Decimus Burto , his you g collaborator who built feve is y his of n n n an man f youth but was rarely heard agai ; He ry Holla d , Older who died be ore n o o f n r the Rege cy proper was pr claimed but who , as architect Carlto House, c ystal lized much of the classical magnificence Of the period and considerably influenced the ’ n n n n l and n n Rege t s taste ; Sir Joh Soa e, that i tel ectual i dividual artist whose fa aticism so confused hi s contemporaries and whose teaching so stimulated his pupils ; George ’ ’ Basevi D Israeli s n hi and his , cousi , the arc tect Of Belgravia ; perhaps most typical of i n n Buonarott h . period , Joh Papwort , who built so much of Chelte ham Though these are the outstanding Regency figures there were other great names — and n n which overlapped the period George Da ce, the you ger, for n n n n n on i sta ce, who were bor before the middle of the eightee th ce tury, but who lived n n l and R Smirke fi in i to the Rege cy ; Professor Cockerel Sir obert , both great gures n i n the classical traditio , who received their largest comm ssio s after George IV was and in ff W atville n dead ; , right the period , there was Sir Je rey y , who , though appoi ted n n n n n n Architect to the Ki g by George IV, is k ow mai ly for his additio s to Wi dsor hi n not in n In n n Castle w ch were certai ly the accepted Rege cy style . pri ti g the follow ing biographical notes it is inevitable that some inj ustice will be done to those other n n n in o f ames which were well k ow their day, those collaborators of Nash or pupils Soan e who up and down the country built so many Regency terraces and houses

n . n son h n n n ames such as G S . Repto , the of Hump ry Repto , the la dscape garde er ; n ffi in h i Robert Abraham, who built the Cou ty Fire O ce ; P il p Basevi in l n and son Hardwick , who collaborated with Be gravia ; the I woods , father ; h nr . n n n He y E Ke dall, the arc itect who built so exte sively for T . R . Kemp, the Brighto and n fi f speculator ; usby . ilds , those u recorded gures who le t us the 'Charles B H W magnificent Brunswick Square and Terraces at Hove ; and those lesser lights of the great architectural families who faithfully worked at their profession s in the shadows o f their fathers or elder brothers— the several Wyatts (Benjamin Dean or Philip for n n n n n in Wyatt, i sta ce) , the you gest George Da ce, Michael Ga dy, who practised n n Smirke nt n Irela d, or Syd ey who , although he rebuilt the Pa heo , was n And in ever able to catch up with his brother Robert . were there space this short book accounts should be given Of the successful careers of the Speculative builders Of the — n T of n and period James Burto , . . R . Kemp, Pitt Chelte ham the great — who knew enough of architecture to employ the right men but not SO much that they dared dispen se with the services of an architect— an arrogance that has n n n t u t hi marked succeedi g ge eratio s of speculators , wi h the disastrous res lts wi h w ch now we are familiar .

39 GEO RGE DANCE (1741— 1 825)

n 1700 of n n and FIFTH SON OF George Da ce ( the architect the Ma sio House, nd n n of a . n father a third architect George Of Natha iel, the pai ter He i herited his ’ a n of n n n f ther s positio as Clerk Works Of the Corporatio of the City of Lo do , built n n 24 and n on All Hallows Church, Lo do Wall, at the age of Priso , the Site

of n . n and in the prese t Old Bailey, three years later This was his most otable work , its an n and n i day was u orthodox impressive desig , wh ch owed much to a study of Piranesi (to whom more than one o f the Regency architects admitted his indebted n f n u ess) . ess success ul was the Gothic facade which a ce gave to the ity G ildhall . L . D C After 1798 he forsook his profession and concentrated on chalk drawing and portraits n one of n of prominent men a d Academicians of his period . He was himself the origi al mi n n n n in n Acade cia s . Perhaps the chief reaso for i cludi g him this list of Rege cy architects is that through his work at All Hallows and through his personal friendship nfl n and n n n out on his f n he i ue ced e couraged Joh Soa e to set success ul career . Soa e started his working life as an errand boy for Dance and was later taken by him into n ffi was n n n his n his drawi g O ce . It Da ce, too , who se t Soa e to serve appre ticeship with nr n He y Holla d .

H EN RY H OLLAND (1746—1 806)

' ‘ ’ and son-in- Of n n n SON OF A builder law La celot Capability Brow , the la dscape gar n t fir i n m n i n for de e , his st mporta t com issio was to bu ld Claremo t House, Esher, Lord ' hi him n and n nn n h Clive . T s brought valuable patro age a lo g co ectio wit the great Whig ’ ’ In n - i . 1778 famil es he built Brooks s Club , St James s Street, the meeti g place for the n r n n n of leadi g Whigs . Th ough this associatio he was i troduced to the Pri ce Wales and soon began rebuilding the derelict Carlton House which had been made over to ’ in n n n n 1 78 — 90 in n n the Pr ce for his Lo do reside ce . Betwee 7 there rose Pall Mall Lo do s n n n and n n nn most sple did palace, with a vast Cori thia portico a lo g Io ic colo ade n n Th hi n n scree i g the palace from the street . is palace survived its arc tect by o ly twe ty ’ n for and years . It was pulled dow to make way Waterloo Place Nash s Carlton House n i e Terraces a d its columns were incorporated n the n w . Its stabling

