John Nash (architect)

For other people named John Nash (disambiguation), see John Nash (disambiguation) (disambiguation).

John Nash
Born	John Nash (1752-01-18)18 January 1752 Lambeth
Died	(1835-05-13)13 May 1835 East Cowes Castle
Resting place	St. James's Church, East Cowes
Nationality	British
Occupation	Architect
Buildings	Buckingham Palace

Architectural model, about 1826 designed by John Nash V&A Museum no. A.14-1939

John Nash (18 January 1752 – 13 May 1835) was an Anglo-Welsh architect responsible for much of the layout of Regency London.

Early life

Born in Lambeth, London, as the son of a Welsh millwright, Nash trained with architect Sir Robert Taylor, he established his own practice in 1777, but his own career was initially unsuccessful and short-lived. After inheriting £1000 in 1778 from his uncle Thomas, he invested the money in property in Bloomsbury, but he lost much of his fortune and was declared bankrupt in 1783 and left London in 1784 to live in Carmarthen, where his mother had retired to, her family being from the area. This forced him to resume work as an architect, his first major work being the Gaol at Carmarthen 1789-92. He also designed a series of medium sized country houses in south-west Wales including Llanerchaeron. He met Humphry Repton at Hafod in 1795, he formed a successful partnership with the landscape garden designer. One of their early commissions was at Corsham Court. The pair would collaborate to carefully place the Nash-designed building in grounds designed by Repton. Eventually, Nash returned to work in London, in 1795. The partnership ended in 1800 under recriminations.

Work in Ireland

Nash came to work in Ireland as an architect after 1793. He designed

• Caledon House, County Tyrone, (1808-10) alterations and additions.
• Killymoon Castle, near Cookstown, County Tyrone, (1801-3).
• Kilwaughter Castle, Larne, County Antrim. (1807) demolished 1951.
• Church of Ireland church in Cahir, South Tipperary.
• Swiss cottage, Cahir (1810-14).
• Shanbally Castle, near Clogheen, South Tipperary (1818-19) demolished 1960.

Work in London and Brighton

Nash's work came to the attention of the Prince Regent (later King George IV) who, in 1811 commissioned him to develop an area then known as Marylebone Park. With the Regent's backing (and major inputs from Repton), Nash created a master plan for the area, put into action from 1818 onwards, which stretched from St James’s northwards and included Regent Street, Regent's Park and its neighbouring streets, terraces and crescents of elegant town houses and villas. Nash did not complete all the detailed designs himself; in some instances, completion was left in the hands of other architects such as James Pennethorne and the young Decimus Burton. Nash was employed by the Prince to develop his Ocean Pavilion Palace in Brighton, originally designed by Henry Holland. By the early 19th century Nash finished his work on the Ocean Pavilion, which was now transformed into the Royal Pavilion. The Royal Pavilion still stands in Brighton today.

Nash was also a director of the Regent's Canal Company set up in 1812 to provide a canal link from west London to the River Thames in the east. Nash's masterplan provided for the canal to run around the northern edge of Regent's Park; as with other projects, he left its execution to one of his assistants, in this case James Morgan. The first phase of the Regent's Canal opened in 1816.

Together with Robert Smirke and Sir John Soane, he became an official architect to the Office of Works in 1813.

Further London commissions for Nash followed, including the remodelling of Buckingham House to create Buckingham Palace (1825–1835), plus the Royal Mews and Marble Arch (originally designed as a triumphal arch to stand at the entrance to Buckingham Palace. There is an urban myth which says that it was found to be too narrow for the royal State Coach and was moved in 1851 to its current location at the western end of Oxford Street). The arch was moved when the fourth wing was built, designed by Edward Blore, at the request of Queen Victoria whose growing family required additional domestic space. Marble Arch became the entrance to Hyde Park and The Great Exhibition.

Other London and Brighton projects included:

• Trafalgar Square was conceived by Nash but not actually created until after his death to the designs of Sir Charles Barry
• St. James's Park
• rebuilding of the Royal Pavilion at Brighton (1815–1822)
• Buckingham Palace the state rooms and western front (1825-30)
• Haymarket Theatre (1820-1)
• the Church of All Souls, Langham Place (1822–25)
• Chester Terrace (1825)
• Carlton House Terrace (1827–1833)
• Cumberland Terrace (1827)

The changes wrought by John Nash on the streetscape of London are documented in the film, "John Nash and London", featuring Edmund N. Bacon and based on sections of his book Design of Cities.

Other architectural work

Elsewhere in England, Wales and Ireland, his work included:

• East Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight – his home for many years
• Blaise Hamlet, Bristol
• Grovelands Park, Enfield, Middlesex
• Llanerchaeron, Ciliau Aeron, Ceredigion
• Foley House, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire
• All Souls Church, Langham Place on Regent Street
• Cronkhill, near Shrewsbury, Shropshire. First Italianate villa in Britain.
• Caerhays Castle, Cornwall (1808)
• Killymoon Castle, Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
• Swiss cottage, Cahir, County Tipperary, Ireland
• The stable block at Plas Llanstephan

He advised on work to the buildings of Jesus College, Oxford, for which he required no fee but asked that the college should commission a portrait of him from Sir Thomas Lawrence to hang in the college hall.

Death and burial

John Nash died in May 1835 and is buried at St. James's Church, East Cowes.

References

• "1752 Jupiter". Wisdom Portal.