Knightsbridge Living
Colen Campbell (1676—1729)
Campbell is mainly famous for his 10 volume work Vitruvius Britannicus which was published between 1715 and 1725. Campbell was an exponent of the Palladian style and his books contained detailed designs for Palladian houses which builders could use as templates for their own buildings. (Campbell attributed the designs themselves to Inigo Jones, the famous 17th century architect, who had been an exponent of Palladio’s ideas a century earlier.)
Between 1713 and 1720 he built Wanstead House (now demolished), which became the model for large English Palladian country houses. He was also the first English architect to build a neo-Palladian villa, with the construction of With Baldersby Park in North Yorkshire between 1720 and 1728.
His greatest achievement in promoting Palladian style was his conversion of Lord Burlington to Palladianism. Burlington commissioned him to remodel Burlington House in London in 1718.
He was responsible for the design of Mereworth Castle in Kent (1722—5) as an English versions of Palladio’s Rotonda design. He designed Houghton Hall in Norfolk (1721), Ebberston Lodge near Scarborough (1718), and Compton Place in Eastbourne (1726-7).
