John James (c. 1673 – 15 May 1746) was a British architect particularly associated with

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

in west London, where he rebuilt St Mary's Church and also built a house for

James Johnson James Johnson may refer to: Artists, actors, authors, and musicians *James Austin Johnson (born 1989), American comedian & actor, ''Saturday Night Live'' cast member *James B. Johnson (born 1944), author of science nonfiction novels *James P. John ...

, Secretary of State for Scotland, later Orleans House and since demolished.

Howard Colvin Sir Howard Montagu Colvin (15 October 1919 – 27 December 2007) was a British architectural historian who produced two of the most outstanding works of scholarship in his field: ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840' ...

's assessment of him was that of "a competent architect, but he lacked inventive fancy, and his buildings are for the most part plain and unadventurous in design".

Life

The son of a

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

parson also named John James, he attended the Holy Ghost School,

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

, of which his father was headmaster. He was then apprenticed in 1690 to Matthew Banckes, Master Carpenter to the Crown 1683–1706, whose niece he married, and he lived for a while at

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

. He was employed at

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, where in 1718 he became joint Clerk of the Works with

Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor (probably 1661 – 25 March 1736) 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 principa ...

, whom he succeeded as

Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey The post of Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey was established in 1698. The role is an architectural one, with the current holder being responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the Abbey and its buildings. In the past, the role has i ...

, where he completed Hawksmoor's west tower. In the interim he was appointed master carpenter at St. Paul's Cathedral, where he assisted Sir

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...

and succeeded him in 1723 as

Surveyor of the Fabric of St Paul's Cathedral The post of Surveyor of the Fabric of St Paul's Cathedral was established in 1675. The role is an architectural one, with the current holder being responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the cathedral and its buildings. In the past, the rol ...

. He was Master of the

Carpenters' Company The Worshipful Company of Carpenters is a livery company of the City of London. The Carpenters were traditionally different from a fellow wood-crafting company, the Worshipful Company of Joiners and Ceilers, in that carpenters utilised nails wh ...

in 1734. In 1714 he started work on

St George's Church, Tiverton St George's Church, Tiverton is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England in Tiverton, Devon. History The church was constructed between 1714 and 1733. The architect was John James (architect), John James. Nikolaus Pevsner descri ...

, which was finally completed in 1733. In 1716 he replaced

James Gibbs James Gibbs (23 December 1682 – 5 August 1754) 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 transi ...

as one of the two surveyors to the Commissioners for the Building of Fifty New Churches – the other being Nicholas Hawksmoor. He designed one church for the commissioners –

St George's, Hanover Square St George's, Hanover Square, is an Anglican church, the parish church of Mayfair in the City of Westminster, central London, built in the early eighteenth century as part of a project to build fifty new churches around London (the Queen Anne C ...

– and collaborated with Hawksmoor on the design of two others,

St John Horsleydown St John Horsleydown was the Church of England, Anglican parish church of Horsleydown in Bermondsey, South London. Built for the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches to the designs of Nicholas Hawksmoor and John James (architect), John Jame ...

in Southwark and St Luke Old Street. At St Alfege's Church in

, he recased the medieval tower and added a steeple in 1730, the rest of the church having been entirely rebuilt by Hawksmoor for the commissioners in 1712–14. James also designed St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe in 1714–15 and

St Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...

, Whitchurch near Edgware around the same time. He also re-clad the medieval tower of St Margaret's, Westminster 1735–37 in a 'papery gothick manner' (VCH Middlesex Vol.XIII City of Westminster Part 1 P.144). He was the professional on site for the construction of

East India House East India House was the London headquarters of the East India Company, from which much of British India was governed until the British government took control of the Company's possessions in India in 1858. It was located in Leadenhall Street ...

, Leadenhall Street, London, to designs by the merchant and amateur architect

Theodore Jacobsen Theodore Jacobsen (died 1772) was an English merchant in London, known also as an architect. Life Jacobsen was a merchant in Basinghall Street, London. He was the London-born son of Sir Jacob Jacobsen, a north German merchant, of a family closel ...

