John Soane

In the late 18th century, there were a few paths to becoming an architect: independent study of books, formal architectural education, exploratory travel, and ascent through the building trades. Through a persistent, varied, and self-made career, Soane accomplished all of these. The youngest of five and the son of a bricklayer from Goring-on-Thames, John “Soan” was born on 10 September 1753. Following the death of his father, Soane entered the office of George Dance the Younger at the age of fifteen and he later served as an assistant to Henry Holland from 1772 to 1778. Educated at the Royal Academy and an early recipient of a travel grant that allowed him to undertake a Grand Tour, Soane’s personal and professional life surged in the 1780s with the foundation of an architectural practice, his marriage to Eliza Smith, the purchase of his first properties, and appointment as Architect of the Bank of England. Looking to obscure his humble beginnings within the competitive and class-driven world of London, he added the “e” to the end of this name. Eliza’s uncle, George Wyatt (no relation to the architect), left a considerable inheritance that fueled Soane’s bibliomania, architectural and artistic collections, and the creation of offices and residences that were reflective of his architectural ambitions: Pitzhanger Manor and later, the luminous and labyrinthian house-museum along the north side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Navigating changing regents and tastes, Soane weathered public critiques of his work and even lawsuits. His significant built works include the light-filled Dulwich Picture Gallery, elements of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, public projects as an architect of the Office of Works, and an array of churches, urban residences, and country houses. Dedicated to the professionalism of architectural practice, Soane’s prolific career included numerous appointments and accolades: Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, Fellow of the Royal Society, Royal Academician and Professor of Architecture, in which capacity he greatly enriched the illustrated architectural lecture, Gold Medal from the “Architects of England” (many of them associated with the nascent Institute of British Architects, later RIBA), and in 1831 he was knighted by King William IV. As an architect, Soane continues to inspire designers through his writings, educational legacy, and built works that straddle the realms of Georgian neoclassicism, neogothic, picturesque, and planar modernism. Designed in 1924 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, a trustee of Soane’s Museum, England’s famous red telephone boxes even bear Soane’s architectural fingerprint, the canopy dome mimicking the form of Soane’s family tomb.