George Smith (architect) - Life

Life

Smith was born on 28 September 1783 at Aldenham in Hertfordshire. He was articled to Robert Furze Brettingham, and later worked for James Wyatt, D. Alexander, and then C. Beazley, before eventually setting up in practice on his own account in the City of London.

He was appointed District Surveyor of the southern division of the City in 1810, and was elected Surveyor to the Mercers' Company in 1814, holding both appointments until his death. He also held the post of Surveyor to the Coopers' Company, and later served as their master.

His works included St Paul's School (replacing a building demolished in 1824), and Gresham College in Basinghall Street (opened in 1843). For the Mercers' Company he built the Whittington Almshouses (1822) at Highgate, in a Gothic style: John Summerson noted that the company had sufficient wealth at its disposal to afford "a great many crockets".On the previous site of the almhouses, in College Hill, in the City, he built the Mercers' School. At the Royal Exchange he replaced the wooden tower and entrance with a stone one. In collaboration with A.B. Clayton he built the New Corn Exchange in Mark Lane (1827), with a Doric colonnade, echoing that of George Dance's the Elder's neighbouring exchange of 1749-50.

At Hornsey in 1832-3 he replaced the body of the church with a white brick Gothic structure, leaving only the medieval tower standing.

His Gothic church at of St Michael at Blackheath Park (1828-9) was built in white brick with stone facings, and has what the Buildings of England guide calls "a fanciful thin east spire", sometimes descrcribed as "the Needle of Kent". A house called "Brooklands"(1825), designed for himself survives nearby. He later built later another house for himself, called "Newlands", at Copthorne, in Sussex.

He was also surveyor to the South East Rail Company and Morden College and his other works included:

• "Bellefield" (No. 26 Blackheath Park / 3 Foxes Dale, London SE3)
• Greenwich railway station (1840)
• Blackheath railway station (1849)
• Housing estate centred on Pelton Road and Christchurch Way, east Greenwich, London

Works in his native Hertfordshire include the church of St. Peter, London Colney, a very early example of the Norman revival style (1825) and the Neoclassical Town Hall at St Albans (1829), with a giant portico of four Ionic columns

He was a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, of which he was elected a Fellow in 1834, a member of the Surveyors' Club from 1807, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1801 and 1829.