Architects

Name:

Thomas Harrison

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

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Exact DOB:

08/07/1744

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Date of Death:

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Exact DOD:

29/03/1829

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Bio Notes :

Thomas Harrison was born in Richmond, Yorkshire, the son of a joiner, and baptised there on 7 August 1744. Early in his life he displayed a talent for drawing which was noticed by Sir Lawrence Dundas of Aske. He went to Italy at Sir Lawrence’s expense in 1769 accompanied by the landscape painter George Cuitt. While in Rome he submitted a design to Pope Clement XIV for converting the Cortile del Belvidere in the Vatican into a museum and the design was well received but not carried out in the end of the day. He also competed in the annual architectural competition of the Academy of St Luke which carried with it the eligibility of membership of the Academy. Harrison was not successful but after complaining to the Pope that he had been unfairly passed over, he was eventually admitted to the Academy by the exercise of the Pope’s special prerogative as patron of the Academy. The Pope later commissioned Harrison to design extensions to the sacristy at St Peter’s but he died before this could be carried out.

Harrison returned to England in 1776 and the following year he exhibited drawings (which he had made for the Academy of St Luke competition) for the remodelling of the Piazza del Popolo in a neo-classical style which was favoured on the Continent at that time. He returned briefly to Richmond but was living in Lancaster in the 1780s and by 1795 had moved to Chester.

In 1782 he obtained an important commission for a bridge in Lancaster over the River Lune. It was completed by 1788. It was the first large public bridge to be built in England with a level surface from bank to bank. Harrison’s use of elliptical arches between pairs of Doric columns influenced Rennie and was used by the latter at Kelso Bridge, Waterloo Bridge and London Bridge. The Lancaster commission led to others and Harrison made successful designs for bridges at Derby and Kendal. In 1776-8 he drew up plans for a triumphal arch bridge over the Thames where Waterloo Bridge was to be built later. This commission was not executed but his criticisms of the design by the engineer Dodd led to the employment of John Rennie. About the same time he proposed a scheme for a quay along the Thames from Westminster to the City (anticipating the Victorian Embankment). His largest commission as a bridge designer was for the Grosvenor Bridge at Chester which was begin 1827 and completed after his death. At the time it was the largest masonry span bridge in the world. The work was carried out by his pupil William Cole and the civil engineer Jesse Hartley more or less adhered to Harrison’s designs.

Harrison designed several country houses, most notably Broomhall for Lord Elgin in Fife. But he is mainly known as a designer of civic buildings, generally in the Greek Revival style, in Manchester, Liverpool and Chester. Howard Colvin considers Chester Castle to be his finest group of Greek Revival buildings; and the Anglesey Column, the Memorial Arch at Holyhead and the Jubilee Tower on Moel Fammau were among the most outstanding public monuments of the time. Although his reputation lies on his Greek revival buildings, he did design in the Gothic style - for example at Lancaster Castle and at the steeple he added to St Nicholas Church in Lancaster. His work is set apart from more run of the mill Gothic and Greek Revival designs by its bold sense of mass, his use of good masonry and his capacity to design in 3 dimensions.

Harrison was highly regarded by his contemporaries, including Cockerell who said he had ‘a spark divine’. His work is concentrated in the north west of England. The fact that this was relatively remote and that he was naturally a diffident person meant he never became a public figure like Soane or Smirke. As a person he was ‘a plain man in person and manners’ and ‘of great modesty and diffidence’.

Harrison held only one public office, the surveyorship of Cheshire.

He died at his house in Chester on 29 March 1829 aged 84. He was survived by his widow and two daughters. There are various portraits of Harrison, at least two being in the Grosvenor Museum. There is a silhouette profile in the RIBA and a marble bust was exhibited at the Liverpool Academy in 1824. A plaster copy is now in the Portico Library, Manchester.

Drawings by Harrison survive in Chester City Archives and the Cheshire Museums Service at Northwich, the Grosvenor Museum at Chester, the County Record Office, the RIBA Drawings Collection and the Yale Center for British Art.

Bio Notes continued...

Additional Notes

The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:

Private Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From Char	Date From Type	Date To Char	Date To Type	Notes
Richmond Yorkshire England	Private/business
Rome Italy	Private/business
Lancaster England	Private/business
Chester Cheshire England	Private/business

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Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date To
Richmond Yorkshire England	Private/business	174	1769
Rome Italy	Private/business	1769	1776
Lancaster England	Private/business	178
Chester Cheshire England	Private/business	179

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This person was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):

Buildings and Designs2 classic

Building Name	Date Started	Town, District or Village	City or County	Country	Notes
Kennet House	In year 1793	Alloa	Clackmannanshire	Scotland
Gosford House	In year 1794		East Lothian	Scotland	Works. In 1793 Lord Wemyss paid a draughtsman 5 guineas for copying \'some of Mr Harrison\'s plans\' and in 1794 he paid Harrison Â£31 10s for alteration Robert Adam\'s plans for Gosford House which was under construction since 1791.
Gosford House, mausoleum	In year 1795		East Lothian	Scotland	No payment to Harrison for designing this specifically in accounts but among Harrison\'s drawings in the Salt Museum, Northwich there is a perspective which corresponds with the mausoleum as built (with the exception oif the columns which are unfluted Tuscan as executed rather than Doric in the drawing).
Broomhall	In year 1796	Limekilns, Dunfermline	Fife	Scotland	North front left unfinished until 1865-9 when existing porch added.
Colinton House	In year 1801	Colinton	Edinburgh	Scotland	Provided plan. Richard Crichton drew the elevations to correspond with Harrison\'s plan.

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part
Colvin, Howard	A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840	2008	London: YUP. 4th edition
DNB	Dictionary of National Biography
APSD	The Dictionary of Architecture		The Architectural Publication Society (8v 1852-1892)	ed Wyatt Papworth
Institution of Civil Engineers	Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers	2002	V.1 and 2
Ockrim, M A R	The Life and Work of Thomas Harrison of Chester	1988	PhD thesis, Courtauld Institute of Art

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

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Periodical Name	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Gentleman\'s Magazine	1829	i	pp468-70
Builder	1863	xxi	pp203-205
Country Life	1971/04		14 and 22 April 1971 and 6 May 1971. 'The Architecture of Thomas Harrison' by J M Crook.

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

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Private Addresses2 classic

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

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