Thomas Ripley (architect)
Encyclopedia
Career
He first kept a coffee house in Wood Street, off CheapsideCheapside
Cheapside is a street in the City of London that links Newgate Street with the junction of Queen Victoria Street and Mansion House Street. To the east is Mansion House, the Bank of England, and the major road junction above Bank tube station. To the west is St. Paul's Cathedral, St...
, London and in 1705 was admitted to the Carpenter's Company. An ex-carpenter, he rose by degrees to become an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and Surveyor in the royal Office of Works
Office of Works
The Office of Works was established in the English Royal household in 1378 to oversee the building of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department within the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings...
. He was influenced by the Palladian style, but never lost his provincial manner, which earned the private derision of Sir John Vanbrugh
John Vanbrugh
Sir John Vanbrugh – 26 March 1726) was an English architect and dramatist, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse and The Provoked Wife , which have become enduring stage favourites...
and the public scorn of Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
.
His works include Houghton Hall
Houghton Hall
Houghton Hall is a country house in Norfolk, England. It was built for the de facto first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, and it is a key building in the history of Palladian architecture in England...
for Sir Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC , known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain....
, which was first designed by the Palladian architects Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell was a pioneering Scottish architect who spent most of his career in England, and is credited as a founder of the Georgian style...
and William Kent
William Kent
William Kent , born in Bridlington, Yorkshire, was an eminent English architect, landscape architect and furniture designer of the early 18th century.He was baptised as William Cant.-Education:...
. These designs were greatly altered by Ripley.
His appointment in 1715 as Labourer in Trust at the Savoy marked the beginning of his continuous rise through the Office of the King's works. In 1721 he succeeded Grinling Gibbons
Grinling Gibbons
Grinling Gibbons was an English sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England, including St Paul's Cathedral, Blenheim Palace and Hampton Court Palace. He was born and educated in Holland where his father was a merchant...
as "Master Carpenter" and in 1726 he succeeded Vanbrugh as Comptroller of the King's Works
Office of Works
The Office of Works was established in the English Royal household in 1378 to oversee the building of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department within the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings...
, largely to the influence of Walpole. Walpole also engineered an additional appointment as Surveyor of Greenwich Hospital which was completed by him.
Buildings for the Office of Works included the Custom House
Custom House, City of London
The Custom House, on the north bank of the Thames in the City of London was formerly in use for the collection of customs duties. It was in use for many centuries and rebuilt on a number of occasions....
(1718) and the Admiralty (1723-6), known as the Ripley Building, in London as well as the Queen Mary Block and chapel at Greenwich from 1729-1750. In 1739 he was collaborating with William Kent on designs for the New Houses of Parliament and between 1750-54 he made a great number of changes to Kent's designs for the Horse Guards
Horse Guards (building)
Horse Guards is a large grade I listed building in the Palladian style between Whitehall and Horse Guards Parade in London, England. It was built between 1751 and 1753 by John Vardy to a design by William Kent. The building was constructed on the site of the Guard House of the old Whitehall Palace,...
.
His appointment as executant architect at Houghton was the first of a number of Walpole commissions. Here his responsibility for the applied portico and the opening of the colonnades to the garden on the west side demonstrated that he was more than a project manager. From 1725 he designed and built Wolterton Hall
Wolterton Hall
Wolterton Hall is an Georgian country house in the English county of Norfolk.The Hall was built by Thomas Ripley in the 1720s for Horatio Walpole, politician, diplomat and younger brother of Britain's first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole...
in Norfolk for Sir Robert's younger brother Horatio, the 1st Lord Walpole and was chiefly responsible for converting a formal park into a naturalised landscape. Until 1731 he was in charge of the major alterations at Raynham for the Townshend family.
Ripley was also involved in various speculative adventures, mainly in central London. In 1726 he was the original lessee of the west side of Grosvenor Square
Grosvenor Square
Grosvenor Square is a large garden square in the exclusive Mayfair district of London, England. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from their surname, "Grosvenor".-History:...
, and although his contribution there was limited to 16 Grosvenor Street he built a number of other houses in central London. Ripley was active in promoting the scheme to build Westminster Bridge and was also involved in Richard Holt's failed attempt to develop artificial stone. Nevertheless he seems to have been an eager investor, being one of the few to make a fortune out of the South Sea Bubble.
Despite the dull and sometimes ill-proportioned character of his public buildings, his pragmatic approach and undoubted skill at managing large projects ensured that Greenwich was completed and fulfilled its function. Ripley always retained a craftsman's concern for practicality. At his masterpiece at Wolterton this resulted in a building of controlled austerity which demonstrated how convenience and dignity could be achieved through subtle planning. Wolterton's ground plan anticipates those of many villas of the 1750s.
Personal life
On 17 November 1737 his first wife died and on 22 April 1742 he married Miss Bucknall of HamptonHampton, London
Hampton is a suburban area, centred on an old village on the north bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in England. Formerly it was in the county of Middlesex, which was formerly also its postal county. The population is about 9,500...
, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, an heiress said to be worth £40,000. Ripley died at his house in Old Scotland Yard
Great Scotland Yard (street)
Great Scotland Yard is a street in the St. James's district of Westminster, London, connecting Northumberland Avenue and Whitehall. It is best known as the location of the rear entrance to the original headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London....
on 10 February 1758, aged 75, leaving three sons and four daughters.
He was buried in Hampton, but no memorial survives. A portrait by Joseph Highmore
Joseph Highmore
Joseph Highmore was an English portrait and historical painter, illustrator and author.-Life:Highmore was born in London, the third son of Edward Highmore, a coal merchant, and nephew of Thomas Highmore, Serjeant Painter to William III. He displayed early ability but was discouraged by his family...
is in the National Portrait Gallery and his Mastership of the Carpenter's Company (1742-3) is commemorated by a plaque at the Guildhall, London
Guildhall, London
The Guildhall is a building in the City of London, off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. It has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation...
.
One of his sons moved into a house he had designed on Streatham Common
Streatham Common
Streatham Common is a large open space on the southern edge of Streatham, London.It is one of two former areas of common land in the former parish of Streatham. The other is now known as Tooting Bec Common After inclosure, the Common was purchased for use as a public open space under the powers...
now called Ripley House, at 10 Streatham Common South.
Works
- Blatherwycke HallBlatherwyckeBlatherwycke is a village and civil parish in the East Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England. It is about north-east of Corby. It is near Blatherwycke Lake, on the Willow Brook.-Demographics:...
, Northamptonshire, 1720 - Greenwich Hospital was completed by him
- Horse GuardsHorse Guards (building)Horse Guards is a large grade I listed building in the Palladian style between Whitehall and Horse Guards Parade in London, England. It was built between 1751 and 1753 by John Vardy to a design by William Kent. The building was constructed on the site of the Guard House of the old Whitehall Palace,...
- Houghton HallHoughton HallHoughton Hall is a country house in Norfolk, England. It was built for the de facto first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, and it is a key building in the history of Palladian architecture in England...
- Old Admiralty, Whitehall, London, 1723-1726
- Ripley House, at 10 Streatham CommonStreatham CommonStreatham Common is a large open space on the southern edge of Streatham, London.It is one of two former areas of common land in the former parish of Streatham. The other is now known as Tooting Bec Common After inclosure, the Common was purchased for use as a public open space under the powers...
South, London - Wolterton HallWolterton HallWolterton Hall is an Georgian country house in the English county of Norfolk.The Hall was built by Thomas Ripley in the 1720s for Horatio Walpole, politician, diplomat and younger brother of Britain's first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole...
, Norfolk, 1727-1741