Philip Hardwick

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Philip Hardwick (1792-1870) was an eminent English architect (son of architect Thomas Hardwick (junior) (1752-1829), and grandson of Thomas Hardwick Senior (1725-1798)). He is particularly associated with transport-related buildings (eg: railway stations, warehouses) in London and elsewhere.

Hardwick was born at 9 Rathbone Place in London and trained as an architect under his father. The Hardwick name is one of the most famous in architecture, spanning over 150 years of work - in 1760, Thomas Senior became a master mason at Syon House for the brothers Robert and John Adam. Philip Hardwick took over from his father as Surveyor to St Bartholomew's Hospital, London. This post later passed on to Philip's son - Philip Charles Hardwick (meaning that three successive Hardwick generations held the post of Surveyor to St Bartholomew's).

"Euston Arch:" the original entrance to Euston Station, as enlarged, ca 1851

Like Inigo Jones some 200 years earlier, Hardwick was inspired by Italian architecture, following a trip to Italy in 1818-19. These influences manifested themselves particularly in his famous 'Propylaeum' or Doric Euston Arch at the old Euston station (1837), designed for the London and Birmingham Railway (the Arch was demolished in the early 1960s to make way for construction of the current Euston Station building). At the Birmingham terminus, Hardwick also designed Birmingham Curzon Street Station (1838).

His other credits include:

Kneller Hall in Twickenham (c.1820)
St Katharine Docks (1827-28)
Goldsmiths' Hall (1829-35)
the City of London Club (1833-34) - another building notable for its Italian Palladian style
Seaford House, Belgravia (1842)
the Great Hall at Lincoln's Inn (1843-45)
restoration of St Anne's Limehouse (1851-54)
obelisk memorial to Joseph René Bellot, Greenwich (1855)

He was also surveyor to the Portman London estate, to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (from 1842) and was a founder member of the Institute of British Architects (1834) - later (1837) the RIBA. In 1854 he received the Royal Gold Medal for architecture.

Philip married a daughter of the architect John Shaw Senior (1776-1832) and his brother-in-law was the architect John Shaw Junior (1803-1870) The two families are sometimes regarded as perhaps the finest architectual family London has ever produced (rivalled by the Charles Barry dynasty, among others) and they lay buried at Kensal Green Cemetery. Hardwick's son Philip Charles Hardwick (1822-1892) was the last architect in the family line.

Pupil

Gothic architect John Loughborough Pearson studied under Philip Hardwick senior before setting up his own practice in 1843 and designing many notable cathedral buildings, including that at Truro. Thomas Henry Wyatt (1807-1880) was also a pupil.

External links

[www.shaw-hardwick.co.uk]

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