Life

Ashpitel was the son of the architect William Hurst Ashpitel

William Hurst Ashpitel

William Hurst Ashpitel , was an architect.Ashpitel was a pupil of Daniel Asher Alexander. He assisted his master in the designs for the London Docks, and in the execution of the works connected with that undertaking...

, born in Hackney

London Borough of Hackney

The London Borough of Hackney is a London borough of North/North East London, and forms part of inner London. The local authority is Hackney London Borough Council....

, London in 1807. He was educated at Dr. Burnet's school in Hackney, until an accident crippled him for life. He was trained by his father to the architect's profession, and in 1842 he set up on his own account. He built the church of St. John's at Blackheath

Blackheath, London

Blackheath is a district of South London, England. It is named from the large open public grassland which separates it from Greenwich to the north and Lewisham to the west...

, and that of St. Barnabas at Homerton

Homerton

Homerton is a place in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bordered to the west by Hackney Central, to the north by Lower Clapton, in the east by Hackney Wick, Leyton and by South Hackney to the south.-Origins:...

, as well as schools and private houses.

In 1850 he entered into partnership with John Whichcord Jr.

John Whichcord Jr.

John Whichcord, Jr. was an English architect, who designed several office buildings in London and, also, the Grand Hotel in Brighton.-Life and work:...

. Together they designed and superintended the erection of baths and washhouses at Swansea, Maidstone, Lambeth, and elsewhere, and published a pamphlet entitled Observations on Baths and Wash-houses (1851) They also designed churches, private houses, and the Ophthalmic Hospital and Kent Infirmary at Maidstone. They turned their attention to the improvement of dwellings for the labouring classes, and, for a Committee, erected a block of dwellings for artisans at Lambeth.They promoted the idea of living in flats in a publication called Town dwellings: an essay on the erection of fireproof houses in flats. In 1853 he left England in the company of David Roberts

David Roberts (painter)

David Roberts RA was a Scottish painter. He is especially known for a prolific series of detailed lithograph prints of Egypt and the Near East that he produced during the 1840s from sketches he made during long tours of the region . These, and his large oil paintings of similar subjects, made him...

, R.A., and lived for some time in Rome. An attack of malaria, suffered in Piedmont further damaged his health. In 1855, he dissolved the partnership with Whichcord, but continued to acccept commissions.

Following his Roman studies he exhibited two drawings at the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

, one called Restoration of Ancient Rome, and another called Rome As It Is.

Ashpitel was a prolific writer who made many contributions to magazines, and the transactions of learned societies. He first appeared in print at the age of sixteen, with a poem published in the Weekly Literary Magnet . In 1836 he published The Reign of Humbug : a Satire and in 1841 a pamphlet, entitled A few Facts on the Corn Laws, defending the agricultural interest. He revised Nicholson's Work on Handrails and Staircases and several other professional works for the publisher John Weale

John Weale

John Weale was an English publisher of popular scientific, architectural, engineering and educational works.-Life:He went into the trade first with George Priestley in St Giles-in-the-Fields who died around 1812, and worked then with Priestley's widow. He took a particular interest in the study of...

. He contributed biographies of architects to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and papers to the Royal Institute of British Architects. and was a regular contributor to Notes and Queries

Notes and Queries

Notes and Queries is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to "English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism". Its emphasis is on "the factual rather than the speculative"...

  and the Owl.

Ashpitel died on 18 January 1869, having left a valuable collection of vases and books to the Society of Antiquaries of London

Society of Antiquaries of London

The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...

, and his two drawings of Rome to the nation.