John Vardy (February 1718 – 17 May 1765) was an English architect attached to the Royal

Office of Works The Office of Works was an organisation responsible for structures and exterior spaces, first established as part of the English royal household in 1378 to oversee the building and maintenance of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it be ...

from 1736. He was a close follower of the

neo-Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Republic of Venice, Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetr ...

architect

William Kent William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, b ...

. John Vardy was born to a simple working family in Durham. His early training is obscure. His career at the Office of Works, which demanded most of his attention throughout his life, began in May 1736, when he was appointed Clerk of the Works at Greenwich Hospital. He was Clerk of the Works at

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

, January 1745 to 1746; Clerk of the Works at

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

and

St James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, England. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster. Although no longer the principal residence ...

, December 1746 to 1754;

Kensington Palace Kensington Palace is a royal residence situated within Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has served as a residence for the British royal family since the 17th century and is currently the ...

, July 1754 to 1761. He also served as Clerk of the Works at

Chelsea Hospital The Royal Hospital Chelsea is an Old Soldiers' retirement home and nursing home for some 300 veterans of the British Army. Founded as an almshouse — the ancient sense of the word "hospital" — by King Charles II in 1682, it is a site ...

and as Surveyor to the Mint.

Vardy and William Kent

His relations with William Kent, his senior at the Board of Works, began around 1736 and remained close. Vardy prepared for publication the classic of the Palladian revival, ''Some Designs of Mr. Inigo Jones and Mr. William Kent'', 1744. He redrew and engraved Kent's drawing of the Great Hall at Hampton Court, and drew up Kent's ambitious designs for new

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

, under Kent's direction. After Kent's death Vardy and Thomas Robinson saw Kent's Horse Guards, Whitehall, through to completion; Vardy published engravings of his redrawings of the plan and elevation.

Private clients

Vardy's routine at the Office of Works constrained his time to devote to private clients. His

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

buildings have mostly suffered the fate of city constructions and have gone. His most prominent surviving work is Spencer House, St. James's, where, ironically the chief fame is garnered by the very early neoclassical interiors of the upper floor, by James "Athenian" Stuart. For Joseph Damer, Vardy probably designed Dorchester House, Park Lane, London, begun in 1751–52. He exhibited designs for interiors at the Society of Artists, 1764. The house was demolished in 1849.

Family

Vardy's will mentions his brother Thomas Vardy, carver in Park Street, Grosvenor Square, and his son, John Vardy Jr. who succeeded his father as Surveyor to the Royal Mint. He remodeled and extended

Giacomo Leoni Giacomo Leoni (; 1686 – 8 June 1746), also known as James Leoni, was an List of Italian architects, Italian architect, born in Venice. He was a devotee of the work of Florence, Florentine Renaissance architecture, Renaissance architect Leon Ba ...

's Queensberry House in

Burlington Gardens Burlington Gardens is a street in central London, on land that was once part of the Burlington Estate. Location The street is immediately to the north of the Royal Academy of Arts and joins Old Bond Street and New Bond Street in the west and ...

, for Henry Paget, from 1785 to 1789; as Uxbridge House it survives, housing the

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...

. His niece Sarah married the sculptor Richard Westmacott.Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, Rupert Gunnis

Gallery of architectural work

File:Spencer House.JPG, Spencer House, west front File:Spencer House West Front.jpg, Spencer House, west front File:Spencer House North Front.jpg, Spencer House, north front File:Spencer House Thomas Malton Jr pub 1800 edited.jpg, Spencer House, 1800

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vardy, John British neoclassical architects 1718 births 1765 deaths People from Durham, England 18th-century English architects Architects from County Durham