Nationality English Name Thomas Archer | Occupation Architect Role Architect | |
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Buildings St. Paul's, Deptford
St John's, Smith Square
St Philip's Cathedral
North Front & Cascade Chatsworth House
Heythrop Park
Garden pavilion Wrest Park Died May 22, 1743, Whitehall, London, United Kingdom Education Trinity College, Oxford (1686) Structures Chatsworth House, St John's - Smith Square, St Philip's Cathedral - Birmingham, St Paul's - Deptford, Wrest Park Similar People William Talman, William Cavendish, Bess of Hardwick, John Vanbrugh, Jeffry Wyatville | ||
Thomas archer born 5th december 1913
Thomas Archer (1668–1743) was an English Baroque architect, whose work is somewhat overshadowed by that of his contemporaries Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor.
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Life
Archer spent his youth at Umberslade Hall in Tanworth-in-Arden in Warwickshire, the youngest son of Thomas Archer, a country gentleman, Parliamentary Colonel, and Member of Parliament, and Ann Leigh, daughter of the London haberdasher, Richard Leigh. The exact date of Archer's birth is unknown, but can be inferred from the two documentary sources that mention his age. One is an entry in the Oxford University register recording his matriculation at Trinity College on 12 June 1686, aged 17; the other, his epitaph, survives in the parish church of Hale, Hampshire. If these records are accurate, he must have been born between 12 June 1668 and 22 May 1669. Thomas is the only one of the Archer children not to have his birth recorded in the Tamworth-in-Arden parish register, which suggests he may have been born elsewhere. He attended Trinity College, Oxford, from which he matriculated on 12 June 1686. After leaving university he went on a Grand Tour, spending four years abroad and was influenced by the work of Bernini and Borromini.
Churches
Archer's churches include St John's, Smith Square, Westminster, St Paul's, Deptford and St Philip, Birmingham, now Birmingham Cathedral. St John's and St Paul's were both built for the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches. John Summerson said these two buildings "represent the most advanced Baroque style ever attempted in England". According to the minutes of the Commissioners, Archer also "improved" Hawksmoor's designs for St Alfege's at Greenwich, although the nature of the improvements, or whether they were implemented, is unknown.
At Hale, Hampshire, he remodelled St Mary's Church, which also contains his memorial, carved by Sir Henry Cheere to Archer's own design.
Secular works
Archer's secular works included Roehampton House in Surrey, Welford Park in Berkshire, and the Cascade House and the west front and broadly bowed pilastered north front at Chatsworth House. In 1709–11 Archer designed a Baroque garden pavilion for Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent at Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedfordshire. After 1712 Archer designed Hurstbourne Priors in Hampshire for John Wallop (later Earl of Portsmouth).
He was a founding governor of the Foundling Hospital in London in 1739, but was not involved in the construction of the resulting building, completed c. 1750. The architect for that project was Theodore Jacobsen.