Sir William Chambers and His Parisian Album

Abstract

The neglect of Sir William Chambers is one of the paradoxes of English architectural history. Although he stands with Robert Adam and James Wyatt as one of the triumvirate of great architects of the second half of the eighteenth century, he has received little attention. Yet, he was not only engaged in over seventy building projects, but he also designed furniture, clocks, and the State Coach; wrote the classic architectural treatise of the century, the first book to discuss Chinese architecture seriously, and a dissertation introducing the Jardin Anglo-Chinois to Europe; was widely respected as a scholar, and was the main force behind the foundation of the Royal Academy.