Biography

English architect. He came to London, and was in 1746 appointed clerk of the works to Greenwich Hospital, where he superintended in 1763 the building of the infirmary, designed by James Stuart (1713-1788). Between 1750 and 1775 he assisted Horace Walpole in executing the latter's plans for Strawberry Hill. Simultaneously he was clerk of the works at St. James's, Whitehall, and Westminster, and surveyor to the London board of customs, for whom he designed, between 1770 and 1775, the excise office in Old Broad Street.

In 1770 he was secretary to the board of works, an office which he retained until his death. He made a design for rebuilding the Savoy, but this was superseded, on his death, by Sir William Chambers's plan for Somerset House. He died of gout at his residence in Scotland Yard on 10 Oct. 1775, and was buried in the chapel at Greenwich Hospital.

His brother Thomas (1727-1810) was master gardener to George III at Kensington, while another brother Robert was an architect in Edinburgh.