John Foulston was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

. He was a pupil of Thomas Hardwick

Thomas Hardwick

Thomas Hardwick was a British architect and a founding member of the Architect's Club in 1791.-Early life and career :Hardwick was born in Brentford, the son of a master mason turned architect also named Thomas Hardwick Thomas Hardwick (1752–1829) was a British architect and a founding...

 and set up a practice in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1796. In 1810 he won a competition to design the Royal Hotel and Theatre group of buildings in Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

, Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, and after relocating he remained the leading architect for twenty-five years.

Urban Planning of Plymouth

At the time, Plymouth was a prosperous port town, separated along the coast of Plymouth Sound

Plymouth Sound

Plymouth Sound, or locally just The Sound, is a bay at Plymouth in England.Its southwest and southeast corners are Penlee Point in Cornwall and Wembury Point on Devon, a distance of about 3 nautical miles . Its northern limit is Plymouth Hoe giving a north-south distance of nearly 3 nautical miles...

 from the neighbouring towns of East Stonehouse

Stonehouse, Plymouth

East Stonehouse is one of three towns that were amalgamated into modern-day Plymouth. West Stonehouse was a village that is within the current Mount Edgcumbe Country Park in Cornwall...

 and Devonport

Devonport, Devon

Devonport, formerly named Plymouth Dock or just Dock, is a district of Plymouth in the English county of Devon, although it was, at one time, the more important settlement. It became a county borough in 1889...

; collectively known as the Three Towns

Three Towns

The Three Towns is a term used to refer to the neighbouring towns of Plymouth, Devonport and East Stonehouse in the county of Devon, England. They were formally merged in 1914 to become the Borough of Plymouth. In 1928, the Borough was granted City status by Royal Charter.-Notes:...

. Foulston was responsible for the creation of Union Street

Union Street, Plymouth

Union Street in Plymouth, Devon, is a long straight street connecting the city centre to Devonport, the site of Plymouth's naval base and docks...

 from the Frankfort Gate which was built across marshland to unite the three towns.

Ker Street, Devonport

Most of Foulston's work was in the Greek Revival style

Greek Revival architecture

The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...

, but his best known project was the creation of a group of buildings in Ker Street, Devonport in 1821-24. This eclectic group consisted of a Greek Doric

Doric order

The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...

 town hall and commemorative column; a terrace of houses in Roman Corinthian

Corinthian order

The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...

 style and two houses in Greek Ionic

Ionic order

The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...

; a "Hindoo" nonconformist chapel and an "Egyptian

Egyptian Revival architecture

Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile during 1798....

" library. Of these, all but the chapel and the houses survive, and are Grade I listed.

The Royal Hotel, Theatre and Assembly Rooms

Foulston's Royal Hotel, Theatre and Assembly Rooms

Theatre Royal, Plymouth

The Theatre Royal in Plymouth, Devon, England is "the largest and best attended regional producing theatre in the UK and the leading promoter of theatre in the south west", according to Arts Council England...

 were built between 1811 and 1818. The theatre was notable for being one of the first buildings in Britain to use cast

Cast iron

Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...

 and wrought iron

Wrought iron

thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...

 for parts of its main structure; it was demolished just before World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 to make way for a cinema. Among his other works in Plymouth were The Athenaeum (1818-19, bombed in World War II and demolished afterwards), Belmont House (c.1825), The Proprietary Library (1812, destroyed by bombing, 1941), The Royal Union Baths (1828, demolished 1849 to make way for Millbay railway station

Plymouth Millbay railway station

Plymouth Millbay railway station was the original railway terminus in Plymouth, Devon, England. It was used for passenger trains from 1849 to 1941.- History :...

), and St. Catherine's Church (1823, demolished 1958). He also designed many stucco

Stucco

Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...

-faced terraces and suburban villas, some of which survive as listed buildings. In Torquay

Torquay

Torquay is a town in the unitary authority area of Torbay and ceremonial county of Devon, England. It lies south of Exeter along the A380 on the north of Torbay, north-east of Plymouth and adjoins the neighbouring town of Paignton on the west of the bay. Torquay’s population of 63,998 during the...

 he built the ballroom (1830, demolished), and in Tavistock he restored the medieval abbey gatehouse in Gothic style.

Later life and career

Not long before he retired he took into his partnership the architect George Wightwick

George Wightwick

George Wightwick was an architect and possibly the first architectural journalist.In addition to his architectural practice, he developed his skills and the market for architectural journalism...

 who succeeded to his practice. After his retirement, Foulston created a set of watercolour drawings of some of his buildings, which are now in the City Art Gallery

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery in the Drake Circus area of Plymouth, Devon, England is the largest museum and art gallery in the city. It was built in 1907-10 by Thornely and Rooke in Edwardian Baroque style. Its interior was restored in 1954 after being gutted in The Blitz.The Museum has...

. He became a fellow of the Institute of British Architects in 1838, and in the same year published "The Public Buildings of the West of England", a book that included plans and drawings of many of his buildings.

In his later years he created an elaborate water garden at his home (Athenian Cottage in the suburb of Mutley

Mutley Plain

Mutley Plain is a street in Plymouth, Devon, England. Although Mutley Plain is the main street of the dense suburb called Mutley, the term is often applied to the whole area. The road is a busy dual-carriageway, the B3250, with eight sets of traffic lights/pelican crossings...

), and he was wont to drive round the streets of the town in a gig disguised as a Roman war chariot. He died at his home and is buried in St Andrew's new cemetery in Plymouth.