John James English Architect
John James was an English architect who lived from the late 17th to the early 18th centuries. He was most remembered for his work in and around the Twickenham district where many of his most memorable designs can be found, among them St. Mary's Church, which he rebuilt, and the house that he built for the Secretary for Scotland, James Johnson. This house was later named the Orleans House and has since been demolished.
Not everyone was impressed with James' work however. He received his share of criticism from people such as Howard Colvin who felt that James, although a competent enough architect, lacked the creativity of other renowned architects of the day. It was Colvin's opinion that John James's work veered towards the plain and unadventurous.
John James was born sometime in the year 1673 to a parson from Hampshire who was also named John James. The senior James was a headmaster at the Holy Ghost School in Basingstoke and that is where the younger James received his earliest education.
The year 1690 saw James working as an apprentice to Matthew Bancks who was Master Carpenter to the Crown from 1683 to 1706. Because of this association, James ended up living in the Hampton Court Palace for some time and later married the niece of Bancks. He then worked in Greenwich and by the year 1718 was assigned the position Clerk of the Works, which he shared with Nicholas Hawksmoor.
James would later take over Hawksmoor's position as Surveyor to the Fabric of Westminster Abbey and would be in charge of completing the west towers that Hawksmoor had previously begun. It was also around this time that James worked as a master carpenter at St. Paul's Cathedral under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren.
By 1723, he took over Wren's position as Surveyor to the Fabric at St. Paul's. John James also later served as Master of the Carpenters' Company in the year 1734.
When the Fifty New Churches Act of 1711 was passed, James was assigned to work on the St. George's Church in Hanover Square. A further collaboration with Nicholas Hawksmoor followed and the two worked together on the St John Horsleydown, which was located in Southwark and St Luke Old Street. St. Mary's Church in Rotherhithe, which was completed in 1715, and St Lawrence Whitchurch, which was near Edgware are two of James' other notable works of that period.
In the area that James is most associated with, Twickenham, two churches bear the mark of James design: St. Mary's Church and St Alfege's Church in Kent.
He was responsible for rebuilding St. Mary's Church after its collapse in 1713 and for St. Alfege's, he was tasked with the rebasing of the tower after it had been deemed unsafe for use by local officials.
Wricklemarsh, which was located in Southeast London, was built for Sir Gregory Page in 1723 and is notable for being the only Palladian-style structure that James has worked on.
John James died on May 15th, 1746.
Original Authors: Doods Pangburn
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 16/05/2008
