Colen Campbell

1676-1729. Scottish architect. Author of Vitruvius Britannicus (1715-1725).

Colen Campbell (1676-1729) is a Scottish Architect who is known for his Neo-Palladian Architecture and his work Vitruvius Britannicus. His parents Elizabeth and Donald Campbell, who was the laird of Boghole and Urchany, had four children, of which Colen was the eldest. In 1700, Colen Campbell was active as a lawyer in Edinburgh. After the Act of Union, Colen Campbell switched professions and became an architect. The first building that is attributed to Campbell is Shawfield Mansion in Glasgow, which was finished in 1712. Details about his architectural studies, i.e. how he became an architect, where he was active before, who were his first teachers, etc. are mostly unknown.

Relocating to England, Campbell became famous for the architecture of Wanstead House, Essex. This house, belonging to Sir Richard Child (later the Viscount Castlemaine), was designed in a new style. Whereas the previously style created stately buildings, the new house had a style with different features such as decorations in a reduced and antique appearance, hinting at the influence of classical buildings and antique culture.

The Vitruvius Britannicus, first published in 1715 by Campbell, is a collection of influential and important buildings of either private or public possession in Britain. The idea stems from a group of booksellers and printers, who hired Campbell as the editor for their project. Campbell seemed to be eager to participate, since he is not only named the author of the book, but also wrote the introduction, and the explanatory comments to each of the buildings that are shown in the Vitruvius. Campbell used this project as a means of self-promotion. In the second volume, published in 1717, and in the third Volume, published in 1725, Campbell added pictures and drawings of his own architectural visions, some of finished houses, some of designs which were not yet realised. Sometimes he devoted those pictures to influential British Politicians in order foster the rise of Neo-Palladianism, the new classic-inspired architectural style. Among those were for example King George I, to whom the first volume of the Vitruvius was dedicated, and Sir Robert Walpole. As being a book by subscription, the Vitruvius was subscribed by 692 people, mostly nobles and even five royals, in 1725.

Besides being involved in the Vitruvius-Project, Campbell fulfilled other posts and professions. These include Chief Clerk and Deputy Surveyor-General in 1718, architect to George Augustus, Prince of Wales in 1719, and Surveyor of Greenwhich Hospital in 1726. However, he was able to work on his architectural designs as well, for example when Richard Boyle, third earl of Burlington, hired Campbell to transform his residence into a Neo-Palladian house. This turned out to be a great chance for him to increase his popularity and to establish himself as an architect. In addition to that, Campbell worked on another literary project, namely being publisher of a part of Quattro Libri, a book by Andrea Palladio, the renaissance architect that had such a great influence upon him, in Britain in 1728. A year later, a translated and edited version appeared under the name The Five Orders of Architecture, now including illustrations and plans from Campbell himself.

Campbell died in September of the same year. His burial place is located in the south cloister of Westminster Abbey, London, however, due to the absence of a gravestone or a monument it is hard to locate his exact grave. His appearance, too, remains a bit of a mystery: a single portrait, incorporated in Compton Place in Sussex, is verified as a portrait of Colen Campbell. In the following years, he became more or less forgotten or simply connected to the Vitruvius Britannicus. However, in 1966 a great amount of his illustrations reemerged, enlightening scholars about his designs.

Buildings (overview):

Wanstead House, Essex, 1714

Burlington House, London, 1717

Stourhead, Wiltshire, 1721 to 1724

Pembroke House, Whitehall, London, 1723

Houghton Hall, Norfolk, 1722

Mereworth Castle, Kent, 1722

Waverley Abbey House, Surrey, approx. 1723

Compton Place, Eastbourne, Sussex, 1726

Sources:

"Colen Campbell." Westminster Abbey, https://www.westminster-abbey.org/de/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/colen-campbell . Accessed 17 Jun. 2019.

Connor, T. P. “Campbell, Colen, of Boghole and Urchany (1676-1729)”, in: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2010. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-4485?rskey=C7jz8m&result=1 . Accessed 16 Jun. 2019.

Curl, James Stevens and Susan Wilson. “Campbell, Colen”, in: A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2015, online. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199674985.001.0001/acref-9780199674985-e-801?rskey=AarmDj&result=3 . Accessed 16 Jun. 2019.

"Palladianism." Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 17 May. 2016. https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/Palladianism/58116. Accessed 16 Jun. 2019.

Summerson, John. Architecture in Britain: 1530 to 1830. Harmondsworth, Middlesex and others: Penguin 1963.