Thomas Cundy, the elder (1765 – 28 December 1825) was an English architect. Surveyor to the

Grosvenor family Duke of Westminster is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created by Queen Victoria in 1874 and bestowed upon Hugh Grosvenor, 3rd Marquess of Westminster. It is the most recent dukedom conferred on someone not related to the ...

's London estates from 1821, he was involved in the initial stages of the development of

Belgravia Belgravia () is a Districts of London, district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of both the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' Tudor Period, during the ...

and

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

, and also designed

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

s in a

picturesque Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in ''Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year ...

Gothic style.

Life

He was the eldest son of Peter Cundy of Restowrick House, St Dennis Cornwall, and his wife Thomasine Wilcocks, and was baptised at St Dennis on 18 February 1765. After serving an apprenticeship with a builder in Plymouth, he moved to London at the age of 21. At the age of 28 he was employed as clerk of the works at Normanton Park, under

Samuel Pepys Cockerell Samuel Pepys Cockerell (1753–1827) was an English architect. He was a son of John Cockerell, of Bishop's Hull, Somerset, and the elder brother of Sir Charles Cockerell, 1st Baronet, for whom he designed the house he is best known for, Sezinc ...

; following Cockerell's retirement he was retained by Sir Gilbert Heathcote to complete the alterations in progress. He then set up in business as an architect and builder, and in 1821 was appointed surveyor to Earl Grosvenor's London estates, in succession to

William Porden William Porden (c. 1755 – 1822) was a versatile English architect who worked for the 1st Earl Grosvenor and the Prince Regent. Life Born in Kingston upon Hull, (Subscription required) he trained under James Wyatt and Samuel Pepys Cock ...

. He had previously altered two houses on the estate, in Grosvenor Square. During his tenure the basic layout of Belgravia was developed, but he died before much construction had been carried out. Buildings which Cundy built or altered significantly include Middleton Park and

Osterley Osterley () is an affluent district of the historic parish of Isleworth in west London approximately from Charing Cross and is part of the London Borough of Hounslow. Most of its land use is mixed agricultural and aesthetic parkland at Osterl ...

for the Earl of Jersey,

Tottenham Park Tottenham House is a large Grade I listed English country house in the parish of Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, about five miles southeast of the town of Marlborough. It is separated from the town by Savernake Forest, which is part of the Tottenha ...

in Wiltshire, Hawarden Castle, Burton Constable,

Syon House Syon House is the west London residence of the Duke of Northumberland. A Grade I listed building, it lies within the 200-acre (80 hectare) Syon Park, in the London Borough of Hounslow. The family's traditional central London residence had be ...

Northumberland House Northumberland House (also known as Suffolk House when owned by the Earls of Suffolk) was a large Jacobean townhouse in London, so-called because it was, for most of its history, the London residence of the Percy family, who were the Earl ...

in London and Wytham in Oxfordshire. He exhibited several designs for these and other buildings at the Royal Academy. He died 28 December. 1825. His son, Thomas Cundy the younger, took over his post with the Grosvenor estate.

Family

Cundy married Mary Hubert in 1789. They had six sons:

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

(1790–1867), also an architect; James (1793–1826, a

mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cut ...

); Samuel (c. 1794-1819); Joseph (1795–1875, an architect and builder); William (c. 1797-1829); and John (c. 1802-28).

Works

Buildings on which Cundy worked included: *Middleton Park, Oxfordshire. Restored the house for the 5th Earl of Jersey in 1806-10. *Osterley Park (for the Earl of Jersey). *Tottenham Park, Wiltshire. *Hawarden Castle. Cundy enlarged an existing house for Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, entirely casing the building in ashlar, in a castellated Gothick style in 1809-10. *Burton Constable. *Syon House. *Northumberland House. Cundy designed a grand marble staircase, built in 1822–3. *Wytham, Oxfordshire. *Wassand House, Seaton, Yorkshire, built in 1813-19 for the Rev. Charles Constable.

References

Sources

* H. M. Colvin, ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840'' (1997) * L. H. Cust
‘Cundy, Thomas, the elder (1765–1825)’
rev. Annette Peach, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 3 January 2008 *''A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland : 1500-1830'' A. W. Skempton

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cundy, Thomas 1765 births 1825 deaths 19th-century English architects Architects from Cornwall 18th-century English people Burials at Vineyard Passage Burial Ground