William Wilkins (architect)
| William Wilkins | |
|---|---|
| Born |
31 August 1778 Norwich, Norfolk, England |
| Died | 31 August 1839 (aged 61) Lensfield, Cambridge |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings |
University College, London National Gallery, London |
William Wilkins RA (31 August 1778 – 31 August 1839) was an English architect, classical scholar and archaeologist. He designed the National Gallery and University College London, and buildings for several Cambridge colleges.
Wilkins was born in the parish of St Giles, Norwich, the son of a successful builder who also managed a chain of theatres. His brother George Wilkins was Archdeacon of Nottingham.
He was educated at Norwich School and then won a scholarship to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He graduated as 6th wrangler in 1800. With the award of the Worts Travelling Bachelorship in 1801, worth £100 for three years, he was able to visit the classical antiquities Greece, Asia Minor, and Magna Græcia in Italy between 1801 and 1804. On his tour he was accompanied by the Italian landscape painter Agostino Aglio, whom Wilkins had commissioned as a draughtsman on the expedition. Aglio supplied the drawings for the aquatint plates of monuments illustrationing Wilkins' volumes from the expedition, such as The Antiquities of Magna Graecia (1807).
Wilkins was a member of the Society of Dilettanti from 1817. He published researches into both Classical and Gothic architecture, becoming one of the leading figures in the English Greek Revival of the early 19th century.
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