Nash, John

Nash, John, 1752–1835, English architect; pupil of Sir Robert Taylor. After enjoying an extensive practice in Wales, he began to work c.1792 in London. His capacities were greatest in town planning, and he is chiefly known for his boldly planned development of the Marylebone region of London. His scheme, as put into execution in 1818, comprehended Regent St., with its Quadrant, and Regent's Park, with its terraces and surrounding streets of formally designed town houses. Nash also designed the Haymarket theater and remodeled Buckingham Palace. He was one of the initiators of the neoclassic Regency style.

Bibliography

See studies by Sir John Summerson (2d ed. 1950) and T. Davis (new ed. 1968, repr. 1973).

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Nash, John

(born 1752, London?, Eng.—died May 13, 1835, Cowes, Isle of Wight) British architect and city planner. From 1798 Nash was employed by the Prince of Wales. Acquiring considerable wealth, he built for himself East Cowes Castle, Isle of Wight (1798), which had much influence on Gothic Revival architecture. He subsequently dotted England and Ireland with castles, houses, and cottages in the Gothic or Italianate style. Regent's Park, London (1811), comprises a canal, lake, wooded area, botanical garden, and, on the periphery, shopping arcades and picturesque groupings of residences. In 1821 he began to reconstruct Buckingham House, London, as a royal palace; dismissed before completing the project, he faced an inquiry into its cost and structural soundness. Nash's East and West Park Villages, London (completed after his death by his chief assistant, James Pennethorne), served as models for “garden suburbs” of separate houses informally arranged.