Ambrose Poynter

Ambrose Poynter (16 May 1796 – 20 November 1886) was an English architect. He was one of the founding members of the Institute of British Architects in 1834.

Born in London on 16 May 1796, he was second son of Ambrose Lyon Poynter by Thomasine Anne Peck; the family was of Huguenot origin. Poynter was employed by John Nash from 1814 to 1818. In 1819–21, he travelled to Italy, Sicily, and the Ionian islands. He was present at John Keats's funeral in Rome on 26 February 1821.

Poynter set up for himself as an architect in London, initially at 1 Poets' Corner, Westminster. About 1846 he built for himself a house and offices in Park Street, now Queen Anne's Gate, also in Westminster. He became noted for his Palladian and Tudor Gothic fusion architecture including the relocated Hospital and Chapel of St Katharine, Regent's Park, London in 1826–7, and St Katharine's Lodge (its later name) for its Master, Herbert Taylor.

Poynter designed a trio of churches in Cambridge, notable bright red brick buildings: Christ Church, Newmarket Road in 1837–39; the Church of St Andrew the Great on St Andrew's Road in 1842–43, and St Paul's on Hills Road in 1841. St Paul's was the target of criticism from the Cambridge Camden Society, in the first issue (November 1841) of its journal, the Ecclesiologist. While some of the society's members found the attack embarrassing, it was supported by Augustus Pugin. The issue was withdrawn, but an offer then to review another of the Poynter churches was not conciliatory, with St Paul's being called a "cheap church"; in 1843 the Church of St Andrew was called "miserable and meagre".

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