Everything about Thomas Harrison Architect totally explained
Thomas Harrison (
1744 –
29 March 1829) was an English
architect and
engineer. He built a number of bridges, including
Grosvenor Bridge in
Chester. He also rebuilt parts of
Chester and
Lancaster castles. His building designs were mainly in the
neoclassical style.
Early life and education
Harrison was baptised on
7 August 1744 in
Richmond,
Yorkshire,
England, the son of Thomas Harrison, a carpenter, and Anne née Brittel. Details of his early life are not known but it's likely he was educated at Richmond grammar school. In 1769
Sir Lawrence Dundas of Aske sent him to Rome with George Cuitt, a
landscape painter, to study Roman
antiquities. In 1770 he submitted a design to
Pope Clement XIV for converting the
Vatican Cortile del Belvedere into a museum. In 1773 he entered a competition organised by the
Accademia di San Luca to re-plan the
Piazza del Popolo. His design was exhibited at the
Royal Academy in 1777. Although the design was unsuccessful he was commissioned by the pope to alter the
sacristy of
St Peter's but the pope died before the work started.
Career
He returned to Richmond, then moved to
Lancaster in 1783 after he won a competition to build Skerton Bridge over the
River Lune in the city. This bridge had elliptical arches and a level road surface, which was a device which had never been used on this scale in England previously. He was subsequently commissioned to build St Mary's Bridge in
Derby and Stramongate Bridge in
Kendal. In 1815 he was appointed as county surveyor of
Cheshire having worked on several bridges in Cheshire for the previous 15 years. His major work there was the design of the
Grosvenor Bridge crossing the
River Dee in
Chester which when it was built was the largest single-span masonry arch in the world, which measured across. In 1786 Harrison won a competition to rebuild Chester Castle in a
neoclassical style which took over 30 years to complete. It included work on the prison, the courts, the shire hall and offices, the armoury, the barracks and the construction of the
propylaeum. During this time in 1795 he moved to Chester. Later buildings in neoclassical style were the
Lyceum in
Liverpool, and the
Portico Library in
Manchester.
!II*
|-
|Skerton Bridge,
|Lancaster
|
|1783–88
|
|-
|St John's Church
|Lancaster
|West tower
|1784
|
!II*
|-
|St Mary's Bridge
|
Derby
|
|1788–93
|
!II*
|-
|
Lancaster Castle
|Lancaster
|Reconstruction, including Shire Hall and Crown Court
|1786–99
|
!I
|-
|Toll House and Inn
|Lancaster
|Toll House for Skerton Bridge
|c. 1787
|
!II*
!I
|}
1790s
| Works |
Location |
Comments |
Dates |
Ref. |
Listing |
| Stramongate Bridge |
Kendal |
|
1791–97 |
|
|
| Quernmore Park Hall |
|
|
1793 |
| II* |
1800s
1810s
1820s
| Works |
Location |
Comments |
Dates |
Ref. |
Listing |
| St Martin's Lodge |
Chester |
Built by Harrison for his own use |
c. 1820 |
| II |
| Watergate House |
Chester |
For Henry Potts, Clerk of the Peace |
c. 1820 |
| II* |
| Triumphal arch |
Holyhead, Anglesey |
|
1821 |
| II* |
I |
Unknown dates
| Works |
Location |
Comments |
Dates |
Ref. |
Listing |
| The Grand Tralcum of County Falaar |
|
|
|
|
|
|}
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