Wyatt, James

Wyatt, James

▪ British architect
born Aug. 3, 1746, Burton Constable, Staffordshire, Eng.
died Sept. 4, 1813, near Marlborough, Wiltshire

      English architect chiefly remembered for his Romantic country houses, especially the extraordinary Gothic Revival Fonthill Abbey.

      In 1762 Wyatt went to Italy, where he remained six years. On his return to England, he designed the London Pantheon (opened 1772; later demolished), a Neoclassical building inspired by Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The Pantheon made Wyatt one of the most fashionable architects in England.

      He succeeded Sir William Chambers (Chambers, Sir William) as surveyor general to the Board of Works (1796) and was engaged in restoring the cathedrals of Durham, Hereford, Lichfield, and Salisbury, as well as Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey, and Magdalen College, Oxford. These “restorations” later earned him the epithet “the Destroyer” from such medieval revivalists of the 19th century as A.W.N. Pugin (Pugin, A.W.N.), who had a more accurate archaeological approach.

      In point of originality, Wyatt's severely elegant works in the classical mode, like Heaton Hall, Lancashire (1772), and Heveningham Hall, Suffolk (c. 1788–99), were surpassed by the extravagance of his Gothic Revival buildings, of which the most sensational was Fonthill Abbey (1796–1807), Wiltshire. Initially this was built as a landscape feature, and it eventually developed into an extraordinary home for the arch-Romantic William Beckford (Beckford, William), who supervised its design and construction. The great central tower (270 feet [82 metres]) collapsed in 1807, and after Beckford sold the estate, in 1822, the house further fell into ruin. Today it has mostly disappeared. In John Rutter's Delineations of Fonthill (1823), however, one can still experience some of the building's grotesque, spectacular quality that made it architecturally notorious in the Romantic period. Other notable examples of Wyatt's Gothic country houses include Lee Priory, Kent (1783–90), and Ashridge, Hertfordshire, completed (1808–18) by his nephew, Sir Jeffry Wyatville.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • WYATT, James — (1746–1813)    The famous architect who can be credited with one of the earliest examples of the Etruscan style in England: the interior of the river temple at Fawley in Oxfordshire (1770 to 1771) …   Historical Dictionary of the Etruscans

  • James Wyatt — (* 3. August 1746 in Burton Constable; † 4. September 1813 bei Marlborough) war ein englischer Architekt. Im letzten Drittel des 18. Jahrhunderts war er einer der bedeutendsten Architekten Englands. Zu Beginn seiner Karriere entwarf er im Stil… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Wyatt family — The Wyatt family included several of the major English architects across the eighteenth and ninetheenth centuries.The FamilyThis is a summary tree to show the linkages. It is an extract from the tree in Robinson 1979Benjamin WyattBenjamin (1709… …   Wikipedia

  • Wyatt Earp — um 1881 Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (* 19. März 1848 in Monmouth, Illinois; † 13. Januar 1929 in Los Angeles, Kalifornien) war ein amerikanischer Revolverheld, der in seinem Leben auch als Farmer, Transporteur, Büffeljäger, Gesetzeshüter in… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Wyatt — may refer to:Peopleurname* Wyatt Family , a prominent English (later also American) family **Thomas Wyatt (poet), Tudor poet **Thomas Wyatt the younger, his son, leader of Wyatt s rebellion **Sir Francis Wyatt, Colonial Governor of Virginia,… …   Wikipedia

  • James Earp — James Cooksey Earp (June 28 1841 January 25 1926) was the little known older brother to old west lawman Virgil Earp and lawman/gambler Wyatt Earp. BiographyJames Earp was born in Hartford, Kentucky, and was raised in a tight knit family… …   Wikipedia

  • James Wyatt (game designer) — James Wyatt is a game designer and a former United Methodist minister. He works for Wizards of the Coast, where he has designed several award winning supplements and adventures for the Dungeons Dragons roleplaying game. He is the author of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Wyatt Earp (película) — Wyatt Earp Título Wyatt Earp Ficha técnica Dirección Lawrence Kasdan Producción Kevin Costner, Dan Gordon, Michael Grillo, Lawrence Kasdan …   Wikipedia Español

  • Wyatt earp (film) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Wyatt Earp (homonymie). Wyatt Earp est un film américain réalisé par Lawrence Kasdan avec Kevin Costner et Dennis Quaid sorti en 1994. Sommaire 1 Synopsis …   Wikipédia en Français

  • James Parker (cement maker) — James Parker was a British clergyman and cement manufacturer who invented one of the pioneering new cements of the late eighteenth century.In 1791, he was granted a patent Method of Burning bricks, Tiles, Chalk . His second patent in 1796 A… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”