The accomplishments of Nicholas Hawksmoor
Nicholas Hawksmoor was born sometime in 1661 and died in March 25, 1736. An architect by profession, Hawksmoor was born to a family of humble means in the Nottinghamshire town of England.
He had an exceptional career in architecture and was widely considered by historians to have been the middle link in a trio of great baroque architects, which included, aside from Hawksmoor, John Vanbrugh and Christopher James Wren. Nicholas Hawksmoor was the figurative middle ground in architectural accomplishment between Vanbrugh who received no formal architectural training and Wren who was a bit of an intellectual. Howard Colvin in particular was significantly impressed by Hawksmoor's mastery of the classical vocabulary of architecture.
Christopher James Wren was actually Nicholas Hawksmoor's teacher and from 1684 to about 1700 the two worked on a number of projects, which included Chelsea Hospital, St. Paul's Cathedral in London, the Hampton Court Palace and Greenwich Hospital.
Nicholas Hawksmoor was by nature a modest and somewhat reserved man, and it was only because of Christopher Wren's endorsement that Hawksmoor was assigned to the position of Clerk of the Works at Kensington Palace in 1689. Christopher Wren was at this time Surveyor-General.
In 1705, Hawksmoor was appointed Deputy Surveyor of Works at Greenwich and he held both this and his position as Clerk of the Works at Kensington Palace until 1718. This double duty only ended when Wren was replaced by a new, although somewhat less than qualified, surveyor named William Benson. The cause of Hawksmoor's removal from this dual duty was Benson's instatement of his own brother into these positions. This event was a bitter blow to Hawksmoor and Vanbrugh commiserated with him referring to the time as a "Barbarous age".
At this point Hawksmoor worked with John Vanbrugh on a variety of projects, among them the Blenheim place, which was commissioned by John Churchill, who was the First Duke of Marlborough. Nicholas Hawksmoor took charge of this project after Vanbrugh's disassociation with the somewhat demanding Duchess of Marlborough. The two architects also collaborated on Castle Howard for Charles Howard. Howard later went on to become the 3rd Earl of Carlisle.
Although an untrained architect, John Vanbrugh was possessed of an innate ability in the field of architecture and was capable of magnificent designs. The collaboration between Nicholas Hawksmoor and John Vanbrugh was particularly fruitful in that Hawksmoor brought into the partnership a healthy measure of the professional instruction he had received from Christopher James Wren. This allowed the partnership to flourish, with the two men making up for each other's shortcomings and they were able to produce magnificent lasting works of architecture.
The only project in which Nicholas Hawksmoor was the sole architect was the baroque country house of Easton Neston in Northhamptonshire, which he designed for Sir William Fermor in 1702. Hawksmoor did work as sole architect for the remodelling of Ockham House for the Lord Chief Justice King.
Easton Neston was unfortunately never completed but it is significant in that it brought together the best element of both John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor distinct architectural styles.
Original Authors: Doods Pangburn
Edit Update Authors: RPN
Updated On: 07/03/2007
