James Elmes (15 October 1782, London – 2 April 1862, Greenwich) was an English architect, civil engineer, and writer on the arts.
James Elmes (15 October 1782, London – 2 April 1862, Greenwich) was an English architect, civil engineer, and writer on the arts.
Elmes was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, and, after studying building under his father, and architecture under George Gibson, became a student at the Royal Academy, where he gained the silver medal in 1804. He designed a large number of buildings in London, and was surveyor and civil engineer to the Port of London, but is best known as a writer on the arts. [1] He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1801 and 1842. [2] He was vice-president of the London Architectural Society from its foundation in 1806. [3]
In 1813–4 he restored the top part of the spire of Chichester Cathedral, reconstructing the pendulum device incorporated into it by Sir Christopher Wren to counteract the effects of strong winds. Elmes described the contraption in his biography of Wren, calling it "one of the most ingenious and appropriate of its great inventor's applications." [4]
He was the founder and editor of the Annals of the Fine Arts , a quarterly magazine published between 1816 and 1820. The content of the periodical was greatly influenced by the views of the historical painter Benjamin Robert Haydon, with whom Elmes had become friends while both were still students at the Royal Academy. Elmes claimed to have written the first review of Haydon's work ever published, in the Monthly Magazine in 1806. [5] He also edited the Magazine of the Fine Arts and Monthly Review from 1821. [6]
Elmes resigned from his post with the Port of London in 1848, due to a loss of sight, from which he later partially recovered. [6]
He died at Greenwich on 2 April 1862, and was buried at Charlton. [6] The architect Harvey Lonsdale Elmes was his son.
John Haviland, who became a successful prison architect in the United States was his pupil. [7]
His buildings included:
Elmes published: [14]
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover, George I, George II, George III, and George IV, who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 to June 1830.
Sir Christopher WrenFRS was an English architect, astronomer, mathematician and physicist who was one of the most highly acclaimed architects in the history of England. Known for his work in the English Baroque style, he was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including what is regarded as his masterpiece, St Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710.
Nicholas Hawksmoor was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principal architects of the time, Christopher Wren and John Vanbrugh, and contributed to the design of some of the most notable buildings of the period, including St Paul's Cathedral, Wren's City of London churches, Greenwich Hospital, Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. Part of his work has been correctly attributed to him only relatively recently, and his influence has reached several poets and authors of the twentieth century.
John Nash was one of the foremost British architects of the Georgian and Regency eras, during which he was responsible for the design, in the neoclassical and picturesque styles, of many important areas of London. His designs were financed by the Prince Regent and by the era's most successful property developer, James Burton. Nash also collaborated extensively with Burton's son, Decimus Burton.
John Gwynn was an English architect and civil engineer, who became one of the founder members of the Royal Academy in 1768. He advocated greater control over planning in London, for which he produced detailed suggestions. His buildings include Magdalen Bridge and the Covered Market in Oxford, and several bridges over the River Severn.
Bedford Square is a garden square in the Bloomsbury district of the Borough of Camden in London, England.
James Gibbs was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Aberdeen, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England. He is an important figure whose work spanned the transition between English Baroque architecture and Georgian architecture heavily influenced by Andrea Palladio. Among his most important works are St Martin-in-the-Fields, the cylindrical, domed Radcliffe Camera at Oxford University, and the Senate House at Cambridge University.
Sir John Newenham Summerson, was one of the leading British architectural historians of the 20th century.
Matthew Wren was an influential English clergyman, bishop and scholar.
Sir Roger Pratt was an English gentleman-architect of the 17th century. He designed only five known buildings, but was highly influential, establishing a particularly English type of house, which was widely imitated. He drew on a range of European influences, and also on the work of Inigo Jones, England's first classical architect. Pratt also served on official commissions, and in 1668 was the first English architect to be knighted for his services.
St Paul's Church is a Church of England parish church located in Bedford Street, Covent Garden, central London. It was designed by Inigo Jones as part of a commission for the 4th Earl of Bedford in 1631 to create "houses and buildings fit for the habitations of Gentlemen and men of ability". As well as being the parish church of Covent Garden, the church has gained the nickname of "the actors' church" by a long association with the theatre community.
Hugh May was an English architect in the period after the Restoration of King Charles II. He worked in the era which fell between the first introduction of Palladianism into England by Inigo Jones, and the full flowering of English Baroque under John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. His own work was influenced by both Jones' work, and by Dutch architecture. Although May's only surviving works are Eltham Lodge, and the east front, stables and chapel at Cornbury House, his designs were influential. Together with his contemporary, Sir Roger Pratt, May was responsible for introducing and popularising an Anglo-Dutch type of house, which was widely imitated.
John Buonarotti Papworth was a British architect, artist and a founder member of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
St Lawrence Jewry next Guildhall is a Church of England guild church in the City of London on Gresham Street, next to the Guildhall. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and rebuilt to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren. It is the official church of the Lord Mayor of London.
The Church of St Andrew, Holborn, is a Church of England church on the northwestern edge of the City of London, on Holborn within the Ward of Farringdon Without.
Francis Octavius Bedford (1784–1858) was an English ecclesiastical architect, who designed four Greek Revival churches in south London during the 1820s. He later worked in the Gothic style.
John Carter (1748–1817) was an English draughtsman and architect, who was an early advocate of the revival of Gothic architecture.
Edward Bowring Stephens, was a British sculptor from Devon. He was honorary secretary of the Institute of Sculptors circa 1861.
James Spiller (c.1761–1829) was an English architect and surveyor, a close associate of Sir John Soane. His designs included the Church of St John-at-Hackney, and the Great Synagogue, London.
Kerry John Downes was an English architectural historian whose speciality was English Baroque architecture. He was Professor of History of Art, University of Reading, 1978–91, then Emeritus.
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