Owen Jones (architect) - Chronology

Chronology

• 1809: Owen Jones born on 15 February at 148 Thames Street, London
• 1825: begins an apprenticeship with the architect, Lewis Vuillamy
• 1829: begins attendance at the architectural class at the Royal Academy schools
• 1832–4: sets out on a Grand Tour to the Continent, travelling first to Italy and Greece (where he meets the architect, Jules Goury) then continuing with Goury to Egypt and Turkey before arriving at Granada in southern Spain where they complete a detailed analysis of the Islamic decoration at the Alhambra Palace
• 1834: Goury dies of cholera at the Alhambra. Jones returns to London and issues Plans, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Alhambra in twelve parts between 1836 and 1845, pioneering new standards in chromolithography
• 1840—2: Jones carries out the decoration for James Wild’s Christ Church, Streatham, in a mixture of Islamic and Byzantine styles
• 1842: contributes drawings to the publication Designs for Mosaic and Tessellated Pavements which helps establish Jones’s reputation as a designer of tilework and geometric patterns
• 1840s—1860s: designs a number of illustrated and illuminated gift books for publishers including Longman & Co. and Day & Son
• 1851: carries out the decoration for Joseph Paxton’s Great Exhibition building, The Crystal Palace, in Hyde Park
• 1852: delivers a series of key lectures on decorative arts principles at the Society of Arts and at the Government School of Design at Marlborough House
• 1854: The Crystal Palace is re-erected in Sydenham as a permanent venue for education and entertainment. Together with Matthew Digby Wyatt, Jones is given responsibility for the suite of Fine Arts Courts, which include an ‘Alhambra Court’.
• 1856: publishes his seminal design sourcebook, The Grammar of Ornament
• 1858—60: builds St James’s Hall, Osler’s Gallery and the Crystal Palace Bazaar, all in London’s West End
• 1863: designs the South Kensington Museum’s Indian Court and Chinese and Japanese Court, collectively known as the Oriental Courts
• 1863—7: designs interiors for Alfred Morrison’s residences at Fonthill and 16 Carlton House Terrace and carries out the decoration for the Viceroy’s Palace in Cairo
• 1874: Owen Jones dies at his home, 9 Argyll Place, London, on 19 April