page_title: Thomas Sandby
section_title: Architect
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Sandby / Life and work / Architect
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Leonard's Hill, Berkshire. This was extended in the late 1760s by architect Thomas Sandby for the Duchess of Gloucester
context_page_description: Thomas Sandby RA was an English draughtsman, watercolour artist, architect and teacher. In 1743 he was appointed private secretary to the Duke of Cumberland, who later appointed him Deputy Ranger of Windsor Great Park, where he was responsible for considerable landscaping work.
  Along with his younger brother Paul, he was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768, and was its first professor of architecture. His most notable architectural work was the Freemason's Hall in London.
context_section_description: In February 1769 Sandby entered a competition to design the Royal Exchange at Dublin, winning third prize of £40. Perhaps his most notable architectural commission was the design of the (first) Freemason's Hall at Great Queen Street in central London, linking two houses purchased by the United Grand Lodge of England  The building was opened with great ceremony on 23 May 1776, when the title of 'Grand Architect' was conferred on him by the Freemasons. The Hall was extended in the 1820s by Sir John Soane, but was demolished in 1930 after suffering irreparable structural damage in a fire in 1883.
  Sandby designed a carved oak altar-screen for St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and a stone bridge over the Thames at Staines, opened in 1796, but removed a few years afterwards on account of its insecurity. He built several houses in the neighbourhood of Windsor, including St Leonard's Hill for the Duchess of Gloucester, and one for a Colonel Deacon, later known as "Holly Grove". Designs exist for many others of his architectural works which cannot now be identified. In 1777 he was appointed, jointly with James Adam, architect of his majesty's works, and in 1780 master-carpenter of his majesty's works in England.
caption: St. Leonard's Hill, Clewer (extended by Sandby in the late 1760s)
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