William Chambers (architect)  

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Sir William Chambers (27 October 1723 – 17 February 1796) was a Scottish architect, born in Gothenburg, Sweden, where his father was a merchant. Between 1740 and 1749 he was employed by the Swedish East India Company making several voyages to China where he studied Chinese architecture and decoration.

Returning to Europe, he studied architecture in Paris (with J. F. Blondel) and spent five years in Italy. Then, in 1755, he travelled to England and established an architectural practice in London. Through a recommendation of the 4th Earl of Bute he was appointed architectural tutor to the Prince of Wales, later George III, and also, with Robert Adam, Architect of the King's Works. He worked for Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales making fanciful garden buildings at Kew, and in 1757 he published a book of Chinese designs which had a significant influence on contemporary taste. He developed his Chinese interests further with his 'Dissertation on Oriental Gardening' (1772), a fanciful elaboration of contemporary English ideas about the naturalistic style of gardening in China.

In 1759 his more serious and academic Treatise on Civil Architecture had an influence on builders; it went into several editions and was still being republished in 1826. His influence was transmitted also through a host of younger architects trained as pupils in his office, including Thomas Hardwick Junior (1752-1825) who helped build Somerset House with him and who wrote a biography of Chambers's life.

He was the major rival of Adam in British Neoclassicism. Chambers was more international in outlook (his knighthood being originally a Swedish honour) and was influenced by continental neoclassicism (which he in turn influenced) when designing for British clients. A second visit to Paris in 1774 confirmed the French cast to his sober and conservative refined blend of Neoclassicism and Palladian conventions.

In 1766, Chambers was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Chambers died in London in 1796. He is buried in the Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.



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