Tea-Time Zoom Talks – Great English Architects Series with Nicholas Merchant.
John Carr of York (1723-1807).
Wednesday 10th December at 4pm
For the second talk in this series Nicholas Merchant will introduce us to John Carr of York. If any of the newly rich Yorkshiremen of the 18th-centruy wanted a house to show off their recently acquired wealth there was not a better man to turn to than local architect John Carr of York.
Born in the county, the son of a stone mason, he was a good solid pair of hands into which to place your aspirations for a handsome mansion in the fashionable Palladian manner. Unlike some of his contemporaries he was assiduous in attending to his business, travelling many miles to oversee the work he had been contracted to do.
He was not entirely dependent on the revenues of his architectural practice, as he had a nice little “sideline” in building bridges for the county, many of which are still in use today. His most famous commission was from Edwin Lascelles, made wealthy from the West Indian trade, for whom he built Harewood House. Upon his death in 1807 he left a fortune of £150,000.