and n 1 858 . In on r n ridi g house survived till the same year as he started Ca lto House, Holland began redesigning the Marine Pavilion at Brighton which had been leased n n Of n n to the Pri ce of Wales . This , too , was soo to be recast out all recog itio , but ’ n n n n and In 179 1 Holla d s cupola may have suggested the I dia domes of Repto Nash . n n for n . . fire Holla d rebuilt Drury La e Theatre R B Sherida , but this was destroyed by in In 1 8 n 17 4 n 1 809 . 08 9 n a similar fate befell his alteratio s ( ) to Cove t Garde Theatre . In 1795 i ll B f s i Wh and he bu lt Southi House, ed ord h re, for Samuel itbread , the brewer f n o . s the n the frie d the Whigs His last work, completed po thumously, was Athe aeum ’ in n f . n O n n not n I gram Street, Glasgow Though ma y Holla d s major buildi gs did lo g n in 1 780 in on survive him , a private Speculatio which he started has left a last g mark 40

f In 1 806 an hi Oflice Of o . and his marriage he became arc tect to the Woods Forests , n 8 for n n In 1 a d in 1 09 his scheme the Marylebo e Park developme t was accepted . 8 1 1 ‘ ’ these lands reverted to the Crown and the Metropolitan Improvements of the

n n . n n 70 n v Rege cy were u der way Nash , already eari g , either desig ed or super ised ’ all the Regent s Park building except for Cornwall and Clarence Terraces and the In 1 8 1 3 n n n Colosseum . the Rege t Street Act of Parliame t lau ched the greatest piece of n n n - nn n n n and in ten i Lo do tow pla i g Si ce Wre , about years the street was bu lt . Nash n of n in had the collaboratio other architects for i dividual blocks the street, but the n In 1 825 un h on plan and directio were his . work was beg by Nas the conversion Of ’ n n n Buckingham House i to Bucki gham Palace . This buildi g was Nash s least success n and l n n ful commissio parts of the palace were pul ed dow duri g his lifetime . George ’ IV died in 1 830 and the building was taken out of Nash s hands and given to Edward ’ n n n Blore . Nash s other palace for his royal patro , the Pavilio at Brighto , was com f 1 2 n l e in 1 823 n n 8 7 . n in p et d . The Ki g ever visited it a ter Amo g the more importa t ’ dividual buildings which Nash contributed to London s West End were the Hay market Theatre ; the Opera House in the Haymarket (destroyed in the United n Of n Services Club , Pall Mall ; the East Wi g Carlto House Terrace ; the ; ’ ’ ’ n and n All Souls Church, La gham Place ; the Duke of Clare ce s house, St James s on 13th 1 835 Palace . He died at Castle May , . ’ The n n of if and John Nash Architec t to ( o ly complete accou t Nash s l e works is , Geor e I V n n in 1935 n n n g , by Joh Summerso , published by George Alle U wi Ltd . )

SI R JOHN S OANE (1753— 1 837)

’ W AS ' n and an n n SOANE E ACTLY Nash s co temporary like Nash lived to be octoge aria . In n an h ma y respects his career was overshadowed by Nash, for as arc itect he was a and n n n more scholarly i dividual artist, but he lacked the persuasive perso al ebullie ce in which carried Nash to royal favour . He was the son of a Reading stonemason and began his working life by running n n n n him u . n erra ds for George Da ce , the you ger Da ce gave his early architect ral trai in and n n him Oflice o f nr n n 1 776 g the se t to the He y Holla d with whom he stayed u til . In 1772 w on and in 1 776 for he the Royal Academy Silver Medal the Gold Medal, a n n the n n desig for a triumphal arch . Sir William Chambers i troduced you g Soa e to George III who appointed him to a travelling scholarship which took him for three and n in 1780 and n years to Italy Greece . He retur ed quickly built up a co siderable nn n in n 1 788 n of n n practice, wi i g competitio ( ) the post of architect to the Ba k E gla d . n 1794— 1 823 n and n on and n Betwee he rebuilt the Ba k , it is mai ly this rare ovel build ing that his reputation is founded ; though it was classical in spirit Soane dispensed n of of his in with ma y the symbols classicism ; Halls , which are still preserved the ’ n n of n n n rebuilt Ba k (the very a tithesis Soa e s co ceptio ) , were boldly modelled with ’ unconventional Byzantine forms ; their detail was Soane s Special contribution— a new n f n n i n o r and an . li ear or surface treatme t i cised li es , g ooves p els His other great publ c 42 i n t e n l n in 1 884 h . In 1 874 bu ldi g, Law Courts at Westmi ster was pu led dow he had made a wealthy marriage which enabled him to build up his fine collection of ’ ’ works of art (among them Hogarth s Rake s Pr ogress) and antiquities and to build his ’ own in n n Inn i n and n house Li col s Fields , wh ch he e dowed left to the Natio as the n In 1 8 1 5 n one Soa e Museum . he was appoi ted of the three architects to the Office Of

in 1 79 an . i i . an . . . 5 RA n 1 802 and n 1 806 Works He became A R A , succeeded George n of n Da ce as Professor at the RoyalAcademy where he gave a series otable lectur es . He ’ n in 1 83 1 and Six in n n n was k ighted died years later at his home Li col s I n Fields .

