Gibbs, James

Gibbs, James, 1682–1754, English architect, b. Scotland, studied in Rome under Carlo Fontana. Returning to England in 1709, he was appointed a member of the commission authorized to build 50 churches in London. Only 10 of these were completed; they include two of Gibbs's most distinguished works, St. Mary-le-Strand (1714–17) and St. Martin-in-the-Fields (1721–26); the latter formed a basic inspiration for many of the steepled churches of the colonial period in America. Gibbs did considerable work for the universities, including the circular Radcliffe Camera at Oxford (1739–49), considered his finest design, and the Senate House at Cambridge, where from 1722 onward he was constantly employed. He designed also many town and country houses. His works have the distinction characteristic of the Georgian period and of the work of Sir Christopher Wren, by whom he was chiefly influenced. He wrote a Book of Architecture (1728, repr. 1968) and Rules for Drawing the Several Parts of Architecture (1732).

Bibliography

See study by B. Little (1955).

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Gibbs, James 

Born Dec. 23, 1682, in Footdeesmere, near Aberdeen; died Aug. 5, 1754, in London. English architect.

Gibbs studied in Holland and Italy (from 1700 to 1709 with C. Fontana) and collaborated with C. Wren. He was an exponent of classicism. Gibbs’ work is distinguished by an imposing simplicity and integrity of design and by elegance of details (the churches Mary-le-Strand, 1714-17, and St.-Martin-in-the-Fields, 1722-26, in London; and the Radcliffe Library at Oxford, 1737-49).

REFERENCE

Summerson, J. Architecture in Britain 1530-1830. Harmondsworth, 1958.