INWOOD, William
(b. 1766, London, d. 1843, London)

Biography

English architect. He was brought up as an architect and surveyor. From 1813 he exhibited architectural designs at the Royal Academy. He was the architect of the new buildings, completed in 1814, for the Westminster National Free School.

His most notable works are the four churches built in the parish of St Pancras, all designed in collaboration with his eldest son, Henry William Inwood (1794-1843). Three were Neoclassical: the St Pancras New Church (1819-22), the All Saints, Camden Town (1822-24), and the St. Peter's, Regent Square (1822-25, demolished). The other, St Mary's Chapel, Somers Town (1824-27) is in a simplistic Gothic style. The commission to design the parish church was won in a competition, held in 1818. It was a prestigious project, often said to have been the most expensive church constructed in London since the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral. The design draws heavily on the Erechtheion and the Tower of the Winds, both in Athens, for inspiration. The extent of Inwood's contribution to it has been questioned, it could be substantially by his elder son, Henry William Inwood (1794-1843), who visited Athens in 1819 (after the initial plans for the New Church had been drawn up) and later published a book on the Erechtheion.

In 1821 he planned the new galleries for St. John's Church, Westminster. The Westminster Hospital (1832-34) was designed by William Inwood with the assistance of his second son, Charles Frederick Inwood (1798-1840).

William Railton (died 1877), the architect of Nelson's Column, was his pupil.



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