SAM UEL PEPY S CO CKE RELL (1754— 1 827)

AND f n and him Of CONTEMPORARY rie d of Nash , like , a pupil Sir Robert Taylor , fl ’ . n mi S . P Cockerell is oted chie y for his work at the Ad ralty (he built the First Lord s ffi n nn n of Mecklenb ur h and n in O cial reside ce) , the pla i g g Bru swick Squares Blooms ’ and of nn now n bury St A e s Church Tower , Soho (which is all that remai s of the an n n h church) . He was the father of eve more disti guis ed architect, Professor C . R . f his n n Cockerell . His com ortable practice was buttressed by appoi tme t as Surveyor n his n to East I dia House . His last work before death was the developme t of the ’ of n n n n Of 17 2— 1 Bishop Lo do s Paddi gto Estate to the east Edgware Road . From 9 803 he was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy .

SI R JE FF REY W Y A TVI LLE (1766— 1 840)

A mi son an MEMBER OF the Wyatt fa ly of architects , he was the of Joseph Wyatt, hi Of n-on- n and n of and Of arc tect Burto Tre t, ephew James Wyatt Samuel Wyatt, who 1 7 2— 99 hi in n n . 9 in practised arc tecture Berwick Street, Lo do From he worked the n In 17 n n n r ffi . 99 o ce of his u cle, James he was take i to part e ship by a successful

n n . n n Pimlico builder called Joh Armstro g His lea i gs , however, were always towards the aristocracy and he achieved hi s ambition s by adding to many Of the famous n n n n n n n and fin n E glish ma sio s i cludi g Lo gleat, Wollato , Chatsworth, , ally, Wi dsor hi in 1 824 n . n n Castle itself His, alteratio s to Wi dsor Castle, w ch started , eve tually cost over arid included the raising of the Round Tower by some thir ty feet and f fin in 1 828 and n n o . the buildi g the Waterloo Chamber This work was ished the Ki g, n n him n -Of- and besides k ighti g him , gave permissio to revise his coat arms to add the ‘ ’ suffix ville to his family n ame— a conceit which did not impress his architect contem i s in c n o n e orar e . W atville n n p y was ever a Rege cy architect the classi al traditio , but as ‘ Of the few architects of the period who were granted the diploma of Architect to the ’ n n in Ki g he must be oted this biographical chapter .

J O SEPH M ICHAEL GANDY (1771 — 1 843)

U n and in ANOTHER P PIL of James Wyatt, a Royal Academy stude t Gold Medallist and - ff n 1790 . n n n , J . M Ga dy is perhaps best k ow as the faithful somewhat self e aci g n n n 1 8 1 1 n n n for assista t to Sir Joh Soa e . From o wards he executed ma y drawi gs 43 and his ow n an Soane is thought by some to have thereby sacrificed career . At y rate n in 1 843 n n the circumsta ces of his death are Obscure, but it is k ow that he died poor n o ne n Of an and possibly i sane . The buildi g y Size that is ascribed to him (though it n n n n - n has also bee ascribed to his you ger brother, Joh Peter Ga dy Deeri g) was the n In 1 8 5 l Phoenix Fire Insurance Office at Chari g Cross . 0 he pub ished a collection of ‘ n for and n n n n n and Desig s Cottages , Farms other Rural Buildi gs , i cludi g E tra ce Gates ’ ‘ and r n n Of n for n Lodges also The Rural A chitect, co sisti g various desig s Cou try n nd n u n . n t a l n B ildi gs , etc , with grou d pla s , es imates descriptio s , The pub icatio of such architectural text-books durin g the eighteenth and early nineteenth centur ies n in n in n n n did much to sta dardize taste buildi g E glish cou try tow s .

JO HN BU O N A R O TTI PAPWO RTH (1775— 1 847)

‘ ’ on f n n man i J. . e O m B PAPWORTH was the characters amo g Rege cy architects , a of

' n li and ener a and n me se versati ty gy, practical builder craftsma , who wrote treatises on n n n n and n n architecture, garde i g, i dustrial desig dry rot, who tur ed his ha d to ship decoration or to town-plann ing with equal enthusiasm and who did not hesitate to adopt the name Of Buonar otti when his friends told him that his design for a Waterloo n n n n mo ume t had the Michela gelo touch (the Royal Academy, evertheless, rejected

that particular work) . ‘ ’ As the son of a Stuccoist the young Papworth was reared to a familiar

i s and n . d n n n ity with arch tect buildi g He receive early i structio from the great Palladia , n n and in 1 789 Sir William Chambers , was later appre ticed to the architect Joh Plaw, fu n Wa shott . to a builder called Thomas p A period with the r iture upholsterer,

n c n . Sheri gham of Great Marlborough Street, completed his practical edu atio His practice as an architect developed satisfactorily in the outer London suburbs (still n in and or n and n cou try those days) , he built houses f ba kers rich mercha ts at Wood f n F field Haresfoot and ord , Laleham, Wa dsworth, y , , Streatham (here it was a farm a ’ and l in n n farmyard) , Chigwell . He was cal ed to make additio s to Holla d s

