Inigo Jones

The Queen's House, at Greenwich, England, 1616 to 1635.

      map of works

(b. London, England 1573; d. London, England 1652)

Inigo Jones was born in London in 1573. He received no formal training but he was able to journey abroad where he gained insight and knowledge of architecture. A royal protege, he was appointed Surveyor to Henry, Prince of Wales in 1610. In 1613 he was appointed Surveyor of the King's Works. This coincided with Jones' second Italian journey during which he visited northern Italy and studied Palladio's villas. The notes in Jones' copy of the 1570 edition of Palladio's Quattro Libri show his growing mastery of the theory and grammar of classical architecture.

On Jones' return to London he was given the post of Surveyor-General to the Office of Works. Under this title he became involved with a number of large scale houses, churches, and palaces for King James I. Between 1625 -1640 Jones was concerned principally with work on two major London sites: the repair and remodel of St. Paul's Cathedral, and the design of Covent Garden.

Although Jones' work often lack originality, he was an important figure in architecture because he was the first person to introduce the classical architecture of Rome and the Italian Renaisance to Gothic England.

References
Dennis Sharp. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Architects and Architecture. New York: Quatro Publishing, 1991. ISBN 0-8230-2539-X. NA40.I45. p84.

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