Samuel Wyatt (8 September 1737, Weeford, Staffs. – London, 8 February 1807) was an
English architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
and
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
. A member of the
Wyatt family, which included several notable 18th- and 19th-century English architects, his work was primarily in a
neoclassical style.
Career

In his twenties, Wyatt was master carpenter and later
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...
's clerk of works at
Kedleston Hall
Kedleston Hall is a neo-classical manor house, and seat of the Curzon family, located in Kedleston, Derbyshire, approximately 4 miles (6 km) north-west of Derby. The medieval village of Kedleston was moved in 1759 by Nathaniel Curzon to ma ...
in
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...
, which was a landmark in English
neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing sty ...
. He later worked with his brother
James Wyatt
James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806.
Early life
W ...
on the
Pantheon in Oxford Street, London. He designed neoclassical country houses such as
Tatton Park in Cheshire, and
Trinity House
"Three In One"
, formation =
, founding_location = Deptford, London, England
, status = Royal Charter corporation and registered charity
, purpose = Maintenance of lighthouses, buoys and beacons
, he ...
in London and
Digswell House in Hertfordshire.
Wyatt's career was diverse. He designed the
Albion Mills in London, which was the first in the world to be powered by steam engines, and patented designs for cast iron bridges. He designed model farm buildings, cottages, and several lighthouses, including those at
Dungeness,
Longships and
Flamborough Head
Flamborough Head () is a promontory, long on the Yorkshire coast of England, between the Filey and Bridlington bays of the North Sea. It is a chalk headland, with sheer white cliffs. The cliff top has two standing lighthouse towers, the old ...
.
Between 1784 and 1807 Samuel worked as architect to the
Holkham Hall
Holkham Hall ( or ) is an 18th-century country house near the village of Holkham, Norfolk, England, constructed in the Neo-Palladian style for the 1st Earl of Leicester,The Earldom of Leicester has been, to date, created seven times. Thomas ...
estate,
[Martins, Susanna Wade. "A Great Estate At Work: The Holkham Estate and its Inhabitants in the Nineteenth Century". Cambridge University Press, 1980. 155. ] he designed several farms, 'The Great Barn' as well as the new
kitchen garden
The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...
with its hothouses, including 'The Vinery'. He used a simplified new-classical style for these buildings.
In 1791 Samuel was hired by Rev Edward Hughes to design and build an early version of
Kinmel Hall in Abergele, Wales, which he completed in 1802 and which is referred to as the Wyatt Kinmel.
Samuel Wyatt developed a friendship with
Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engin ...
, for whom he designed
Soho House in the
Handsworth Staffordshire (now
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
) in 1789. Prior to this, Boulton recommended him to the proprietors of the
Theatre Royal on
New Street, Birmingham
New Street is a street in central Birmingham, England. It is one of the city's principal thoroughfares and shopping streets linking Victoria Square to the Bullring Shopping Centre. It gives its name to New Street railway station, although t ...
in 1777, and in 1780, a
portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many c ...
of coupled
Ionic column
The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite ...
s between arched wings was added to the front of the theatre to a design by Wyatt. It is also believed that he was recommended by Boulton to
James Watt, for whom Wyatt designed
Heathfield House in Handsworth. This was completed in 1790. He was also responsible for work at
Moseley Hall in the
Moseley
Moseley is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. The area is a popular cosmopolitan residential location and leisure destination, with a number of bars and restaurants. The area also has a number of boutiques and ot ...
area of Birmingham.
Together with
Charles Tatham he also designed
Dropmore House
Dropmore Park is a private estate located along Dropmore Road, north of Burnham, Buckinghamshire, England, about in size. The park with its buildings, including Dropmore House, have Grade I listed building status. Dropmore House is one of the m ...
in
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-eas ...
, which was built in the 1790s for the
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
at the time,
Lord Grenville, who pushed through the law abolishing the slave trade.
At the turn of the 19th century, he remodelled and extended
Shugborough Hall for
Viscount Anson.
Gallery of architectural work
File:Tatton Hall.jpg, Tatton Hall, Cheshire
File:TrinityHouseLondon.JPG, Trinity House, London (Samuel's work is in stone on the left)
File:Soho House (frontal view).jpg, Soho House, Staffordshire
File:Heathfield Hall, Handsworth by Allen Edward Everitt.jpg, Heathfield Hall
Heathfield Hall (sometimes referred to as Heathfield House) was a house in Handsworth, Staffordshire (the area became part of Birmingham in 1911), England, built for the engineer James Watt.
In 1790, Watt's business partner Matthew Boulton r ...
- 1835 painting by Allen Edward Everitt
File:Shugborough Hall 03.jpg, Shugborough Hall, Staffordshire
File:Doddington31.jpg, Doddington Hall, Cheshire
File:The Great Barn, Holkham Hall Park - geograph.org.uk - 369552.jpg, The Great Barn, Holkham estate Norfolk
File:Belmont House - geograph.org.uk - 1597121.jpg, Belmont House Belmont House may refer to:
* Belmont House, Toronto, care home in Canada
* Belmont House, Shetland, lairds house in Scotland
* Belmont House (Montevideo), hotel in Uruguay
* Belmont House, Herefordshire, country house in Herefordshire, England
...
, Throwley, Kent, built 1789–1793 for Colonel John Montresor
File:Kinmael,_1794.jpg, Kinmel Hall, Abergele
File:Flamborough Head Lighthouse, Yorkshire (2756623737).jpg, Flamborough Head Lighthouse, Yorkshire
See also
*
Wyatt family
References
*
External links
John Martin Robinson's doctoral thesis, "Samuel Wyatt, architect"via Oxford Research Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyatt, Samuel
British neoclassical architects
1737 births
1807 deaths
18th-century English architects
Architects from Staffordshire
Samuel
Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bi ...