NASH, JOHN. 



NASH, RICHARD. 



wia* b always (bowed defective training. But he is (aid to have 

 attracted the attrition of Li* muter, when very young, by hi* extra- 

 ordinary determination and perseverance. It wu probably about 

 tit* au.e time, tbat be began to acquire the (kill in aketching 

 which gave rite to lh statement that he had once practised miniature 

 painting, and which is now denied. He commenced in London when 

 till young rather a* a manuring surveyor and speculative builder 

 than an architect He then retired to a small property at Caermarthen, 

 but hating taken some woods near there, on lease in partnership with 

 another, holott much money; and in 1790, on receiving a Tint from 

 hi* fiieud and fellow-student, Mr. Cockerel!, ten., be was induced to 

 return to architecture as a profession. His 6rst works after this 

 change were in Wales, and included the reinstatement of the west end 

 of St. David'* cathedral by shoring and buttresses; and he acquired 

 a large business. About 1792 he settled iu London, and speedily 

 assumed a prominent position. 



In 1797 a patent was granted to John Nash, "of Duke-street, St. 

 James's," for a method of constructing the arches and piers of bridges 

 of hollow iron boxes, to be filled with earth, gravel, or other materials, 

 and in which >yU-m be dispensed with a i-ulTor-daui of the ordinary 

 description thus in tome measure anticipating by suggestion the 

 improvement made practically iu the foundations of the new West- 

 minster and Chelsea bridges. Whether there u any bridge existing, 

 built on the principle of the patent, in doubtful ; but Mr. Naah 

 always claimed much of the credit of the introduction of iron into 

 bridge-building, on the general principle of solid arch-ribs, or girders, 

 a* employed in Sunderhuid bridge. From this time to 1812 we have 

 no precise information of bii works, but they included a large number 

 of 'castles' in Ireland, and hous<s in England, for Lords Foley, 

 Caledon, Gage, and Havensworth ; Mr. Stuart, Mr. Hoare, and others. 



In 1812 were commenced the plans for the Morylebone (afterwards 

 Regent's) Park, and Regent-street. The former had been hud out for 

 street* in continuation of Baker-street and Hurley-street, and of the 

 same stamp. The ' London Gazette ' of September 19, 1812, helps us 

 to the date of the great itrttt improvements, which are shown iu the 

 present form with the exception of the portion of Regent-street north 

 of Oxford-street, and a few portions of the locality of Pall Mall Kast 

 and Cockspur-btreet in a plan "ordered by the House of Commons 

 to be printed, 10th of May, 1813." On the 18th of February 1815 a 

 formal agreement was entered into, amended three years later, between 

 John Nash and the Board of Woods and Forest*, by which he was 

 appointed their architect, valuer, and agent, for letting land, at a 

 specified rate of remuneration. The line of Regent-street chiefly was 

 in progress during the next four years; and in 1819, the crown-leases 

 of ground at Pall Mall East and Cockspur-street being about to fall iu 

 at Michaelmas, Nab, in pursuance of his duty, estimated and reported 

 the probable rental, and at the end of the. year waa instructed to 

 proceed with the letting. Nine years afterwards, at the instance of 

 Lord Lowther, a (elect committee was appointed to inquire into his 

 conduct as regards the leases or sale of crown-lands in that locality, 

 anil ICrgeut-strect, and adjoining the Regent's Canal for iu the course 

 ol hi* management he had been enabled to muke some profitable 

 peculations, chiefly by the purchase of leases from an original lessee 

 who happened to be a near connection of his, and by the unexpectedly 

 gnat improvement which occurred in their value. In another case, 

 be was the representative of the Regent's Canal Company, of which he 

 had Itrru a chief promoter from somewhere about the year 1916. The 

 d'li.iuitlee however, after a Tery careful investigation, wero able to 

 leport entirely in his favour; as it was proved, by independent testi- 

 mony, that tbe ground had not only realised what wu estimated, but 

 that there had been no collusion between the parties. 



A* surveyor to tbe crown estates, a considerable number of designs 

 bad to be made by Nash : but it may be erroneous to suppo>o, as is 

 not uncommonly done, tbat all those connected with the improve- 

 ment* wen bis ; though u surveyor, he was required to exercise a 

 geiMUal supervision. What be chiefly did towards improving street 

 architecture was in la; ing out the routes, contriving the general manes 

 In the building*, and fixing their site* so as to contribute to an effect, 

 which if not free from drawback*, bad not before been attained iu 

 London. A* instead of this, tbe positions of the Hay market Theatre, 

 of tbe church in Langbam-plaoe, and the plans of the Quadrant and 

 Clrcussj*, uiUbt be uiroiiouBd. In conjunction with Mr. Repton, he 

 remodelled tie Opera House in 1820, and in the lame year commenced 

 the Haymarket Theatre. The terrace* in the Regent'* Park, of which 

 Cbssrtsr and Hanover terra-re* are the chief of those from bis design*, 

 were iu progress) during tbe next eight or nine jean, and hi 1*M 

 Buckingham Palace, twice altered subsequently by Mr. blore, was 

 lmit*jn*il The ntranco to the Royal Mew* is the chief portion of 

 tbe original DOW visible. About the same period, he planned the 

 improvcutraU in the garden of SU James's J'ark, and in 1828 was 

 encaged upon Carltoo House terrace. 



