The Architecture of Great Britain

The architecture of Great Britain has a long history, and over that history architecture has ranged from the simplest hovel to the most elaborate palace. The first architect of the English Renaissance was Inigo Jones. He went to Italy twice, once in 1600 and again in 1613; he returned a thoroughgoing Palladian, and not a follower of the Early Baroque. He built a Banqueting Hall at Whitehall in London that conforms in every respect to the principles embodied in Palladio's treatise, though it does not copy any specific building by Palladio. The building is rather symmetrical, self-sufficient, and more like a Renaissance palazzo than any other building above the Alps. The style of Jones is supported by Palladio's authority as a theorist, and it stood as a beacon of classicist orthodoxy in England for two centuries (Janson 602).

The next major architect of England was Christopher Wren, and much of the classicism of Jones can be seen in works by Wren such as St. Paul's Cathedral. Sir Christopher Wren was the greatest English architect of the late seventeenth century. The second-story windows in the structure along with the dome are reminiscent of Bramante's Tempietto. Wren was an unorthodox prodigy who first studied anatomy, mathematics, and astronomy. He was esteemed by Sir Isaac Newton. He did not turn seriously to architecture until he was 30 years of age. He might have remained an amateur architect if the great London fire of 1666 had not destroyed the Gothic cath

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of English architecture into the early years of the nineteenth century (Watkin, 124). This new movement was introduced by two books, both published in 1715 and both dedicated to George I, the new Hanoverian king. The first was Leoni's edition of Palladio's I Quattro Libri, and the second was Colen Campbell's Vitruvius Britannicus. The final illustration in the latter book was Campbell's own Wanstead House near London, which was demolished in 1824. Wanstead was an impressive structure for its external austerity, unusual in so large a mansion; for its anti-Baroque horizontality; an for its giant hexastyle portico, the first on any English country house, and derived from the antique via Palladio, who thought that ancient houses all had to have porticos of this kind. Wanstead was a highly influential work that caused a number of architects to emulate it (Watkin 124). One of the elements of British architecture that developed in the eighteenth century was the formal garden, many of them emulating a French style. The style was closely identified with French culture and would be known as the French garden. Rohde notes that the French style was a great influence on Charles II in Great Britain and can be seen in St. James's Park (1

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