John Thorpe
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John Thorpe or Thorp (c.1565–1655?; fl.1570–1618) was an English architect.


Life

Little is known of his life, and his work is dubiously inferred, rather than accurately known, from a folio of drawings in the
Sir John Soane's Museum Sir John Soane's Museum is a Historic house museum, house museum, located next to Lincoln's Inn Fields in Holborn, London, which was formerly the home of Neoclassical architecture, neo-classical architect John Soane. It holds many drawings and ...
, to which
Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...
called attention, in 1780, in his ''Anecdotes of Painting''; but how far these were his own is uncertain. He was engaged on a number of important English houses of his time, and several, such as
Longleat Longleat is a stately home about west of Warminster in Wiltshire, England. A leading and early example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, it is a Grade I listed building and the seat of the Marquesses of Bath. Longleat is set in of parkl ...
, have been attributed to him on grounds which cannot be sustained, because they were built before he was born. In 1570 when he was five years old, he laid the foundation stone of Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire his father being the Master mason of the project. He was probably the designer of Charlton House, in Charlton, London; the original Longford Castle, Wiltshire;
Condover Hall Condover Hall is a Grade I listed three-storey Elizabethan sandstone building, described as the grandest manor house in Shropshire, standing in a conservation area on the outskirts of Condover village, Shropshire, England, four miles south of ...
and the original
Holland House Holland House, originally known as Cope Castle, was an early Jacobean architecture, Jacobean country house in Kensington, London, situated in a country estate that is now Holland Park. It was built in 1605 by the diplomat Sir Walter Cope. The b ...
,
Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...
; and he is said to have been engaged on Rushton Hall, Northamptonshire, and
Audley End Audley End House is a largely early 17th-century country house outside Saffron Walden, Essex, England. It is a prodigy house, known as one of the finest Jacobean houses in England. Audley End is now one-third of its original size, but is st ...
, Essex (with Bernard Janssens). Thorpe's major contribution to world architecture is the humble and now-ubiquitous corridor, included in a 1597 plan of a "Great House" in
Chelsea, London Chelsea is an area in West London, England, due south-west of Kilometre zero#Great Britain, Charing Cross by approximately . It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the SW postcode area, south-western p ...
, allowing independent access to rooms. Thorpe marked the corridor in the plan, thought to be for Beaufort House for
Sir Robert Cecil Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, (1 June 156324 May 1612) was an English statesman noted for his direction of the government during the Union of the Crowns, as Tudor England gave way to Stuart period, Stuart rule (1603). Lord Salisbury ser ...
, as "A long Entry through all". Previously, grand houses had a so-called ''enfilade'' arrangement of rooms in which each room led to the next via connecting internal doors. The enfilade remained popular in continental Europe long after the corridor was widely adopted in England. Thorpe's inspiration may have been the one-sided covered walkway common in monastic
cloisters A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a warm southe ...
. Thorpe joined the Office of Works as a clerk, then practised independently as a land surveyor. In August 1605 the
Earl of Dorset Earl of Dorset is a title that has been created at least four times in the Peerage of England. Some of its holders have at various times also held the rank of marquess and, from 1720, duke. A possible first creation is not well documented. About ...
wrote to "Mr Thorpe" to survey and make "plots" for the rebuilding of
Ampthill Ampthill () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It lies between Bedford, Bedfordshire, Bedford and Luton. At the 2021 census it had a population of 8,825. Histor ...
for
Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I. She was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and List of English royal consorts, Queen of Engl ...
and Prince Henry. For his work in 1606 surveying Ampthill and Holdenby House (intended as a residence for Charles, Duke of York), Thorpe was paid £70.Frederick Devon, ''Issues of the Exchequer'' (London, 1836), 37, 86. From 1611 he was assistant to Robert Tresswell, Surveyor-General of Woods South of the Trent. He retired in the 1630s but seems to have lived to an advanced age, dying around 1655.


Architectural works

* Ampthill Park House, Bedfordshire * Aston Hall,
Aston Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Located immediately to the north-west of Birmingham city centre, Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a wards of the United Kingdom, war ...
*
Audley End Audley End House is a largely early 17th-century country house outside Saffron Walden, Essex, England. It is a prodigy house, known as one of the finest Jacobean houses in England. Audley End is now one-third of its original size, but is st ...
, Essex * Bramshill House, Hampshire (attributed) *Thornton College, Lincolnshire, for Sir Vincent Skinner c1607-1610 * Charlton House, London *Holland House, Kensington * Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire * Longford Castle, Wiltshire * Rushton Hall, Northamptonshire *
Somerhill House Somerhill House ( ) is a listed building, Grade I listed Jacobean architecture, Jacobean mansion situated near Tonbridge, Kent, United Kingdom. It was built for Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde, The 4th Earl of Clanricarde in 1611–13. T ...
, Kent


Gallery

File:Charlton House 01.jpg, Charlton House, Greenwich File:Holland House from The Queen's London (1896).jpg, Holland House, Kensington, it was bombed in the London Blitz and only a wing survives File:Longford Castle rear.jpg, Longford Castle, Wiltshire File:Audley End House - geograph.org.uk - 70520.jpg, Audley End, Essex, this is the surviving fragment, there used to be a great courtyard in front of this range of buildings File:Somerhill - geograph.org.uk - 191792.jpg,
Somerhill House Somerhill House ( ) is a listed building, Grade I listed Jacobean architecture, Jacobean mansion situated near Tonbridge, Kent, United Kingdom. It was built for Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde, The 4th Earl of Clanricarde in 1611–13. T ...
, Kent, designed by Thorpe in 1611


Notes


References

* * * H. M. Colvin, ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840'' (1997) {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorpe, John 16th-century English architects 1650s deaths Year of birth uncertain 17th-century English architects