Matthew Brettingham
Matthew Brettingham was an 18th-century English architect. He is best known for his design of Holkham Hall in London. His most famous work is the London Townhouse, which he designed for the 1st Earl of Leicester. It is considered to be among the finest examples of Palladian architecture of the 19th century.
About Matthew Brettingham in brief
Matthew Brettingham was an 18th-century English architect. He is best known for his design of Holkham Hall in London. He was born in 1699, the second son of a bricklayer or stonemason. His early life is little documented, and one of the earliest recorded references to him is in 1719, when he and his elder brother Robert were admitted to the city of Norwich as freemen bricklayers. By 1730, he is referred to as a surveyor, working on more important structures than cottages and agricultural buildings. His work on the Shirehouse in Norwich, the construction of Lenwade Bridge over the river Wensum, repairs to Norwich Castle and Norwich Cathedral, as well as the rebuilding of much of St. Margaret’s Church, King’s Lynn. In 1742, he was commissioned to redesign Langley Hall, in its own parkland in South Norfolk. His design was very much in the Palladian style, which was to be his trademark. He established himself as a country-house architect, and later became a local architect as well. He died in London in 1759, and is buried at St Paul’s Cathedral, Norwich, with his wife, Martha Bunn, and their nine children. He had nine children with his first wife, Mary, who died in 1770. He also had a son with his second wife, Robert, and a daughter with his third wife, Margaret. He worked on the design of many country houses, many of them situated in the East Anglia area of Britain.
His most famous work is the London Townhouse, which he designed for the 1st Earl of Leicester, which is now a Grade II listed building. The design of the London townhouse is considered to be among the finest examples of Palladian architecture of the 19th century. It was the first Palladian house to be built in London, and the first to be designed in the fashionable Gothic style of the time. It is one of only a handful of buildings in the UK to have been designed in this style, and it is the only one to have survived the Second World War. The townhouse was demolished in 1822, but the architect is still remembered for his work on it. The architect is buried in the grounds of St Paul’s Cathedral, where he is buried alongside his wife and nine children, including his son Robert and daughter-in-law, Mary Bunn and their five children. His last wife died in 1855, and he died in Norwich in 1859, aged 87. He left no will or will to his children, and was buried in Norwich with his widow, Mary. His son Robert, who was also an architect, was the architect behind the design and construction of the Great Hall at St James’ Palace in London and later the architect of St Pancras Cathedral in Scotland, and worked on many other Palladian buildings in England and Wales. He later became the Clerk of Works for the Earl, at an annual salary of £50.
You want to know more about Matthew Brettingham?
This page is based on the article Matthew Brettingham published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 31, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
