James Gibbs

James Gibbs

James Gibbs (born December 23, 1682 in Aberdeen , † August 5, 1754 in London ) was a Scottish architect .

After initial training in his hometown, he went to Rome to study architecture. Here he encountered the buildings of Carlo Fontana , which had a lasting influence on him.

In 1710 he came to London, where he became a student of Christopher Wren . In the following decades he worked as an architect in England and Ireland . He built the church of St Mary le Strand . He was also responsible as an architect for St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, which was built between 1722 and 1726 and is considered his main work.

In 1728 he published a treatise on his designs under the title Book of Architecture . Four years later his work Rules appeared for Drawing the Several Parts of Architecture .

Between 1737 and 1749, the Radcliffe Camera , a reading room of the Bodleian Library belonging to the University of Oxford , was built in Oxford according to his designs . For this he was awarded the honorary title of Master of Arts .

At the University of Cambridge he was responsible for building the Senate House . In addition to various buildings, James Gibbs also designed numerous grave monuments. Suspicions that he provided the template for the White House in Washington, DC , however, could not be substantiated.

James Gibbs is considered one of the most influential Baroque architects in England. He died in 1754.

Web links

Commons : James Gibbs  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The small encyclopedia , Encyclios-Verlag, Zurich, 1950, volume 1, page 615