n n n and n n li . Claremo t, whe Pri cess Charlotte ofWales her Co sort we t to ve there In 1 8 12 and 1 826 in n Of he added to the premises the Stra d the famous publisher, ‘ nn and n n Rudolph Ackerma , built a large assembly room as a place of reu io for the f ’ n n and n and n n o . n obility, ge try artists to co verse i spect the rece t works art Betwee ’ 1 820—30 n and ne V of he built St Bride s Ave ue, , Ope d up a clear iew ’ St Bride s Spire . 1 824— 32 n his n From Papworth was doi g best work at Chelte ham, where he built the n out n l n and n Rotu da, laid the Mo tpel ier estate, desig ed several terraces ma y private n n houses . Here he popularized the hooded Rege cy balco y applied to terrace houses, o ne of of n n t his the most educated features Rege cy elega ce . Less praisewor hy was n n of n i troductio the severed colum as a memorial to the dead . He had erected the fi of in n r st these 1 8 1 6 on the field of Waterloo in memory of a Colonel Gordo . At the n n o ut r l same time as he was buildi g Chelte ham , Papworth laid the B ockwe l Estate at 44 Dulwich and made many addition s and alterations to houses in Oxford Street and ‘ ’ In 1 820 n n New . he was give the diploma of Architect to the Ki g . ‘ ’ His Essay on the Causes Of Dry Rot in Buildings published in 1 803 was the first n n Old serious study ofthis me ace, which at that time was doi g great damage to houses . ‘ ’ n 1 8 13— 1 8 e Of n n of Betwee he publish d two volumes Architectural Hi ts , a collectio ‘ ‘ ’ n n n n n and in 1 835 an Rural Reside ces , a series of Villas , etc Or ame tal Garde i g , ‘ on l n n n fi n essay a subject that is sti l bei g discussed today, amely The Be e ts resulti g to the manufactures Of a Country from a well- directed cultivation Of Architec ture and of ’ f ‘ ’ the Ar t Of n n n . n n n Or ame tal Desig He was himsel a practisi g desig er of ma ufactures , In 1 8 1 8 n n fi n particularly in metal . he desig ed the i terior tti gs for the Thames steam ‘ ’ boat London Engineer Steam Packet . Papworth worked right through to the end of

'

in 1 846 and died within . his life . He retired a year

WILLIAM WILKIN S (1778— 1839)

K W AS son WIL INS THE of a Norwich architect, was educated at Caius College, Cam r of l n n n r Of and b idge ( which he became a Fe low) , did the co ve tio al tou Greece Italy and also of Asia Minor and returned to Cambridge in 1 804 to start work on a Greek n n nn addition to Downing College . Wilki s owed a great deal to his u iversity co ection - and much Of his practice concerned public and semi public buildings . He was also an inveterate entrant for architectural competitions ; hi s failures over the Houses Of Par ’ liament and the Duke Of York s Column were matched by his unexpected success with n i n 1 832— 38 a n n o the Natio al Gallery wh ch he built betwee , the t sk bei g made easier n n n by his havin g to incorporate the disma tled portico from Carlto House . Amo g his long list of executed works were Haileybury College Yarmouth Church spire n n l n the Doric e tra ce to the Lower Assembly Rooms , Bath Da me y Tre othnan House for Lord Rosebery (Gothic, g , Truro , for Lord Falmouth ’ ’ n n n the bridge at Ki g s College, Cambridge Gothic additio s to Ki g s n n o n n College (which early rui ed the fam us Gibbs buildi g) , more Gothic at Tri ity l and n n Col ege Corpus Christi College, Cambridge the U ited U iversities Club , ’ 1 822 n 1 827 Pall Mall ( St George s Hospital, Hyde Park Cor er ( He became ’ n A in 1 8 and on n in 1 83 in 1 824 a R . 26 7 e an . . . th A R A , Soa e s death succeeded to

Royal Academy Professorship of Architecture .

SI R ROB E RT SMI R K E (178 1— 1 867) IN HI S YOU TH Smir ke was one of the many gifted architects who worked with Nash ‘ ’ ‘ ’ n of on the Metropolitan Improveme ts . He lived to see the Battle the Styles fought out n n and t duri g the early years of 'uee Victoria , hough he executed some mock n n n end his medieval commissio s , he remai ed a stau ch classicist to the of days , which mir n n . S ke n i were ma y His father, Robert , was a Royal Academicia pai ter who l ved

93 . n n an n n to the age of His you ger brother, Syd ey, was architect of lesser re ow . Smir ke an n in 1796 for became architectural stude t at the Royal Academy , was a 45 n n n and nn n few mo ths articled to Sir Joh Soa e , after wi i g a medal from the Royal n n f d of n a o an . Society Arts , we t abroad for exte ded tour Italy, Sicily Greece He was ‘ away four years (1 801 - 5) and on his return published a folio work on Specimens Of ’ n n Continental Architecture . Amo g his early buildi gs were Lowther Castle and n in n East or Castle, both the medieval style, which co trasted with his later massive n in n and classical desig s , which were usually sombre treatme t, though always scholar

l n n . In 1 809 n Of y, were sometimes mo oto ous he desig ed the greater part the Royal Mint on Tower Hill and in the same year rebuilt Covent Garden Theatre at a cost of In 1 823 Smirke This was burned down in 1 856 . began his two best known ’ and most distin guished buildings— the General Post Office in St Martin s-le- Gr and T in he 19 1 3 . and the . former was demolished The latter severely n not fin 1 847 n h n nn classical buildi g was ished till , whe the sout er colo ade was com 1 8 14—28 Smirke n nn T an pleted . From was appoi ted Surveyor to the I er emple d While flice and n n l holding that o built the library di i g hal . ’ Between 1 828— 3 1 he added the east wing to Sir William Chambers n in 1 856 Pennethorne and n (the west wi g was completed by Sir James ) , desig ed the n centre block Of the London Customs House . Amo g his other completed works were of n in f n the College Physicia s Tra algar Square, the Carlto Club (which was later and fin n n n n and rebuilt ally bombed) , the U io Club , the Ju ior U ited Services Club, , his n and 1 856 with brother Syd ey, the Oxford Cambridge Club (

in 1 8 an R A . in 1 8 n in . 08 1 1 a d 1 833 n an . . on He was made A R A , was k ighted the abolition of the Board of Works to which he had been one of the three principal 3 In 1 834 n n 1 8 1 . n an architects si ce he was , like his co temporary William Wilki s , unsuccessful competitor for the new Houses o f Parliament (w on by Sir Charles

Barry) .

