Henry William Inwood was an English architect, archaeologist, classical scholar and writer. He collaborated with his father William Inwood

William Inwood

William Inwood was an English architect, surveyor and writer on architecture.His father was bailiff to the Kenwood estate. He was the author of the Tables for the Purchasing of Estates, Freehold, Copyhold, or Leasehold, Annuities, &c. first published in 1811 and frequently revised and reprinted...

, on a number of churches. These included the classical St Pancras New Church

St Pancras New Church

St Pancras Parish Church, sometimes referred to as St Pancras New Church to distinguish it from St Pancras Old Church, is a 19th century Greek Revival church in London, England.-Location:...

 (1819), All Saints, Camden Town

All Saints, Camden Town

All Saints, Camden Town is a church in the Camden Town area of London, England. It was built for the Church of England, but it is now a Greek Orthodox church known as the Greek Orthodox Church of All Saints...

 (1822–4), and St Peter's, Regent Square (1822–5, now demolished), and the Gothic St Mary's Chapel

St Mary's Church, Somers Town

St Mary's Church is a Church of England church behind Euston station in Somers Town, London Borough of Camden. It was designed by Henry William Inwood, and built in 1852 by I. T. Seabrook...

, Somers Town

Somers Town, London

Somers Town, was named for Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers. The area in St Pancras, London, was originally granted by William III to John Somers, Lord Chancellor and Baron Somers of Evesham. It was to be strongly influenced by the three mainline north London railway termini: Euston , St...

 (1824–7).

Henry William was known as a scholar of the Greek Revival, journeying in Italy and Greece (1818–19), and publishing as a result The Erechtheion at Athens: Fragments of Athenian Architecture and a few remains in Attica, Megara, and Epirus (1827), the standard work on that temple. The Erechtheion was also the basis for the porticos, caryatid

Caryatid

A caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term karyatides literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town of Peloponnese...

s and windows of his St Pancras New Church, whose tower is based on the Tower of the Winds

Tower of the Winds

The Tower of the Winds, also called horologion , is an octagonal Pentelic marble clocktower on the Roman agora in Athens. The structure features a combination of sundials, a water clock and a wind vane...

.

In 1834 he published a pamphlet entitled Of the Resources of Design in the Architecture of Greece, Egypt, and other Countries, obtained by the Studies of the Architects of those Countries from Nature, which suggested that that the flutings of Doric columns were taken from reeds, mineral formations or seashells, that Egyptian mummies were wrapped in imitation of the cocoons of moths, and that the image of the sphynx was inspired by a butterfly chrysalis.

Inwood died in a shipwreck on a journey to Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

when the ship he was in foundered with no survivors.

Sources

• Ask.com
• A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)