Thomas Ripley (1682

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

– 10 February 1758,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

) was an English

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Career

He first kept a coffee house in Wood Street, off

Cheapside Cheapside is a street in the City of London, the historic and modern financial centre of London, which forms part of the A40 London to Fishguard road. It links St. Martin's Le Grand with Poultry. Near its eastern end at Bank junction, whe ...

, London and in 1705 was admitted to the Carpenter's Company. An ex-carpenter, he rose by degrees to become an

and Surveyor in the royal

Office of Works The Office of Works was established in the English royal household in 1378 to oversee the building and maintenance of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department forces within the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Reven ...

. He was influenced by the

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 ...

style, but never lost his provincial manner, which earned the private derision of Sir

John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restora ...

and the public scorn of

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

. His works include

Houghton Hall Houghton Hall ( ) is a country house in the parish of Houghton in Norfolk, England. It is the residence of David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley. It was commissioned by the ''de facto'' first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Wa ...

for Sir

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Lea ...

, which was first designed by the

architects

Colen Campbell Colen Campbell (15 June 1676 – 13 September 1729) was a pioneering Scottish architect and architectural writer, credited as a founder of the Georgian style. For most of his career, he resided in Italy and England. As well as his architectura ...

and

William Kent William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, bu ...

. These designs were greatly altered by Ripley. His appointment in 1715 as Labourer in Trust at the Savoy marked the beginning of his continuous rise through the Office of the King's works. In 1721 he succeeded Grinling Gibbons as "Master Carpenter" and in 1726 he succeeded Vanbrugh as

Comptroller of the King's Works The Office of Works was established in the English royal household in 1378 to oversee the building and maintenance of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department forces within the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Reven ...

, largely to the influence of Walpole. Walpole also engineered an additional appointment as Surveyor of Greenwich Hospital which was completed by him. Buildings for the Office of Works included the

Custom House A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting ...

(1718) and the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

(1723–6), known as the Ripley Building, in London as well as the Queen Mary Block and chapel at Greenwich from 1729–1750. In 1739 he was collaborating with William Kent on designs for the New Houses of Parliament and between 1750–54 he made a great number of changes to Kent's designs for the Horse Guards. His appointment as executant architect at Houghton was the first of a number of Walpole commissions. Here his responsibility for the applied portico and the opening of the colonnades to the garden on the west side demonstrated that he was more than a project manager. From 1725 he designed and built Wolterton Hall in Norfolk for Sir Robert's younger brother Horatio, the 1st Lord Walpole and was chiefly responsible for converting a formal park into a naturalised landscape. Until 1731 he was in charge of the major alterations at Raynham for the Townshend family.Axel Klausmeier: Houghton, Raynham and Wolterton Hall: On Thomas Ripley's major works in Norfolk - Architectural success amidst political tensions. In: Norfolk Archaeology, Norwich 2001. pp. 607-630. Ripley was also involved in various speculative adventures, mainly in central London. In 1726 he was the original lessee of the west side of

Grosvenor Square Grosvenor Square is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was developed for fashionable ...

, and although his contribution there was limited to 16 Grosvenor Street he built a number of other houses in central London. Ripley was active in promoting the scheme to build Westminster Bridge and was also involved in Richard Holt's failed attempt to develop artificial stone. Nevertheless, he seems to have been an eager investor, being one of the few to make a fortune out of the

South Sea Bubble South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

. Despite the dull and sometimes ill-proportioned character of his public buildings, his pragmatic approach and undoubted skill at managing large projects ensured that Greenwich was completed and fulfilled its function. Ripley always retained a craftsman's concern for practicality. At his masterpiece at Wolterton this resulted in a building of controlled austerity which demonstrated how convenience and dignity could be achieved through subtle planning. Wolterton's ground plan anticipates those of many villas of the 1750s.

Personal life

On 17 November 1737 his first wife died and on 22 April 1742 he married Miss Bucknall of

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria Canada * Hampton, New Brunswick *Ha ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, an heiress said to be worth £40,000. Ripley died at his house in Old Scotland Yard on 10 February 1758, aged 75, leaving three sons and four daughters. He was buried in Hampton, but no memorial survives. A portrait by Joseph Highmore is in the National Portrait Gallery and his Mastership of the Carpenter's Company (1742–3) is commemorated by a plaque at the

Guildhall, London Guildhall is a municipal building in the Moorgate area of the City of London, England. It is off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. The building has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and ...

. One of his sons moved into a house he had designed on Streatham Common now called Ripley House, at 10 Streatham Common South.

Works

Blatherwycke Hall Blatherwycke is a village and civil parish in the North Northamptonshire, England. It is about north-east of Corby. It is near Blatherwycke Lake, on the Willow Brook. Demographics The population is grouped with the nearby village of Laxton ...

, Northamptonshire, 1720 * Greenwich Hospital was completed by him * Horse Guards *

Old Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

, Whitehall, London, 1723-1726 * Ripley House, at 10 Streatham Common South, London * Wolterton Hall, Norfolk, 1727-1741

References

* H.M. Colvin, ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840'' (1997) :de:Axel Klausmeier: Thomas Ripley, Architekt. Fallstudie einer Karriere im Royal Office of the King's Works im Zeitalter des Neopalladianismus. Berlin, New York, Paris 2000. Axel Klausmeier: Having a great quantity of planting amongst it. Wolterton Hall in Norfolk - Zu einem frühen Landschaftspark in Norfolk. In: Die Gartenkunst, Heft 1/2000. pp. 131–153. Axel Klausmeier: Houghton, Raynham and Wolterton Hall: On Thomas Ripley's major works in Norfolk - Architectural success amidst political tensions. In: Norfolk Archaeology, Norwich 2001. pp. 607–630. Axel Klausmeier: Wolterton Hall in Norfolk by Thomas Ripley: On the major work of an outcast of architectural history. In: Looking forwards. The Country-house in Contemporary Research and Conservation. Ed. by The Chair of Conservation of BTU Cottbus, Cottbus 2001, pp. 96–104. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ripley, Thomas 1683 births 1758 deaths 18th-century English architects Architects from Yorkshire