John James (architect)
| John James | |
|---|---|
| Born | c.1673 possibly Basingstoke |
| Died | 15 May 1746 Greenwich, London |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | Appuldurcombe House St. George's Hanover Square |
John James (c. 1673 – 15 May 1746) was a British architect particularly associated with Twickenham in west London, where he rebuilt St Mary's Church and also built a house for James Johnson, Secretary of State for Scotland, later Orleans House and since demolished. Howard Colvin's assessment of him was that of "a competent architect, but he lacked inventive fancy, and his buildings are for the most part plain and unadventurous in design".
The son of a Hampshire parson also named John James, he attended the Holy Ghost School, Basingstoke, of which his father was headmaster. He was then apprenticed in 1690 to Matthew Banckes, Master Carpenter to the Crown 1683–1706, whose niece he married, and he lived for a while at Hampton Court Palace. He was employed at Greenwich, where in 1718 he became joint Clerk of the Works with Hawksmoor, whom he succeeded as Surveyor to the Fabric of Westminster Abbey, where he completed Hawksmoor's west tower. In the interim he was appointed master carpenter at St. Paul's Cathedral, where he assisted Sir Christopher Wren and succeeded him in 1723 as Surveyor to the Fabric. He was Master of the Carpenters' Company in 1734.
In 1714 he started work on St George's Church, Tiverton, which was finally completed in 1733.
In 1716 he replaced James Gibbs as one of the two surveyors to the Commissioners for the Building of Fifty New Churches – the other being Nicholas Hawksmoor. He designed one church for the commissioners – St George's, Hanover Square – and collaborated with Hawksmoor on the design of two others, St John Horsleydown in Southwark and St Luke Old Street. At St Alfege's Church in Greenwich, he recased the medieval tower and added a steeple in 1730, the rest of the church having been entirely rebuilt by Hawksmoor for the commissioners in 1712–14. James also designed St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe in 1714–1715 and St Lawrence, Whitchurch near Edgware around the same time. He also re-clad the medieval tower of St Margaret's, Westminster 1735- 7 in a 'papery gothick manner' (VCH Middlesex Vol.XIII City of Westminster Part 1 P.144).
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