Lewis Vulliamy

English architect of French descent. He was articled to R. Smirke before establishing a large and lucrative London practice. He designed the sumptuous Italian Renaissance Dorchester House, Park Lane, London (1850–63—demolished 1929), and the Jacobethan Westonbirt House, Glos. (1863–70—with Renaissance interiors) for the wealthy Robert Stayner Holford (1808–92). An eclectic designer, he was competent in any style required of him. Among his churches, St Barnabas, Addison Road, Kensington (1828–9), St Michael, Highgate (1830–2), and St James, Norlands, Kensington (1844–5), are typical of his Commissioners' Gothic style, but he also designed All Saints', Ennismore Gardens, Kensington (1848–9—Italianate), and the Church of St Peter, Glasbury, Breconshire, Wales (1836–7—Neo-Norman). The handsome Greek Revival Law Institution, Chancery Lane (1828–32), and the Corinthian frontage of The Royal Institution, Albemarle Street (1838), both in London, were by him. He designed a number of imposing elevations for speculative buildings in Bloomsbury, including the north and west ranges in Tavistock Square (1827) and Gordon (now Endsleigh) Place (1827), and built or altered many country-houses. He published The Bridge of The Sta. Trinita at Florence (1822) and Examples of Ornamental Sculpture in Architecture, Drawn from the Originals in Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy in the years 1818, 1819, 1820, 1821 (1823). His pupils included Owen Jones, and his nephew, George John Vulliamy (1817–86), worked in his office until 1861, when he joined the Metropolitan Board of Works as its Superintending Architect, in which capacity he designed the base, ornaments, and bronze sphinxes associated with ‘Cleopatra's Needle’ (c.1468 bc) on the Embankment, London (1878–80).

Bibliography

• Builder et al.(2001)
• Colvin (1995)
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)

The full bibliography for this book is available to download as a pdf file.
Download the bibliography for A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (PDF: 1.2MB)