Roger Morris (1695-1749)
Encyclopedia
Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell was a pioneering Scottish architect who spent most of his career in England, and is credited as a founder of the Georgian style...
brought him to the attention of Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke
Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke
Lt.-Gen. Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke, 6th Earl of Montgomery PC FRS was the heir and eldest son of Thomas Herbert and his first wife Margaret...
, with whom Morris collaborated on a long series of projects.
Biography
Born in LondonLondon
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...
, Morris received thorough practical training as a bricklayer, as he was described in 1724, when he built a house for himself on the Harley estate in Oxford Street, London, but by 1730, in a larger house he built for himself in Green Street, he was described in the rates as a 'gentleman'. On his own account he was successfully involved in speculative building in London, which may have supported his position in life.
Andrew Fountaine (architect)
Sir Andrew Fountaine was an English antiquarian, art collector and amateur architect.-Life:...
, a virtuoso
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
and amateur architect, at Narford, and then to Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell was a pioneering Scottish architect who spent most of his career in England, and is credited as a founder of the Georgian style...
, to whom he seems to have acted as assistant, as at Studley Royal in Yorkshire, and Lord Pembroke, one of the 'architect earls'. Lord Pembroke's connoisseurship combined with Morris's practical experience produced Marble Hill House
Marble Hill House
Marble Hill House is a Palladian villa on the River Thames in southwest London, situated halfway between Richmond and Twickenham. The architect was Roger Morris, who collaborated with Henry Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, one of the "architect earls", in adapting a more expansive design by Colen...
(illustration, above right) for Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk
Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk
Henrietta Howard was a mistress of King George II of Great Britain.She was the daughter of Sir Henry Hobart, 4th Baronet, a Norfolk landowner who was killed in a duel when Henrietta was aged eight...
, 1724-29; the White Lodge, Richmond 1727-28; and, after Morris's tour to Italy with George Bubb Dodington
George Dodington, 1st Baron Melcombe
George Bubb Dodington, 1st Baron Melcombe PC was an English politician and nobleman.Christened simply George Bubb, he acquired the surname Dodington around the time his uncle George Dodington died in 1720 and left him his estate...
(June 1731 - September 1732), the Column of Victory, Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace
Blenheim Palace is a monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, residence of the dukes of Marlborough. It is the only non-royal non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between...
(illustrated, left) for Marlborough's widow, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, 1732-33; Wimbledon House, 1732-33, also for the Duchess; the Palladian Bridge, Wilton House, 1736-37; and probably, Howard Colvin suggests, Westcombe House, Blackheath, near London, (ca 1730) which became Pembroke's own. Lord Pembroke presented Morris with a silver cup in 1734 as a token of his regard for him.
Office of Works
The Office of Works was established in the English Royal household in 1378 to oversee the building of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department within the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings...
, from which all designs for the Crown emanated. The new office of Clerk of the Works at Richmond New Park Lodge was created for him in 1727, when he was engaged in building the structure. In 1734 he succeeded in the post of Master Carpenter to the Office of Ordnance, which was worth £2 or £3000 a year, for works at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich
Royal Arsenal
The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, originally known as the Woolwich Warren, carried out armaments manufacture, ammunition proofing and explosives research for the British armed forces. It was sited on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England.-Early history:The Warren...
and elsewhere. He was also appointed Surveyor to the Mint.
John Morris's Palladian villa in town, at 12, Grosvenor Square (1727, for John Aislabie
John Aislabie
John Aislabie or Aslabie was a British politician, notable for his involvement in the South Sea Bubble and for creating the water garden at Studley Royal.-Background and education:...
) has been thoroughly dissected by the Survey of London Morris's independent designs are not pale exercises in Palladianism by any means. "His villas, for example, were, and are, strikingly original in contrast to Campbell's," John Harris has observed, "and Carné's Seat at Goodwood
Goodwood House
Goodwood House is a country house in West Sussex in southern England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Richmond. Several architects have contributed to the design of the house, including James Wyatt. It was the intention to build the house to a unique octagonal layout, but only three of the eight...
characterises the individual style Morris bestowed upon temple buildings." John Harris has demonstrated that Morris made a design for the Porter's Lodge at Wilton House
Wilton House
Wilton House is an English country house situated at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire. It has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years....
,ca. 1733.