John Wood, the Elder, (1704 – 23 May 1754, Bath), was an English architect. Born in Twerton (Twiverton) England, a village near Bath, now a suburb, he went to school in Bath. He came back to Bath after working in Yorkshire, and it is believed, in London, in his early 20s (John Wood Architect of Obsession, Tim Mowl & Brian Earnshaw, 1988, Millstream Books). After his return, he worked principally in the city of Bath, South West England. He is known for designing many of the streets and buildings of Bath, such as The Circus (1754–68),[1] Prior Park (1734–41),[2] St John's Hospital,[3] (1727–28), Queen Square (1728–36), the North (1740) and South Parades (1743–48), The Royal Mineral Water Hospital (1738–42) and other notable houses, many of which are List of Grade I listed buildings.
Queen Square was his first speculative development. Wood lived in a house on the square.[4] Numbers 21–27 make up the north side.[5] Which was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "one of the finest Palladian compositions in England before 1730".[6]
Many of the buildings he designed are littered with icons and symbols associated with Freemasonry, leading many people who have studied his work to believe that he was a member of the organisation, even though there is no documentary proof. Wood wrote extensively about sacred geometry, and argued that the myths of the supposed founder of Bath, King Bladud, were based on truth. He claimed that ancient British stone circles were the remains of once more elaborate buildings designed by Bladud.
In 1742, Wood was commissioned to build a home for the mayor of Bath Ralph Allen, on a hill overlooking the city of Bath.[7] This building is Grade 1 listed and has housed Prior Park College since 1830.[2]
His final masterpiece was the Circus,[8] built on Barton Fields outside the old city walls of Bath, although he never lived to see his plans put into effect as he died less than three months after the first stone was laid. It was left to his son, John Wood the Younger to complete the scheme to his father's design. Wood's inspiration was the Roman Colosseum, but whereas the Colosseum was designed to be seen from the outside, the Circus faces inwardly. Three classical Orders, (Greek Doric, Roman/Composite and Corinthian) are used, one above the other, in the elegant curved facades. The frieze of the Doric entablature is decorated with alternating triglyphs and 525 pictorial emblems, including serpents, nautical symbols, devices representing the arts and sciences, and masonic symbols. The parapet is adorned with stone acorn finials. He demonstrated how a row of town houses could be dignified, almost palatial. The uses of uniform facades and rhythmic proportions in conjunction with classical principles of unerring symmetry were followed throughout the city.
Wood also left us the most important plan of Stonehenge ever made; his survey, carried out in 1740 and published in his Choir Gaure, was annotated with hundreds of measurements, which he resolved on the ground to one half, sometimes even one quarter, of an inch.[9] This work has been largely overlooked, partly due to criticisms made by the antiquarian William Stukeley. Stukeley disagreed vehemently with Wood’s interpretation of the monument; he also failed to see the significance of recording the stones in such detail. However, using Wood's original dimensions it has been possible to re-draw his work on a computer and compare the record with the modern plan of Stonehenge. His survey has immense archaeological value, for he recorded the stones fifty years before the collapse of the western trilithon (which fell in 1797 and was not restored until 1958).[10]
It has been suggested that Wood (and his son, also John) were connected to Freemasonry either via one of their building partnerships and/or via symbolism in their architecture. In his Masonic lecture and article, Stephen B. Cox (b. 1950 UK)[11] tentatively suggests an image for this as the square (Queen's Square), the circle (The Circus) and the crescent (The Royal Crescent): standing for Earth, Sun and Moon, and following the masonic path of the sun in the Lodge from east (the Master chair) to south (the Junior Warden) and exiting in the west (the Senior Warden) as a symbol of man's spiritual progress in life from the rough to the smooth ashlar. Cox notes that there is no direct evidence of deliberate Masonic expression in the architecture (although there are plenty of carved signs and symbols which are important to Freemasonry). He goes on however to say that it is interesting to note that Queen Square is lower down the hill whilst The Circus overlooks it at the top of the hill, whilst to the west The Crescent faces out across the open space of the park sloping away from it.
Bath is now a World Heritage Site, at least partly as a result of the Woods' sublime architecture.
Wood also designed important buildings outside Bath, the reconstruction of Llandaff Cathedral[12] 1734–1749 none of Wood's work there survives, The Exchange, Bristol[13] 1841–43, Liverpool Town Hall[14] 1749–54, the portico and dome were added later and James Wyatt redesigned the interiors.