, 1726–29. Among several buildings in and around Twickenham, John James designed St. Mary's Church after it collapsed in 1713 (with the exception of its surviving west tower). Also in south-east London, James designed Wricklemarsh, "a pioneer

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

mansion" (Colvin) and in fact his only Palladian-style structure, for Sir Gregory Page in 1723. He was also probably the architect for the building now known as

Ranger's House Ranger's House is a medium-sized red brick Georgian mansion in the Palladian style, adjacent to Greenwich Park in the south east of London. It is situated in Blackheath and backs directly onto Greenwich Park. Previously known as Chesterfield ...

Blackheath, London Blackheath is an area in Southeast London, straddling the border of the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Lewisham. It is located northeast of Lewisham, south of Greenwich and southeast of Charing Cross, the traditional ce ...

(c.1722–23). The house he designed for himself around 1725 – Warbrook in

Eversley Eversley is a village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. The village is located around northeast of Basingstoke and around west of Yateley. The River Blackwater, and the border with Berkshire, form the northern bo ...

, Hampshire – is one of the few surviving houses built by an eighteenth-century architect for his own use. He may also have designed

Hursley House Hursley House is an 18th-century Queen Anne style mansion in Hursley, near Winchester in the English county of Hampshire. The building is Grade II* listed. History The Hursley estate was bought by William Heathcote, MP from the daughters of ...

, Hursley, Hampshire, for (later, Sir) William Heathcote, and Barnsley House in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

is now usually attributed to him, c. 1720.

Writings

He published a pamphlet (1736) in the pamphlet war over the design of

Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats in the ...

, for which he had submitted a design, which, though not accepted by the Commissioners, was accounted "clearly and well described".Commissioners' minutes, quoted by Colvin Competent in Latin, French and Italian, he translated

Andrea Pozzo Andrea Pozzo (; Latinized version: ''Andreas Puteus''; 30 November 1642 – 31 August 1709) was an Italian Jesuit brother, Baroque painter, architect, decorator, stage designer, and art theoretician. Pozzo was best known for his grandiose fresc ...

's treatise on perspective as ''Rules and Examples of Perspective, proper for Painters and Architects'' (1707, 2nd edition c. 1725) and from the French of Claude Perrault, ''A Treatise of the Five Orders of Columns in Architecture'' (1708), and from the French of Dezallier d'Argenville, ''The Theory and Practice of Gardening'' (1712, 2nd edition 1728, 3rd edition 1743. Thus John James can be seen as one of the intermediaries who made Baroque Continental practice in architecture, decorative painting and formal garden planning available to English patrons and craftsmen.

Gallery of architectural work

File:Appuldurcombe House.jpg,

Appuldurcombe House Appuldurcombe House (also spelt Appledorecombe or Appledore Combe) is the shell of a large 18th-century English Baroque country house of the Worsley family. The house is situated near to Wroxall on the Isle of Wight, England. It is now managed ...

, Isle of Wight File:St Alfege Greenwich 02.jpg, St. Alphege's Greenwich, upper part of tower by James File:St Lukes Islington.jpg, St. Luke's Old Street, London, with Nicholas Hawksmoor File:Horsleydown.jpg, St. John's Horsleydown, London, with Nicholas Hawksmoor, bombed in London Blitz and demolished File:Twickenham, St Mary's Church - geograph.org.uk - 164928.jpg, St. Mary's Church, Twickenham, rebuilt by James apart from the medieval tower File:Saint George Church, Hanover Square.jpg,

, London File:St Marys Church. St Marychurch Street, Rotherhithe, London, SE16 - geograph.org.uk - 1557142.jpg, St. Mary's Rotherhithe, London File:Cannons middlesex.jpg, Cannons House, Middlesex, one of many architects involved in the house's design

Notes

References

*Howard Colvin, 1995 (3rd ed.). ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1660–1840.'' (Yale University Press): "John James" {{DEFAULTSORT:James, John 1670s births 1746 deaths 18th-century English architects People from Basingstoke English Baroque architecture People educated at Queen Mary's School for Boys, Basingstoke Architects from Hampshire