Theodosius Keene, born in 1754, was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

architect who conducted most of his work in the south of England between 1770 and 1777.

Life and work

Theodosius was born around 1754 as the son of notable English architect Henry Keene, famous for his

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

and Neoclassical buildings. He designed

Racton Monument Racton Monument (known locally as Racton Ruin) is a folly on a hill in Racton, West Sussex, England with views over Chichester Harbour and to the Isle of Wight. It was commissioned by the 2nd Earl of Halifax, either as a summerhouse for the near ...

around 1770, a red brick turreted

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, possibly built as a summerhouse for the nearby Stansted Estate. Racton Monument stands to this day, albeit a ruin. In 1777 he designed the Maidenhead Guildhall, a replacement for the original

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

building which was constructed around 1430. It consisted of a council chamber, assembly room, a

corn exchange A corn exchange is a building where merchants trade grains. The word "corn" in British English denotes all cereal grains, such as wheat and barley; in the United States these buildings were called grain exchange. Such trade was common in towns ...

, a lockup and also held a beer house called the ‘Fighting Cocks Inn’. The guildhall was demolished in February 1963 to make way for the

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. It is also believed that in 1794 he completed

Radcliffe Observatory Radcliffe Observatory was the astronomical observatory of the University of Oxford from 1773 until 1934, when the Radcliffe Trustees sold it and built a new observatory in Pretoria, South Africa. It is a Grade I listed building. Today, the ...

, under the direction of

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806. Early life W ...

, since his father died before finishing the building.

Gallery

File:Racton Tower - Monument, West Sussex - geograph.org.uk - 1113942.jpg, Racton Monument, West Sussex File:Oxford ClarendonObservatory.jpg, Radcliffe Observatory, Oxfordshire File:Maidenhead Guildhall.jpg, Maidenhead Guildhall, Berkshire

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keene, Theodosius 18th-century English architects 1754 births Year of death missing