Thomas Leverton Donaldson (19 October 1795 – 1 August 1885) was a British architect, notable as a pioneer in architectural education, as a co-founder and President of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

and a winner of the RIBA

Royal Gold Medal The Royal Gold Medal for architecture is awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects on behalf of the British monarch, in recognition of an individual's or group's substantial contribution to international architecture. It is gi ...

Life

Donaldson was born in

Bloomsbury Square Bloomsbury Square is a garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, London. Developed in the late 17th century, it was initially known as Southampton Square and was one of the earliest London squares. By the early 19th century, Be ...

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 ...

, the eldest son of architect, James Donaldson. His maternal uncle was

Thomas Leverton Thomas Leverton (c.1743 – 23 September 1824) was an English architect. Life He was born in Waltham Abbey (town), Waltham Abbey, Essex, where he was baptised on 11 June 1743, the son of the builder Lancelot Leverton. Having learned his father' ...

(1743–1824), a distinguished architect sometimes credited with the south range of

Bedford Square Bedford Square is a garden square in the Bloomsbury district of the London Borough of Camden, Borough of Camden in London, England. History Built between 1775 and 1783 as an upper middle class residential area, the square has had many disti ...

in London. Donaldson travelled overseas after leaving school, obtaining a clerical job with a merchant on the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

before volunteering for an expedition to attack the French-controlled island of

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

. Once back in London, he was employed in his father's office, before visiting Italy and Greece to broaden his experience, travelling with

John Lewis Wolfe John Lewis Wolfe (10 April 1798 - 6 October 1881) was an English architect, artist and stockbroker. He had a longtime friendship with fellow architect Charles Barry, who was inspired to become an architect by Wolfe. Early life and education John ...

and W. W. Jenkins.Blissett, David G. (2004), ''Wolfe, John Lewis (1798–1881)'', Oxford National Dictionary of Biography, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/57399. He designed

4 Hamilton Place 4 Hamilton Place is a Listed Building, Grade-II-listed building in Mayfair, London. It is used as a conference centre and wedding venue, located on the north-east edge of Hyde Park Corner, with the nearest access being Hyde Park Corner tube stat ...

for the Earl of Lucan. His first significant work was the church of

Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

, London (built 1826-1829). With

Jacques Ignace Hittorff Jacques Ignace Hittorff or, in German, Jakob Ignaz Hittorff (, ) (Cologne, 20 August 1792 – 25 March 1867) was a German-born French architect who combined advanced structural use of new materials, notably cast iron, with conservative Bea ...

and

Charles Robert Cockerell Charles Robert Cockerell (27 April 1788 – 17 September 1863) was an England, English architect, archaeologist, and writer. He studied architecture under Robert Smirke (architect), Robert Smirke. He went on an extended Grand Tour lasting sev ...

, Donaldson was also a member of the committee formed in 1836 to determine whether the

Elgin Marbles The Elgin Marbles ( ) are a collection of Ancient Greek sculptures from the Parthenon and other structures from the Acropolis of Athens, removed from Ottoman Greece in the early 19th century and shipped to Britain by agents of Thomas Bruce, 7 ...

and other Greek statuary in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

had originally been coloured (see Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects for 1842). Donaldson reworked substantial sections of the Wilkins building at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

(UCL) and designed its Flaxman Gallery and library buildings. He also designed All Saints Church in Gordon Street, London, and was involved with the

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took ...

of 1851. Donaldson pioneered the academic study of

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and in 1841 became the first Professor of Architecture at University College London - a post he retained until 1865. He was also a co-founder of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1834, and continued as its honorary secretary until 1839, then as its foreign secretary for a further twenty years. He designed the institute's Mycenean lions medal and the motto ‘Usui civium, decori urbium'. He was awarded the institute's royal gold medal in 1851 and was its president from 1863 to 1864. He was described by the Prince of Wales in 1879 as the father of the Institute and of the profession'. Donaldson died in Upper Bedford Place, Bloomsbury, and is buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is since 1852 the first (and only) London cemetery to be Crown Estate, Crown property, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington a ...

, London. His nephew was the artist

Andrew Brown Donaldson Andrew Brown Donaldson was a British artist mainly active in the second half of the nineteenth century. He was born in 1840, although some sources say 1838, and was the second son of a solicitor named William Leverton Donaldson and his wife, Mar ...

References

External links

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004Dictionary of Scottish Architects

Portrait of Thomas Leverton Donaldson (1795–1885), PRIBAAlbert Memorial, Thomas Leverton DonaldsonDonaldson, Thomas Leverton, "'Architectural maxims and theorems in elucidation of some of the principles of design and construction: and lecture on the education and character of the architect'' (1847)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donaldson, Thomas Leverton 1795 births 1885 deaths 19th-century English architects Burials at Brompton Cemetery Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal Academics of University College London Architects from London Presidents of the Royal Institute of British Architects Elgin Marbles