page_title: John Nash (architect)
section_title: Background and early career
hierarchical_section_title: John Nash (architect) / Biography / Background and early career
caption_attribution_description: English: A very noble house, originally built in the C17th, but overhauled by John Nash in 1777 (it must have been one of his first commissions). The facade is divided by Corinthian pilasters and the first-floor windows have alternating pediments. The porch and top storey were added c1860 by the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, whose name still can be seen in the frieze. Grade II listed.
context_page_description: John Nash was one of the foremost British architects of the Regency and Georgian eras, during which he was responsible for the design, in the neoclassical and picturesque styles, of many important areas of London. His designs were financed by the Prince Regent, and by the era's most successful property developer, James Burton, with whose son Decimus Burton he collaborated extensively.
  Nash's best-known solo designs are the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, Marble Arch, and Buckingham Palace; his best known collaboration with James Burton is Regent Street; and his best-known collaborations with Decimus Burton are Regent's Park and its terraces and Carlton House Terrace. The majority of his buildings, including those to the design of which the Burtons did not contribute, were built by the company of James Burton.
context_section_description: Nash was born during 1752 in Lambeth, south London, the son of a Welsh millwright also called John (1714–1772). From 1766 or 67, John Nash trained with the architect Sir Robert Taylor; the apprenticeship was completed in 1775 or 1776.
  On 28 April 1775, at the now demolished church of St Mary Newington, Nash married his first wife Jane Elizabeth Kerr, daughter of a surgeon. Initially he seems to have pursued a career as a surveyor, builder and carpenter. This gave him an income of around £300 a year. The couple set up home at Royal Row Lambeth. He established his own architectural practice in 1777 as well as being in partnership with a timber merchant, Richard Heaviside. The couple had two children, both were baptised at St Mary-at-Lambeth, John on 9 June 1776 and Hugh on 28 April 1778.
  In June 1778 "By the ill conduct of his wife found it necessary to send her into Wales in order to work a reformation on her", the cause of this appears to have been the claim that Jane Nash "Had imposed two spurious children on him as his and her own, notwithstanding she had then never had any child" and she had contracted several debts unknown to her husband, including one for milliners' bills of £300. The claim that Jane had faked her pregnancies and then passed babies she had acquired off as her own was brought before the Consistory court of the Bishop of London.
  His wife was sent to Aberavon to lodge with Nash's cousin Ann Morgan, but she developed a relationship with a local man Charles Charles. In an attempt at reconciliation Jane returned to London in June 1779, but she continued to act extravagantly so he sent her to another cousin, Thomas Edwards of Neath. She gave birth just after Christmas, and acknowledged Charles Charles as the father. In 1781 Nash instigated action against Jane for separation on grounds of adultery. The case was tried at Hereford in 1782, Charles who was found guilty was unable to pay the damages of £76 and subsequently died in prison. The divorce was finally read 26 January 1787.
  His career was initially unsuccessful and short-lived. After inheriting £1000 in 1778 from his uncle Thomas, he invested the money in building his first known independent works, 15–17 Bloomsbury Square and 66–71 Great Russell Street in Bloomsbury. But the property failed to let and he was declared bankrupt on 30 September 1783. His debts were £5000, including £2000 he had been lent by Robert Adam and his brothers.
  A blue plaque commemorating Nash was placed on 66 Great Russell Street by English Heritage in 2013.
caption: 17 Bloomsbury Square
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