It i* impossible to name all In* works. The Pavilion at Brighton 

 (with the exception of the stables), one of the whim* of George IV., 

 should however b* mentioned. Mash published a work on that 

 building, at an expettt* of 1000/. t with the architecture drawn by 

 Augustus Pugin, who was much associated with him, the figures 

 by Stephan.'B. and tbe other portion* by Copley Holding. He made 

 book of designs for churches, now in the hands of the Church 



Building Commissioners; and supplied a design in competition for 

 Windsor Castle. 



In 1834 Nosh retired from the practice of bii profession, and on 

 May 13, 1835, he died at his residence, East Cowos Castle. He had 

 also a residence in Regent-street, part of the building with a recessed 

 centre, of which the other half is now occupied by the Parthenon 

 Club, and here he bad a number of valuable works of art arranged in a 

 gallery, which is represented in ' Britton and Pugiu's Public Buildings 

 of London,' and which is one of the best specimens of his skill iu the 

 architecture of interiors, in which he is considered to have had more 

 skill than in exteriors. 



The taste displayed in Regent-street and the Regent's Park, baa 

 perhaps not contributed to raise our national character in regard to 

 architecture, indeed may have tended to bring into vogue a sketchy, 

 showy, and meretricious style, wherein, though richness is affected, 

 poverty and meanness are the prevailing qualities. Notwithstanding 

 all their pretension and finery, the terraces iu the Regent's Park appear 

 still as ranges of common-place bouses, garnished with columns and 

 pilasters, insipid enough in themselves, and rendering the poverty of 

 all the rest disagreeable. To this it may bo added thai in his use of the 

 order*, he constantly disregarded the structural principle especially 

 tbe requirement in architectural art placing his colonnades where 

 they have obviously no use, and where they iudeed interfere with the 

 use of the buildiug. Iu like manner, his application of the newly iutro 

 duced Roman cement and mastic was imitative of stone work, and 

 therefore suggestive of inferiority ; and the clauses which it was 

 sought to introduce in the leases to ensure simultaneous colouring of 

 the fronts have proved inoperative. Still, what Nash did for tin 

 architecture of London was a step, and one that in some respects 

 has hardly yet been improved upon for he certainly possessed 

 pictorial power of composition and grouping, which is precisely 

 what is most needed still for the improvement of our streets and 

 buildings. 



There is a portrait of Nash by Lawrence, in Jesus College, Oxford, 

 painted after some gratuitous services rendered by the architect iu 

 connection with the college estate, when Waterloo Bridge was 

 built; and there is a bust of him in marble by Behues, in the 

 possession of Mr. John Pennethorne. 



NASH, RICHARD, commonly known as BEAU NASH, wu born at 

 Swansea in Glamorganshire, on the 18th of October 1674, the son of 

 a gentleman of small income. He was educated at Caermarthen 

 School, and theuce sent to Jesus College, Oxford, with a view to his 

 following the profession of the law. At college, though not deficient 

 in talent, he distinguished himself more by dissipation than attention 

 to bis studies. Before he was seventeen, an improvident marriage 

 which he contemplated occasioned his being sent away from the uni- 

 versity. His father then purchased him a commission in the army. 



popular with its members, and was entrusted with the conduct of a 

 pageant, the last there given, in honour of King William, who, it is 

 said, wu so well pleased with his exertions, that he offered to knight 

 him an honour which he declined, unless he were made one of the 

 poor knights of Windsor, because, as he avowed, he had no property, 

 and that would give him some. In truth, ha was now living by gamin/. 

 Nub wu skilful, and be is said to have relied on his skill, and never 

 to have had recourse to cheating. At length, in 1704, he vi-ited Hath, 

 where some people, for the sake of their health, assembled to drink 

 the waters, and danced occasionally on the bowling-green. Dr. Rat- 

 cliffe, who bad been offended there, bad just then threatened to "cut 

 a toad into tbe spring," that is, to write down the waters. Nuh 

 offered bis assistance to counteract this attempt, and be wu appointed 

 muter of the ceremonies in succession to Captain Webster, who had 

 already removed the balls to the town-ball. Nuh had tart and con- 

 fidence, and be succeeded in establishing the place u a fashionable 

 resort by instituting rules tbat ensured civility in behaviour and 

 decency in dress, to which rules he enforced an inflexible adherence. 

 This was a great benefit to society, though the instrument WAS 

 insignificant, and the means apparently frivolous. . The deference to 

 women, which had reached perhaps an extravagant height in the reign 

 of Elizabeth, had been extinguished by the Puritanism of the civil 

 wan, whila the profligacy introduced after the Restoration had reduced 

 them to objects of licentious intrigue, and exposed them to thecoarsest 

 behaviour. Men attended balls in boot* and armed with swords. 

 Nash succeeded, portly by ridicule and partly by firmness, in removing 

 these customs, and restoring at lout outward politeness, HU position 

 wu a singular one. However apparently ill-suited for his office, f^r 

 be wu big, clumsy, and awkward in his person, with harsh and irre- 

 gular features, and tawdry though expensive iu his dress, he established 

 an authority almost despotic. At no other period could this have 

 happened. Though the manners we have spoken of were those of the 

 gay world, there wore abundance of unobtrusive families who felt that 

 their prevalence wu disgraceful to the nation and oppressive and 

 dangerous to themselves. He wu therefore, though a fop and a 

 gambler, supported in his reforms, and Bath became a prosperous and 

 much frequented place. HI- caused on elegant assembly-room to be 

 built, and Wood commenced his handsome building*. Nab shared in 