1788— CHA RLE S R . CO CKERELL ( 1 863) d f ’ W AS son . . an five in C . R . THE of S P Cockerell was for years articled his ather s ffi In 1 8 9 n n S irke O . 0 m n ce he acted as perso al assista t to Robert , who was the rebuild ’ In 1 8 1 n f in n n . 0 n or n g Cove t Garde Theatre he left E gla d a seve years tour of Greece, Asia Minor and Sicily and returned to become one of the foremost exponents of O ne n n f n . of his early appoi tme ts a ter his retur was to be Sur ’ veyor to St Paul s Cathedral in which capacity he replaced the ball and cross on top of ’ In 1 825 the n in ne r the dome . he built Ha over Chapel Nash s w Regent Street . Th ee of n nn n n n of years later he married the daughter Joh Re ie, the e gi eer desig er Waterloo In 1 833 l n n n f b e . o n n Bridge he fo lowed Sir Joh Soa e as architect to the Ba k E gla d, a in 1 836 and in 1840 l n came n RA . succeeded Wi liam Wilki s as Professor at the ’ n n of Royal Academy . His imme se k owledge Greek antiquities earned him a great n in f f In 1 845 reputatio this chair ; he is still usually re erred to as Pro essor Cockerell . n on nfin i n he was worki g the u ished Fitzwill am Museum, Cambridge, which had bee i n Of n f begun by Basev . The i terest his remarkable classical co struction o the Tay

46 lorian at Oxford (1 841—42) was much overlooked by his contemporaries who were soon ’ f n fi n f to come under the spell o Ruski s taste . It was perhaps tti g that Pro essor Cock crell n n of n l in , the last great expo e t classical architecture, should have bee ca led to ’ fin fin n in n — St ish the est classical buildi g this cou try George s Hall, Liverpool ; the n n of n n n r n in brillia t you g architect this oble mo ume t, Ha vey Lo sdale Elmes , died his early 308 before the building was completed . Professor Cockerell was the first Presi n n fi li n de t a d the rst Gold Medal st of the Royal I stitute of British Architects . GE O RGE BA SEVI (1794— 1 845)

G G BASEVI n n of WITH EOR E we retur to a typical Rege cy architect, for much the work

n n . Basevi n n Ofthe last two oted belo gs properly to a later period George was a Lo do er . ’ ’ c D Israeli fir n His father s sister married Isaa , so he was st cousi to the great Jewish n In 1 8 1 1 n n n n n and Prime Mi ister . he bega studyi g u der Sir Joh Soa e is said to have ’ In 1 8 1 6— 19 r - become that master s favourite pupil . he made a th ee year tour of Italy and and n n n n Greece retur ed to become Surveyor to the Guardia Assura ce Compa y . Between 1 825—40 he was employed on large speculative building developments in n n n fine c - Belgravia and South Kensi gto . He was respo sible for the Gra co Roman ter in n and Thurloe race houses , for Pelham Cresce t later for Square, ’

W . 7 . n n n n S . His Belgravia developme t followed upo Nash s rebuildi g of old Bucki g n k n ham House . With the removal of the Court from Carlto House to Buc i gham Palace it was inevitable that the fields to the west ofthe new palace Should become ripe f r n n n n n n o developme t . All Lo do ers should be tha kful that this developme t was u der n and n n for and take with such breadth imagi atio , the squares terraces of Belgravia ’

n on n . n End are aristocratic buildi g the gra d scale With the destructio of Nash s West , ’ ’ Basevi s Basevi s development has an increased scarcity value . most notable building n n n in 37 outside Lo do was the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge which he bega 1 8 .

Th e museum was finally completed by E . M . Barry after Professor Cockerell had n in 1 made additio s 845 .

D ECI M US B U RT ON (1 800— 1 88 1) THOU GH BU RTON LIVED later into the nineteenth century than any of the architects n n n n already oted he is ever regarded as a Victoria , for all his major works were do e n son Of while he was still in his 2os and early 303 . He was the te th the prosperous ’ ur n n Bloomsb y builder, James Burto , who was the co tractor for much of Nash s ‘ ’ t n n and Me ropolita Improveme ts . Decimus was, therefore, brought up as a builder i and n n f 20 n arch tect began practisi g his professio be ore he was . O e of his first build ’ ’ n n . n n n i gs was a Rege t s Park villa for his father He desig ed Cor wall Terrace, Rege t s n 2 1 25 n and n Park , whe he was . At he built the famous scree arch at Hyde Park Cor er n n n ( has si ce been moved to the top of Co stitutio Hill) . At that time he was an architect to the Office of Woods and Forests and in that capacity built many O f ’ n r the little lodges a d gates which still grace Hyde Park . He also built the Gua ds

47 ’

n n nn n n . n n Magazi e ear George Re ie s Serpe ti e Bridge His largest buildi g, the Pa orama ’ in n fin n f u and n Rege t s Park, called the Colosseum , was a a cial ail re was pulled dow in of n 24- - h n n n with a few years its buildi g, but its year old arc itect had asto ished Lo do f ’ ers by erecting a dome larger than that O St Paul s . In 1 83 1 Burton built and in the same year design ed the

