death_date death_place birth_place nationality birth_date significant_buildings image article_title name
4 december 1865 london ballysillan british 7 july 1823 victoria royal museum edinburgh & albert museum chiswick house royal albert hall francisfowke.jpg francis fowke
 francis fowke
francis fowke

francis fowke re -lrb- 7 july 1823 -- 4 december 1865 -rrb- was a british engineer and architect , and a captain in the corps of royal engineers .
most of his architectural work was executed in the renaissance style , although he made use of relatively new technologies to create iron framed buildings , with large open galleries and spaces .
fowke was born in ballysillan , belfast .
he studied at the royal school dungannon , county tyrone , and the royal military academy , woolwich .
he obtained a commission in the royal engineers , and served with distinction in bermuda and paris .
on his return to england , he was appointed architect and engineer in charge of the construction of several government buildings .
among his projects were the prince consort 's library in aldershot , the royal albert hall and parts of the victoria and albert museum in london , the royal museum in edinburgh , and the national gallery of ireland in dublin .
he was also responsible for planning the 1862 international exhibition in london .
the international exhibition building was described as ' a wretched shed ' by the art journal ; the crystal palace at the great exhibition of 1851 being a hard act to follow .
parliament declined the government 's proposal to purchase the building ; the materials were sold and used for the construction of alexandra palace .
before his sudden death from a burst blood vessel , he won the competition for the design of the natural history museum , although he did not live to see it executed .
his renaissance designs for the museum were altered and realised in the 1870s by alfred waterhouse , on the site of fowke 's exhibition building .
he died in 1865 and is buried in brompton cemetery , london .
a medal was issued by the royal engineers in 1865 , as a memorial prize for architectural works carried out by members of the corps .
with the demise of great architectural works the prize has transformed into the prize awarded to the top student on the royal engineers clerks of works course .
