London: The Architects Who Shaped the City

From the Shard to St. Paul’s, London’s architecture is iconic and instantly recognisable. With a capital as large and diverse as ours, it’s hard to pinpoint who had the biggest hand in shaping this city – or so you’d think. We’ve delved into the design depths to give you an insight into the architects that gave us the original, inimitable, London look.

Indigo Jones (1573-1652)

Inigo Jones is the founding father of our architecture. He was the first to bring classical Roman and Renaissance buildings to Britain: a mammoth makeover that lasts today. Jones believed in Vitruvian architecture: that buildings should be solid, useful and beautiful. He wasn’t always an architect though, beginning his career in theatre designing costumes. He quickly moved to the stage, introducing movable scenery and the proscenium arch (the stage frame) to English theatre. Not only is he the original London architect, but our theatres would be a very different story without him.

Notable builds: Covent Garden Square and St. Paul’s Church, National Maritime Museum, Banqueting House Whitehall, Queen’s Chapel

Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723)

Wren’s phenomenal character comes through in his buildings, which saturate the city. His turn to architecture from science was well-timed: he happened to draw a redesign for St. Paul’s a week before the 1666 fire destroyed it and the Square Mile. Wren also designed 32 other churches after the fire and nurtured other influential architects like Nicholas Hawksmoor. Without Wren, it’s not only London that would look like a stranger: St. Paul’s became the influence for buildings in France, Russia, the US and more. An incredibly learned man, Wren was an Oxford Professor and founder of the Royal Society – the UK’s Academy of Science. Wren easily changed a lot more than just our architecture.

Notable builds: St. Paul’s Cathedral, Monument, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Royal Hospital Chelsea, Greenwich Hospital, Royal Naval College, Greenwich Royal Observatory

John Nash (1752-1835)

Nash wasn’t always a success; in fact, after his death he left huge debts, and his lack of knighthood is supposedly due to his extraordinary overspend on Buckingham Palace. Whilst you may not know his name, you’ll know his buildings instantly. Not only is he responsible for the Palace we know today, but he is the man behind Regent Street – that beautiful curve of white buildings that even Londoners still admire. In short, he is responsible for most of Regency London’s architecture. Nash’s legacy is more than that though. Unlike others, he designed parks too and was director of the Regent’s Canal Company. He changed our green spaces and waterways, shaping the capital from its foundations to its flora.

Notable builds: Buckingham Palace, Regent Street, All Soul’s Church, Marble Arch, Theatre Royal Haymarket, Regent’s Park, St. James’s Park

Sir Gilbert George Scott (1811-1878)

Scott was a Gothic revival architect and his buildings are grand, striking and stunning. He’s the man behind St. Pancras Station’s Midland Grand Hotel and was in charge of the restoration of Westminster Abbey. His buildings aren’t his only lasting London landmark however, as he designed our infamous red telephone boxes. On top of this, he was instrumental in redesigning the workhouses of London, shaping our city’s history too.

Notable builds: Albert Memorial, Midland Grand Hotel, Foreign Commonwealth Office, Chapel at King’s College, Westminster Abbey restoration

Sir Horace Jones (1819-1887)

This Jones had quite the direct say in how London looks as he was architect and surveyor to the City of London and President of the Royal British Institute of Architects. His position and authority may well have got him his commissions, but we can forgive nepotism when it gives us Tower Bridge. More importantly to the locals, Jones renovated the capital’s most famous markets.

Notable builds: Tower Bridge, Smithfield, Leadenhall and Billingsgate Markets

Baron Norman Foster (1935-)

Norman Foster is arguably London’s leading architect today. One-off buildings like the Shard, London Eye and the ever-divisive Walkie-Talkie are changing our skylines, but there’s one man that paved their way. Foster has given us numerous marvels that have brought London into the modern day and beyond. The winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize (the ‘Nobel Prize of Architecture’), he deserves his place on any top architectural list.

Notable builds: British Museum Court, Millenium Bridge, The Gherkin, Moor House, Wembley Stadium, City Hall, Stansted Airport Terminal

Special Mention:

Leslie Green (1875-1908) and Charles Holden (1875-1960), the men who designed most of the London Underground stations. Holden’s designs were an iconic legacy, but those classic tiles and red exteriors are all down to Green. There can be no doubt that London’s world-changing transport system wouldn’t be as iconic without these unsung two.

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