Athenaeum Club in Waterloo Place . f n fOr of n of n n r His ather was the co tractor most the buildi g St Leo ards , ea n and n n in Hasti gs , the you g Decimus executed the desig s ; fact, much of what we n n i n man for k ow as the seaside Rege cy arch tecture was the work of this you g , he was engaged at Brighton (Adelaide Terrace and Crescent) and at as well as In 1 828 in n Of Holwood at St Leonards . he was called by a Mr Joh Ward to develop i n r the Calverley Estate at Tunbridge Wells . Th s commissio appea s to have withdrawn ur n r n n n n n B to from ci culatio , for he was soo to be devoti g his whole atte tio to the n n n fir layout and direction of this fir st Early Victoria i la d . The st estate consisted ‘ Of twenty-Six acres and was intended to provide private houses suitable for genteel ’ and In new n n and n families , hotels shops . fact a tow spra g up Burto was able to

in on own d n . n t was n impr t it his classical tra itio The o ly Go hic departure , stra gely

n . n un e ough , the villa he built for himself Followi g his activities at T bridge Wells little

Of n . n n and was heard Decimus Burto Tastes cha ged, the classical traditio failed was n and n in r suppla ted by other schools Burto lived out his days architectu al obscurity . It was only with the revival of interest in Georgian and classical building that his n n astonishing prowess as a young ma was agai appreciated .

’ O os ite: n n n pp , Rege t s Park, Lo do , 25 n n i in 1 8 . desig ed by Joh Nash , bu lt ‘ A contemp orary said of it It is designed by ’ Mr and of n n Nash , like most that ge tlema s

n n and a n . works , combi es ge ius c reless ess n and ful C n n in Ge ius , p ower o ceptio , the n and of in comp ositio , a grasp m d equalled by no artist Of the day in the design : and a n n n to n s c reless ess sometimes dege erati g little e s, ’ with a deficiency of elegance in the details Metro olitan Im rovements 1 827 (James Elmes , p p , ) 48

r Th ee views Of Cumberlan d Terrace , ’ n a Rege t s P rk , by John Nash i t at Th s is he rical architecture on the an a the gr d sc le ; three blocks of mansion s , nn co ected by Ionic triump hal arches , n boast seve p orticoes and a crownin g p n fi t edime t lled with erra cotta sculp ture J ' by ; G . Bubb n of n The east wi g Carlto House Terrace, n n ou t and n n Lo do , laid desig ed by Joh Nash between 1 827— 32 when he was in i a his late 7os . Though arch tectur lly imp erfect (they are criticized for the n in en d n the clumsi ess the p avilio attics , carelessness of the detail an d the sup er flu ou sness of the central p ediments which mark no architectur al feature below) ’ these terraces dominate Lon don s one great p r ocessional way an d are amon g the few comp osition s left in the West En d which p roclaim London to be a cap ital city 52 ’ n n n In of Park Cresce t, Rege t s Park (Joh Nash , Sp ite ‘ contemp orary criticism ( the great size o f this semicircle Of mansion s is more imp osin g in effect than the details are choice ’ ’ in selection ) this crescent is one Of Lon don s finest examp les and n n of architecture town p lanning ru nin g in har ess . It was because Nash was as much town p lanner and lan dscap e p lanner as architect that his Regency imp rovements have stood the test Of ’ for n and End w as r time . His p lan Rege t s Park the West th ee dimensional ; it embraced churches and terraces and crescents of an n houses as well as streets d p arks and q uadra ts . Though his detail may have been imp erfect there is n o doubt about the gran deur Of his comp ositions an d the insp iration O f their Siting 53 ’ an n k n H over Terrace , Rege t s Par (Joh 1 822 strai ht rw ard Nash , is a g , three- p orticoed Roman Doric terrace with an a a n and as a rc ded grou d floor , usu l, a cast-iron balcony at the first floor win dows

54 The Haymarket Theatre w as rebuilt by Nash in 20 n 1 8 . He moved the ew building a short way down the hill so that it would close the vista ’ of n e f Ki g Charles Stre t rom St James s Square . Th e is as outside still Nash built it, but the inside has twice been rebuilt since his time ’ A na at one O os ite to : A The the eum Club , W erloo Place, pp , p Robert braham s o f n t n of e B n n F Offi 1 8 1 9— 1 925 the fi es desig s D cimus urto . Cou ty ire ce ( ) ’ The frieze above the p rincip al storey w as said to be Bo ttom: Nash s Piccadilly Circus cop ied from the Elgin frieze in the British Museum before demolition 56

Abo ve: B n a ru swick Terr ce , Hove . The tw o Br rin swick a Terr ces , the finest f of eatures the distin guished sea- front at B g n i ri hto , were built n 1 825 to the d n of esig s H . Wilds and Charles Busby

O os ite o pp , t p : a a Victori Squ re , London SW I , a p leasant early 1 9th -century p recinct with balancing corner features and discreet Corinthian p ilasters

O os ite bo t o pp , t m: B f B ed ord Hotel , righton , an ex mp le Of cl umsy a juxtap osition o f tw o orders , which , though p resaging nt l n has subseque dec i e , Still a robust classical form

