William Henry Leeds (1786–1866) was an English architectural critic and journalist.

Life

Leeds was born in 1786 in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. He was credited by John George Cochrane and others as one of the anonymous translators of the anthology of German short stories ''

Popular Tales and Romances of the Northern Nations ''Popular Tales and Romances of the Northern Nations'' is an anthology of translated German stories in three volumes, published in 1823. Publication The book was announced as being prepared for publication in January and February 1823. All thre ...

'' (1823). Leeds was a frequent contributor to the ''

Foreign Quarterly Review Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United S ...

'' in the 1830s,Margaret Belcher, ''A.W.N. Pugin: an annotated critical bibliography'', 1987, p.468 writing for them on

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were c ...

as well as architecture. In the 1840s he wrote for the ''

Westminster Review The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal until ...

''.O. Boucher-Rivalain, 'William Henry Leeds (1786-1866), architectural critic, and his contribution to the Westminster Review in the 1840s ', ''Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens'', 55, pp.33-41 From 1839 to 1854 he edited the ''Civil Engineer's and Architect's Journal'', and from 1855 to 1856 edited ''Land and Building News''. S. A. Allibone, ''Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors'', 1908
vol. 1
/ref> He translated Georg Moller's ''Memorials of German Gothic architecture'' and edited a revised edition of ''Decorative Part of Civil Architecture'' by William Chambers.

Works

*(transl.) ''

'', London: W. Simpkin, R. Marshall and J. H. Bohte, 1823 *(transl.) ''Moller's Memorials of German-Gothic Architecture; with additional notes and illustrations from Stirglitz, etc.'', London: John Weale, 1836 *''Illustrations of the public buildings of London: with descriptions of each edifice'', 1838 * 'an essay on the present state of architectural study and the revival of the Italian style', published with

Charles Barry Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsi ...

's ''The

Travellers' Club The Travellers Club is a private gentlemen's club situated at 106 Pall Mall in London, United Kingdom. It is the oldest of the surviving Pall Mall clubs and one of the most exclusive, having been established in 1819. It was described as "the ...

House'' (1839) *''Rudimentary architecture for the use of beginners and students. The orders, and their æsthetic principles'', London, J. Weale, 1852 *(ed.) ''Decorative Part of Civil Architecture'' by William Chambers, 1866

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leeds, William Henry 1786 births 1866 deaths Architecture critics English architecture writers English male journalists