page_title: Thomas Harrison (architect)
section_title: Domestic and related structures
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Harrison (architect) / Works / Domestic and related structures
caption_attribution_description: English: Drawing made by the architect, Thomas Harrison in 1799. Scanned and enhanced by myself.
context_page_description: Thomas Harrison was an English architect and bridge engineer who trained in Rome, where he studied classical architecture. Returning to England, he won the competition in 1782 for the design of Skerton Bridge in Lancaster. After moving to Lancaster he worked on local buildings, received commissions for further bridges, and designed country houses in Scotland. In 1786 Harrison was asked to design new buildings within the grounds of Lancaster and Chester castles, projects that occupied him, together with other works, until 1815. On both sites he created accommodation for prisoners, law courts, and a shire hall, while working on various other public buildings, gentlemen's clubs, churches, houses, and monuments elsewhere. His final major commission was for the design of Grosvenor Bridge in Chester.
  Some of Harrison's designs, including his buildings at Lancaster Castle, were Gothic in style, but most were Neoclassical, particularly those at Chester Castle. He was regarded at the time, and since, as a major influence in the emergence of the Greek Revival in British architecture.
context_section_description: While Harrison was working on Lancaster and Chester castles, he was also involved with domestic projects, four of them around Edinburgh in Scotland.  The first consisted in making alterations to Gosford House for the 7th Earl of Wemyss.  There is circumstantial evidence that he also designed the mausoleum in the grounds of the house, but a definite attribution cannot be made.  This commission led, through personal contacts, for further work.  The first was to build Kennet House near Clackmannan (now demolished) for Sir Thomas Dundas; it was Harrison's first major house.  He then made extensions to Broomhall, a house near Dunfermline, for Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin.  Finally in Scotland, Harrison prepared plans for another new house, Colinton House near Edinburgh, for the banker Sir William Forbes.  Following this, Harrison is credited with the design of Quernmore Park Hall, near Lancaster, for Charles Gibson, a house built between 1795 and 1798.
  In 1804 Harrison made a series of plans for the rebuilding of Lowther Hall in Westmorland, but these were not accepted. However he was successful with his plans to enlarge and remodel Gredington, a house in North Wales, for Lord Kenyon, executed between 1807 and 1811 at a cost of £6,675 (equivalent to £480,000 in 2018).  Between 1808 and 1810 Harrison converted three rooms on the west side of the first floor of Tabley House, near Knutsford, Cheshire, into a picture gallery for Sir John Fleming Leicester.  This was followed by a series of new houses, Oughtrington Hall, near Lymm, Cheshire, Woodbank, on the edge of Stockport (then in Cheshire), Glan-yr-Afon in Llanferres, North Wales, Dee Hills House in Chester, and Grove House in Allerton near Liverpool.
  In 1820 Harrison designed Watergate House on a corner site in Watergate Street, Chester; it is one of the largest private houses in the town.  The entrance to the house is on the corner, leading to a circular lobby and a square entrance hall, which is top-lit by a dome with a lantern.  Harrison's last commission for a country house in Cheshire was his design for Tilstone Lodge near the village of Tilstone Fearnall; this has a porte-cochère supported by four Doric columns.  At about this time Harrison was also designing alterations to the east wing of Chirk Castle in North Wales.  In late 1821 he was commissioned to work on Hardwick Grange near Hadnall in Shropshire for Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill, which involved alterations to the front of the house, and the addition of a new dining-room.  At the request of the owner, this was in Gothic style; the house has since been demolished.  In 1822–23 Harrison built a house for himself, St Martin's Lodge in Nicholas Street, Chester, which consists of a simple villa.  His last work for a private client was again for Roland Hill, a building called the Citadel in Hawkstone Park, Shropshire.  It was built as a dower house for his mother, and has the appearance of a small castle, with three circular battlemented towers.
caption: Harrison's drawing for the south face of Broomhall
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