59 b o w n The wi dow was a Regency favour ite . These tw o examp les from Brighton Show in a Above n extremes Sc le . is the sple did Brun swick Square by Wilds an d Busby c 1 826 r . ffi a o ( ) which , though O ci lly p tected from disfigurement by an Act of a nt of 1 830 h as n n Parli me , evertheless bee Sp oiled thr ough ignorant alteration s by individual householders

Le t: 14 an d 1 5 n t f NOS . Crow S reet, Brighton

O os ite to : in te n p p , p Houses the New S y e, B n n a n of n righto , Showi g the rem i s Rege cy elegance in the bows and balcon ies ; the group suffers from thoughtless alterations and lack of p aint

Belo w n 57 M n is Crow House, ari a, a In 1 — St Leon rds . 834 35 'ueen Victoria ta f s yed here with her mother, be ore her accession . The house w as p robably designed by Decimus Burton an d built f u who by his ather, a p rosp ero s builder develop ed most of St Leonards

n of A a n n Bu t n in 1 830 Cor er del ide Cresce t, Hove, desig ed by Decimus r o and built on an estate belonging to the wealthy fin ancier Sir Isaac Lyon G olds mid wh o w s at a Ba n da a n Of , a l er cre ted ro P lmeira by the Ki g a B t na are in a n Portug l . o h his mes p reserved Hove ; this gre t cresce t, h as tw o one n a and one n n a aft which curves , co c ve co vex , was med er the 'ueen O f King William IV 62 t a The ri ngular block formed by Adelaide e i a t Stre t, W lli m IV S reet and the Stran d , w as a f ’ p rt o s West Stran d p nt O f the 1 8303 im roveme s . These n f rou ded eatures are rep eated at each o n c r er . Their architectural unity is n ge erally overlooked bec ause they are a nt at h seldom p i ed t e same time or in the same colour

63 ’ n St George s Hosp ital , Hyde Park Cor er . The original building (1 73 3) was a large a n on of p riv te house , the the outskirts n n i n l Lo do , wh ch had bee remode led by

. nt in in Samuel Ware The p rese build g , its da one of th e in n n w as y largest Lo do , n in 1 827 l in desig ed by William Wi k s , the a Of n a rchitect the Natio al G llery . Note the unusual square column s of the p ortico

O os ite: ann n a B n pp C o Pl ce , righto . An examp le Of the Regency temptation to make mountains out of molehills 64

l n B n O n h w as The Royal Pavi io , righto . rigi ally t is a modest n n n n for cou try house desig ed by He ry Holla d George IV, n n of B e n 1 802 and 1 823 whe he was Pri ce Wales . etw e the buildin g un derwent a series Of addition s an d tran s f n at n of i c of ormatio s the ha ds several arch te ts, each ff n t whom sold a di ere t style o the Prince Regent . Possibly it all started with a gift of some Chinese l f r wal p ap er o which a suitable room had to be built . Then Hump hry Rep ton p roduced an Indian design for the ’ f in h n f n roo l e w ich caught the Rege t s a cy . Later the n an d and n Rege t Nash together built the domes mi arets . ’ The Pavilion became the Regent s p rivate p laything on n n to for which he squa dered vast sums , o ly leave it good f m n was n . n shortly a ter the work fi ished Joh Sum erso , ‘ in a Of n Of In its his biogr p hy Joh Nash , says it day it was f To w as the target o every wag . radicals it a red rag ; nn n to co oisseurs a mo ster of stylistic imp ur ity . Today it is min n n and to n Simp ly a or historical mo ume t, the citize s Of Brighton a familiar curio containin g halls which may be ’ hir ed for lectures and concerts 66 Fe w p p a to ’ eo le c red cop y the Prin ce Re n nta a ge s ie l s es . his - ShO t or t t T e p in B igh n is one t a r to of he a e c n em a y i t r r o t p or r examp les Of th s p antomime architecture

67

t Abo ve: n . n Wolseley Terrace , Chelte ham The rep eati g flu ed p ilasters , n n to i t as one with their Io ic cap s , are desig ed make th s errace read architectural comp osition in stead of a series of separate homes . Note how discreetly the individual house entrances are tucked away to avoid n n of n to n t n destroyi g this illusion . The cutti g the first cor ice le g he the ‘ ’ attic windows of the end house was a later imp rovement and is an examp le of the kin d of damage that such terraces will suffer once in dividual householders are allowed to tamp er with their ow n prop erty

O os ite to : n n B n t pp , p Lewes Cresce t, Kemp Tow , righto (architec ,

. . n n a end A n H E Ke dall) , comp leme ts , at the e st , delaide Cresce t at the west end o f the long Brighton sea front

Bo ttom: h n n n t n in Pel am Cresce t, South Ke si g o , more modest scale , is ’ one Of n the best examp les Of George Basevi s work . It was built betwee 1 825 and 1 840 when Basevi was engaged on the Belgravia and South Ken sington develop ments 69 Th e n n n Prome ade, Chelte ham , desig ed hn Buonar tti by Jo o Pap worth . Through Sharin g architectural features these modest houses achieve a scale and dignity o ut of all n t p rop ortio o their cost . They are faced with p ainted stucco an d are embellished with delicate cast- iron railings and hooded balconies 70 Abo ve: um n and M C berla d Terrace unster Square Lon don ,

Belo ’ w: n and Rod ey House Wolseley Terrace Cheltenham f , p n u These our ictures Show the Rege cy se of the stucco p ilaster to n O f a i e se ies e ce h ses and to nc e he vili s u t a r t rr ou p u tuat t end p a on in a o a squ re r the corner o f a detached villa

