William Chambers (architect)

Sir William Chambers RA (* around 1723 in Gothenburg, then Gothenburg, † March 8, 1796 in London) was a Scottish architect.

Life

William Chambers was the son of a merchant family. This moved to his childhood in the Kingdom of Great Britain to Ripon in Yorkshire. In 1740 he entered the service of the Swedish East India Company.

Early work

During several visits to China he studied the architecture and garden art in the country. On his return he joined in 1749 in Paris at the Ecole des Arts as a pupil Jacques -François Blondel in. He spent five years in Rome at the Academy of English professor of the liberal arts with the study and copying of antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. Chambers returned to England in 1755. Even after his return from Italy, he used his good relations to France to former acquaintances and former students of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture and Prix de Rome winners of the Académie de France à Rome.

In the following years, Chambers led next to Robert Adam one of the major London offices. Chambers worked on behalf of Princess Augusta of Wales (1719-1772) ( Princess from 1736 to 1751 ) in the design of Kew. In the years after 1758 Chambers worked in the design of gardens, parks and Masked architecture together with Johann Heinrich Muntz.

Chambers extended a written around 1720 small hunting seat in 1760 to a to this day preserved, incorporated buildings of Goodwood House. He also provided the building where he built the stables, the Stables, which is considered one of his most successful designs.

Late work

William Chambers was elected in 1768 a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, and was with Robert Adam Surveyor of the King 's Work of George III .. From 1761, he held the unofficial position of a joint Architect to the King, and from 1769 to 1782 he took over as Architect to the King an official function; he planned and supervised so as the person responsible for the royal buildings, the maintenance and expansion works of public buildings.

Theories

In his buildings and writings refers to William Chambers on the idea of ​​" Picturesquen ".

Appreciation

William Chambers belongs next to James " Athenian " Stuart and Robert Adam, who was also its biggest rival, the first architect of classicism in England. His in-depth training at the Ecole des Arts distinguishes his work from the better-known English gentlemen architects. Clearly visible are the differences in the plastic quality of its architecture, the decoration of the interior and its furniture. Through this his works appear heavy and masculine. What Chambers' French -influenced style is missing, the playfulness and the commodité compared with works from the school Blondel, but also compared with the work of Robert Adam.

Writings

  • Designs of Chinese buildings, furniture, dresses, machines, and utensils. To Which is Annexed a description of Their temples, houses, gardens, & c. London 1757th
  • Dess One of the edifices, meubles, habits, machines, et ustenciles the Chinois. Auxquels est une ajoutée descr. de leurs temples, de leurs maisons de leurs jardins, etc. London 1757th
  • A treatise on civil architecture in Which the principles of art did are laid down and illustrated by a great number of plates Accurately designed and elegantly engraved by the best hands. London 1759.
  • A dissertation on oriental gardening. London 1772.

Built works

  • Somerset House in London, his most famous building, was built from 1776 to 1796.
  • In 1760 the Golden State Coach was built. The rococo carriage was first used in 1762 for the opening of Parliament and since 1831 in all coronations of British monarchs.
  • The ten-story pagoda in the Royal Botanic Gardens in 1761 and the local Orangerie and the "Temple of Bellona " and the " Temple of Aeolus "
  • The (former) Observatory at Kew for George III.
  • Around 1775 a pavilion was built for the Duke of Buccleuch. Caroline of Brunswick inhabited this after separation from the Prince Regent ( later King George IV ) from 1799.
  • For James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont, he designed the Charlemont House in Dublin ( now home of the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane ) and the Casino Marino ( a neoclassical pavilion in the gardens of Marino House) as well as a chapel and Public Theatre ( Examination Hall ) of Trinity College.
  • For Joseph Damer, 1st Earl of Dorchester in 1780, he designed the Neo-Gothic extension of Milton Abbey in Dorset, whose garden was designed by the famous landscape architect Capability Brown.
  • In addition, the Dunmore Pineapple is attributed in Dunmore Park, near Falkirk Chambers.
  • Like the pagoda in Pagoda Gardens, Blackheath, a suburb of London.
Francis Cotes Classical antiquity Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha Royal Botanic Gardens (Kew) Staffage Blackheath (London) Integrated Authority File
822116
de