Thomas Harrison (architect)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thomas Harrison (1744-1829) was an English provincial architect and civil engineer of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He is particularly remembered for his work in various locations of north-west England and north Wales, most notably in Lancaster and Chester.

He received his early training in Rome 1769-1776. Harrison designed Skerton Bridge, over the River Lune in Lancaster. This was the first to have a flat deck for all of its length - a feature which is said to have influenced John Rennie for his Waterloo and London Bridge designs. In 1794, he added the west tower to St John the Evangelist, a church in Lancaster.

In 1791, Harrison was commissioned to rebuild Chester Castle as a prison, a project that was to take 37 years, plagued by financial problems, the need for two separate Acts of Parliament, and poor workmanship (much of the work was undertaken by a badly-housed and often undernourished population of convicts). Harrison moved to Chester in 1794, living first in Northgate Street and then building himself St Martin's Lodge, a Regency house, close to the castle.

Harrison also served as architect to Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin - of Elgin Marbles fame - and is thought to have encouraged Elgin to bring back from Constantinople drawings and plaster casts of surviving objects of the classical period to assist him with the design of Elgin's large Scottish country house, Broomhall, near Dunfermline.

He was appointed County Surveyor for Cheshire in 1815 at the age of 71. His last major commission – at the age of 82 - was the design of the Grosvenor Bridge over the River Dee at Chester. But he did not live to see its completion - he resigned aged 85 and died four years later in 1829. The project was finished by his pupil and assistant, William Cole, and opened in 1832.

Other projects

bridges at Kendal and Derby
Crown Court and Shire Hall, Lancaster Castle (completed 1798)
The Lyceum, Liverpool (1800-1802)
The Grand Tralcum of County Falaar
Restoration of St Peter’s church, Chester (1803)
Portico Library, Manchester (1804-1806)
Commercial News Room, Northgate Street, Chester (1808, later the City Club)
Wesleyan chapel, St John Street, Chester (1811)
The Marquess of Anglesey's Column, Llanfairpwyll, Anglesey (1816-1817, celebrating the heroism of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey at the Battle of Waterloo)
Triumphal arch, Holyhead, Anglesey (1821)