71 n n Claremo t Lodge , Chelte ham . This large Regency Villa Shows tw o features that are very typ ical O f the p eriod : the gently swelling b ow rising the whole height of the house and the decorated cast- iron hooded a n b lco y , which is carried right across the a house . Note lso the p ainted Shutters framing the top floor windows

72

An b ow -f n n l other ro ted Rege cy vi la, h o a in n . w lso Pittville, Chelte ham Note the roof p arap et sweep s up to the chimney stack to form an end gable a n n Imp erial Squ re , Chelte ham , a lo g regular terrace with the monotony relieved by an elegant and continuous n to n f hooded balco y the first floor wi dows . This eature r B a was fi st p op ularized by J . . P p worth

75 ’ n n to F Houses at the e tra ce Dix s ield , Exeter . n en d b ow The Sp le did house , with its wide n and n a n wi dows elega t trellised b lco y, was ‘ ’ destroyed in a German Baedeker raid on Exeter 76 Tw o n a and more Pittville villas at Chelte ham . Though the sc le surface treatment are different these tw o n eighbours get along well

. o ne o n f on n a and together The the le t relies moulded cor ices , p il sters architraves to relieve its p lain surface ; the one on the right depen ds for its interest on its sp len did trellised veran dah balcony which is rightly set against an otherwise p lain facade

77

O osite to : n n p p , p La sdow Parade, n of Chelte ham , a terrace small houses sp oilt by the p retentious Doric p orticoes

O os ite bo ttom: n pp , Rod ey Road , l n and abo ve: M n Che te ham , u ster Square , n n Of d Lo do , are both terraces mo est houses which make no p retension s to architectural magnificence and are the better for it 79

s in A n a n 1 827— 30 n n . Hou es lexa der Pl ce , South Ke si gto These were probably built about n n Of Basevi wh o n n u n l n u der the directio George , desig ed the eighbo ri g Pe ham Cresce t and h loe n t ur nt . n n m sup ervised the T Square develop me Note the balco y desig , the co mo es o f the and nt a n b ow n to un p eriod , the ge le , rep e ti g wi dows the gro d floor rooms

82 Tw o In h ses R ssell Sq e , B igh n and th ee y ic l Rege cy ou u uar r to , r t p a n f a : n n e tures the hooded balco y , the i cised design in the stucco and the - h e b ow r u h t re Sided car ied p t e whole house front

More decorative ironwork in Cheltenham Abo ve: a modest street behin d the Rotunda Belo w: fine hooded balcon ies on the a n tw o and Roy l Cresce t . These p ictures the four on the p age op p osite give a good idea of the imp ortance that Regency builders attached to balcony and verandah features

O os ite to : n n : pp , p Rege cy balco ies a a n n n Edw rdes Squ re , Ke si gto ; an n Cumberl d Place , Southampto Bottom: n e B n Dea Stre t, righto ; Mu n t n n s er Square , Lo do

85 Le t: n B A er ie f a a t n . s s o a b ow f nt f Gr d P rade, righ o l rge ro ed n a n tw o houses , some p lai with simp le b lco ies , others , like the n a the n Show here , heavily rcaded at seco d floor with hooded balconies below Ri ht: nn n n of n r g Pe sylva ia Park , Exeter, showi g details a cor e house, n n n and n with overha gi g eaves , pa elled p ilasters covered balco y

O os ite to : A n a V Of of in p p , p ge er l iew the series houses

nn an a . A s e a Pe sylv i Park , Exeter first built thes were det ched m nn n h n All o ne f ho es co ected o ly by t e Io ic arches . but o the interstices have been blocked by additions O os ite bo ttom: a n B n a and p p , Roy l Cresce t, righto , n attractive n a t r ac in a n u usu l e r e gl zed black brick , which dema ds white p aint to the window frames

86

u e o n o f Ma n a Ho s s the west side ri e Squ re, B t n r n n n righ o . This othe wise u i teresti g terrace O f houses is remarkable for the n n l n cri oli e hooded ba co ies . The hoods are made from sheet lead

88

This p retty villa at Havering-atte-Bower in Essex is typ ical o f many small detached n an n a the Rege cy houses ; its overh gi g e ves , f n the n and the bowed ro t, broad wi dows trellised balcony are all good features Of the period

90 Though this Weymouth shop - front may at f fe d e rom a w years before the Regency w a (Weymouth s develop ed as a fashionable resort un der King George III) the gently un f ro ded ront and the fenestration are o f the typ e that continued into the early years o f the 1 9th century

9 ] Abo ve: t En d a t a Sou h Ro d , Hamp s e d i e O os t : . 38 n a a in r pp NO Rossly Hill , H mp ste d . Note both these p ictu es the use of arcading round the windows to give interest to a p lain facade

103— NOS . 105 t En d a Sou h Ro d , Hamp stead . Plain surfaces relieved - p p t n - by well ro or io ed , well sp aced win dows with the commonest form f - O Regency cast iron balcony

Opp os ite: Tw o n mi or examp les o f Regency building , a bo ve: in h C eltenham ; belo w: in Colchester

95 in Medburn n n NW ] and Off G oswell I n t n Houses Street, Lo do , , Road, sli g o . ’ Man h c an n e y suc homes have be ome slums l dlords egl ct, but they started with considerable architectural prop ortion and merit 96